Sports in brief

Men’s hockey falls in ECAC quarterfinals

In recent ECAC playoff action, the Harvard men’s hockey team suffered a pair of losses at the hands of host Clarkson, 3-0 and 2-1 (March 9 and 10, respectively), to end the Crimson’s 2006-07 campaign. The Golden Knights (23-8-5), meanwhile, advance to the ECAC semifinals in Albany, N.Y.

Clarkson goalie David Leggio recorded 27 saves in the opening contest to help set up the 3-0 shutout (Harvard’s first since the 2004 season). Leggio bettered that performance with a masterful 37-save effort the next night to help his team to the 2-1 win. In that contest, Leggio eventually displayed some vulnerability in the middle frame when Mike Taylor ’08 rebounded a shot past the Clarkson goalie to notch the equalizer. The hosts locked up the victory at the 16:12 mark of the third, however, after a pass bounced off a Clarkson player and into the Harvard net.

Between the Harvard pipes, Justin Tobe ’07 made 18 and 27 stops in games one and two, respectively. Joining Tobe in his final game in a Crimson uniform are fellow seniors Ryan Maki, Steve Mandes, Dylan Reese, and Kevin Du. Together, the seniors have captured two ECACHL titles and reached the NCAA tournament on three occasions. The Crimson close out the year 14-17-2.

Men’s tennis halts Bulls

A visiting Harvard men’s tennis team defeated the University of South Florida, 5-2, this past Sunday (March 11) to halt the Bull’s three-match win streak. The Crimson improved to 2-4 with the win, while the Bulls slip to 6-7.

After dropping two out of three doubles matches to fall behind, 2-0, the Crimson responded by taking five out of six matches in singles action. Sophomore Chris Clayton kicked off the wins at the No. 1 spot by defeating Ales Svigelj, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. After a brief setback at the No. 2 singles spot (that saw senior co-captain Scott Denenberg fall 5-7, 7-5, 0-1[4]), juniors Dan Nguyen, Ashwin Kumar, and Gareth Doran and senior co-captain Gideon Valkin battled back with four straight victories.

Swimmers represent at NCAA champs

Freshman Alexandra Clarke recently placed 17th out of 43 swimmers in the 1,650-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships (March 8-12) at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Clarke broke her own school record for 1,000 yards in 9:50.58 and went on to finish in 16:21.43, but missed All-America honors by a single spot. Meanwhile, Crimson veteran Noelle Bassi ’07 wrapped up her collegiate career with a 32nd-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. A two-time All-America performer, Bassi overcame multiple injuries to qualify for her fourth NCAA championships.

Compiled by Andrew Brooks