Home Blog Page 10

SA bails out senior class gift

By
-

The Student Assembly is seeking to reimburse the class of 2012 after a member of the Undergraduate Council misplaced funds raised from the Homecoming T-shirt sales in the Sadler Center.

A total of $1,920 from the T-shirt sales was lost over the week prior to Homecoming due to an error by an unnamed member of the Undergraduate Council. The sales serve as a major fundraiser for the class of 2012.

“The money they were raising was going to fund events for the senior class to create class unity and encourage donations to the senior class gift, which is essential for future development efforts,” SA Senate Finance Committee Chairman Grace Colby ’13 said in an email.

According to reports from SA members, members of the Undergraduate Council worked shifts selling the shirts in the Sadler Center in the week leading up to Homecoming. The money was kept in an envelope and returned to the front desk after each shift. After one shift, a student realized that the envelope was missing.

“They were really trying to look for it,” Senate Chairman Noah Kim ’13 said. “It was an all-hands-on-deck effort to find the money. They scoured the Sadler Center. They kept looking, but in the meantime, they came to me and told me about the problem. They were really trying to figure out a way to address it.”

Students contacted the William and Mary Police to report the missing money. According to Chief Don Challis, campus police are still actively investigating the incident.

“The person who lost the money was just put into a bad situation,” Senator Dallen McNerney ’14 said. “The problem was that it was Sadler. It’s a place that anybody can walk into and is really busy most of the time.”

The money has yet to be found, and the student responsible has not faced any formal disciplinary action.

“It is a pity that the irresponsibility of one person set the senior class back so far at a critical moment for their fundraising efforts,” Colby said.

On Nov. 1, members of the Senate approved the Senior Class Reimbursement Act, which allocated $1,920 from the Student Activities Reserve to fund the class of 2012’s various activities.

The Student Activities Reserve is a collective fund from all campus organizations. Each organization proposes a budget that the SA approves and for which it allocates money. At the end of the year, excess funds from the organizations are returned to the Student Activities Reserve for future use.

“Students aren’t being charged extra to cover this expense,” Kim said. “This reimbursement really was a necessary thing that needed to happen. We’d do it for any club.”

Members of the Senate compared the Senior Class Reimbursement Act to the Senior Bailout Bill of last year, in which members of the senior class asked for additional funding.

“Last year, the senior class bailout was due to a lack of planning by the senior class beforehand and multiple turnovers,” McNerney said. “This year, it was distinctly different. The senior class was clearly trying to get money. It was just a bad situation.”

The SA plans to implant some organizational changes to the management of funds.

“Undergraduate Council discussed it and other ways to improve the organization and we’re looking into ways to improve the SA’s functioning as a whole,” Kim said. “Specifically with the T-shirts, the problem was that there needs to be more solid communication. There are certain measures we’re planning on taking next year to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Although the investigation continues, the SA hopes to move forward from the incident.

“I’m really happy to see that out of this really messy incident, the SA really came together to address it in a timely manner and, in my opinion, the right way,” Kim said.

Women’s soccer: Top of the class

By
-

Ninety-three minutes. That’s how long it took the William and Mary women’s soccer team to prove it was better than Virginia Commonwealth, and deserving of its first CAA conference championship since 2003.

For 93 minutes, the two teams played scoreless soccer, each unable to convert chances, and each playing inspired, tenacious defense. But something had to give, and, once again, junior midfielder Mallory Schaffer came through with late game heroics to eke out a dramatic 1-0 victory and assure head coach John Daly his 10th conference title.

Daly’s teams owned their conference opponents from 1998 to 2003, winning six consecutive CAA tournament titles — but the Tribe has failed to win a conference title since then. The coach was relieved to see the dry-spell end and the trophy finally returned to the College.

“It’s been a long wait,” Daly said. “We’ve finished in close position a couple times but just haven’t been able to bring home the bacon … This time the bacon was right here.”

With the win, the Tribe advances to a first-round NCAA tournament matchup against North Carolina. But an automatic bid in the field of 64 wasn’t always a sure thing. VCU, the lone team to beat the College in conference play during the season, outshot the Tribe 9-1 in the second half and tested junior keeper Katherine Yount several times midway through the second half.

Seconds after a leaping save in the 72nd minute, Yount could only watch as a VCU free-kick slammed into the left-post, just inches away from giving the Rams a late lead. Although stretched at times, the Tribe defense held up to preserve a clean sheet in regulation, setting the stage for Schaffer’s golden goal, which came just three minutes into the first of two scheduled 10-minute overtime periods.

Thanks to a tactical change from Daly that pushed the junior midfielder to a more forward, attacking position, she found herself in the perfect spot to take a chipped pass from junior forward Erin Liberatore at the top of the box. Schaffer then managed a deft touch to get the ball down on her right foot before finessing a shot by the keeper for sixth game-winner of the year, and maybe the biggest goal of her impressive career.

“I turned and the ball was in front of me and I hit it,” she said. “I don’t know how [the ball] got there … I guess it doesn’t really matter … it went in.”

While the details of the decisive play may have been a bit fuzzy, the significance of the victory was not.
“It’s unbelievable … hard to believe really,” Schaffer said. “We only have four seniors who have been to the conference tournament, the rest [of us] haven’t, so it really got our emotions high to come out and play a good game.”

If playing for a conference championship wasn’t motivation enough for the College, then avenging its sole conference defeat was.

“There was a lot of motivation, kind of a revenge factor,” Schaffer said. “It was more of us needing to change our play [this time], more than adapting to how they play.”

Daly’s late tactical tweak, sliding Schaffer up and filling the gap with the senior defender Diana Weigel, was a calculated risk that ultimately paid off.

“Their defense was definitely on top of us, and we decided we were going to push [Schaffer] forward to try and get our most dangerous player in the box,” Daly said. “Sometimes, you do that and the other team goes down and scores. This time, it worked.”

Although not his most experienced group, the coach nevertheless saw something special take place among the team.

“The chemistry was exceptional this year. We were pretty varied in our threats, and we’ve played well,” Daly said.

Spooktacular brings community and College closer together

By
-

Moonbounce. Petting zoo. Candy.

These ingredients have quickly become the staples of any successful event at the College of William and Mary. Using this information to their advantage each year, the Student Assembly puts on events for students who need the occasional break from studying and volunteering. On Friday, the SA put on their annual Spooktacular event, in the Sunken Garden.

“Spooktacular is an event put on by the Student Life Department of Student Assembly,” Undersecretary of Student Services Alyssa Zhu ’14 said. “It happens every year as a family-friendly event to try and form a closer bond with the City of Williamsburg and the community around and within the College.”

The SA uses this event to actively integrate organizations on campus, local schools such as Matthew Whaley Elementary School, and the community of Williamsburg.

Adam Stokes ’12, secretary of Student Life, teaches at one of the local elementary schools and had the kids take home a flyer inviting them to join in the festivities.

To reach students at the College, the SA utilized social media such as Student Happenings, Facebook, campus-wide emails and many other outlets because they wanted everyone to know about it and get involved.

“It’s fun for the community because it’s representing both the student body and the student organizations,” Undersecretary of Student Organizations Muthulakshmi Lakshmanan ’14 said.

Some of the volunteer groups in attendance included the Global Medical Brigade, William and Mary Medical Aid, Students Helping Honduras and the Global Village Project. Each of these organizations had to pay to fundraise at the event, and the winner of the best volunteer table received a $50 Wawa gift card.

“I think this event is a very good way to marry Halloween and coming out to spread awareness in a fun way with all the things going on. It’s great to spend time with friends, and it’s a very well-rounded event,” Lavaya Gupta ’12, a member of Students Helping Honduras, said. “It’s an opportunity to do some fundraising as well as have a great time. “

Each booth featured different student organizations and different activities.

“The student organizations and volunteers are great, and we really couldn’t have done it without them,” Zhu said.

In all the activities, elementary school children and College students, graduate students and undergraduate students were indistinguishable as they jumped in the moonbounce, petting every animal they could chase down, wiped their dirty hands on their pants and bounced to the music played by the D.J.

“There is the petting zoo, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples, three-legged races, egg-and-spoon races, pumpkin painting, apple bobbing and a haunted house happening later in the evening,” Zhu said.

The event was supposed to be held Halloween weekend but was pushed back a week to finalize plans. The weather Friday was more inviting and less rainy than Halloween weekend, and although it wasn’t Halloween, the SA still wanted to include their haunted house.

The haunted house is a new installment the SA just introduced this year and they are hoping to scare a few people and continue the tradition when they hold Spooktacular next year.

“This is the best event that Student Assembly puts on all year. It’s just a really cool way to engage the community and campus,” Coleen Herbert ’14 said.

Among the many activities featured at the event, the clear fan favorite was the petting zoo, a commodity for college students. All those in attendance were in collective agreement that the animals were the best part.
“Everyone can enjoy the animals … and I guess the other things, too,” Nathan Schaaf ’15 said.

Set up began just before 4 p.m. when students began to show up at the Sunken Gardens, and, as the day progressed, more people arrived to see the animals and the children. The event was a welcome break after a hard week of classes and one that students of the college and members of the community alike could enjoy.

“It really shows that William and Mary spirit, and it’s great to have so many people out here attending the event,” Zhu said.

The SA has a few more events up its sleeve this year, including an event just for student organizations and one ongoing project, HARK, a social networking site specifically for College students that is still in development.

“It’s so nice that the event turned out so well because we’ve literally been living and breathing Spooktacular for weeks,” Lakshmanan said.

Cashing a reality check on teacher salaries

By
-

In the wake of the College of William and Mary’s meager pay raise for professors after years of wage stagnation, a recent study published by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute concluded that public school teachers are significantly overpaid. The report unleashed an outcry of unparalleled fury among educators nationwide, but the think tanks failed to use methods of analysis that would make a passing grade in any policy discussion.

In the timeless debate on teachers’s compensation, conservatives tend to accentuate the drawn out summer vacation as a restrictive factor on income. Coupled with robust retirement benefits in an age where pensions have diminished exponentially in the private sector, teaching suddenly seems as a fairly comfortable profession, at least by the numbers.

In reality, teachers do not enjoy the elongated breaks mentioned by pundits. While students are out enjoying the summer breeze, teachers must stay behind an extra week or two to finish up their grade books for the year; likewise, teachers must report early before the school year starts to attend teaching conferences and lay out lesson plans. After taking these factors into account, teachers receive around eight weeks of summer vacation in total.

More concerning is how the report assigned arbitrary measures of value to determine market price equivalency in the private sector. The report particularly emphasizes the “statistical” evidence that people obtaining degrees in education lack the intellect associated with alternative subjects. Yet when has anyone who has taught a classroom above primary level received employment with such middling qualifications?

Every high school teacher I have met carried either a bachelor’s degree in English, history, math or the sciences. It takes significant intellectual capacity to obtain a degree in any of the aforementioned fields, especially those in the science, technology, education and math fields and the study blindly assumes that, as educators, all public school teachers major in education. A science or math degree will always fetch higher compensation in the private sector than in teaching, yet the study classifies these invaluable individuals who sacrifice monetary gains to educate America’s future generations as “over-valued.”

Finally, another erroneous claim leveled against public school teachers is the amount of hours worked per week. Judging by the school day, a teacher works around 37 hours weekly. Aside from physical education teachers, most educators have to bring home piles of quizzes and tests daily. While a math teacher can tackle problem sets by quick cursory checks, an English teacher assigned to correct 40 papers would have to spend significant time at home to finish his or her grading. For researchers to suggest that all teachers face equal work hours undermines their argument and credibility.

As the deteriorating quality of American education continues to consume policy makers, headlines that assault the worth of teachers will only serve to alienate those who make the biggest impact in the classroom.

Blunders break the student body’s bank

By
-

Recently, there has been quite a stir concerning lost funds from the Homecoming T-shirt sales, which were originally allocated to the senior class to be utilized for events involved the senior class gift. Just recently, the Student Assembly voted to approve the Senior Class Reimbursement Act, which allocated $1,920 to cover the undisclosed amount of losses. The reasons cited for approval of the bill were the dependency of the senior class on these funds for programming, along with the fact that the loss was through the oversight of a non-senior SA officer.

The issue for me, however, is not the amount of the money lost, but the lack of due diligence in assuring the money was properly secured and accounted for. I know that the general impression of the College of William and Mary is one of a safe campus where students can leave valuables unattended without any thought of theft, but this story is clearly another example of why this belief is simply untrue. People naturally act differently when they feel they are not being observed, which provides someone with extra incentive to make away with the belongings of another. This is not to say that the campus is full of thieves, but I will hear of the occasional laptop, bicycle or wallet being stolen from various places around campus.

Furthermore, citing the fact that the loss was due to the mistake of a non-senior officer for rationale in reimbursing the senior class is digressing from the central point. Regardless of who was responsible, the logic in reimbursing the senior class for programming is flawed. Essentially, the SA has voted to move funds provided by student fees to the senior class so that it may continue their efforts to raise money for the senior class gift, which in turn will give the funds it has raised back to the school. The SA effectively voted to allocate the funds students have paid to the school to patch up its own mistakes. If this same scenario happened to any other student organization on campus, they would not have the opportunity to dip into the money the College has required students to pay as part of their tuition. Given the already high cost of attending this institution, these misgivings certainly are not helping.

While the incident of lost funds may seem insignificant, the SA’s decision to use funds collected from the entire student body to correct its mistakes is a larger problem. The $1,920 moved from the SA’s reserve is indeed a band-aid, because it patches up an undetermined money hole in the senior class programming budget. I hope the SA uses this situation as an opportunity to ensure that its funds are more properly accounted for, but this is the second year in a row funds have been reallocated to subsidize the organizational mishaps of the Student Assembly. Last year, there was a Senior Bailout Bill to help alleviate the “turnover” issues the senior class was experiencing. Given these two instances, it seems that the precedent has been set that the SA is comfortable with utilizing its excess reserve of funds provided by the College to fix any sort of organizational error, which is very troubling to me.

This is not to say that I would wish upon the senior class that their events and programming be impaired due to a lack of funds, but the underlying issue of indiscriminately utilizing the money provided by the general student body to make up for theft caused by weak internal controls is not acceptable. Without learning the lesson the hard way by having to deal with a budget shortage, the possibility of taking meaningful action to ensure such mistakes do not occur in the future seems much less likely. The SA is moving toward creating a habit by which their reserves can be accessed for any host of reasons, and this mismanagement of funds negatively impacts the entire student body.

Behind Closed Doors: Good, creative sex is better than the naughty norm

By
-

In my house growing up, you were pretty free to express yourself. All feelings were valid, and you could use any combination of words to express those feelings, so long as they followed two rules: Don’t say dirty words in front of your two younger sisters, and don’t ever drop the F-bomb. My mom listened to me string together lines of four-letter words so long I should have worn an “explicit” label. When those words didn’t do me justice, I got creative. Playing basketball with the neighborhood boys gave me an extensive vocabulary of insults, and cum-guzzler, twinkle-tits and skeetbucket were a few of my favorites. In spite of the fact that I don’t think I heard my mom use a four-letter word until I was sixteen, she took my potty mouth extraordinarily well, so long as I followed the rules.

Unfortunately, the no F-word rule was really irritating, as it is arguably the most versatile four-letter word in the English language. When questioned why, my mom told me that it was derived from the acronym “fornication under consent of the king.” I did some research into the validity of these claims, and as it turns out, it’s an urban legend. Even still, to this day, I can’t associate that word with any kind of intimate relationship between two consenting adults. Hearing that word openly used as a synonym for sex is grating to me and always has negative connotations. So you can imagine that if I want someone to talk dirty to me, the F-word holds no allure.

If you’re talking dirty to your partner and he or she isn’t responding, it may be a similar circumstance. It may not be that the graphic details are making him or her uncomfortable; your partner may love hearing about what you want to stick in his or her hot, wet you-know-where, but it may be the language that you’re using. The easiest way to figure out why your partner isn’t responding to is to ask your partner.

Other sex “norms” I don’t understand: Why is it that when I want to have hot steamy sex, I have to be naughty or kinky? My same mother who taught me not to use the F-word in intimate circumstances taught me that rules were meant to be followed — and it’s her annoying voice I hear in my head when I don’t abide. For example, one time in my junior year of high school, I ordered a water cup at Chipotle for free but put lemonade in it instead. Everyone knows that restaurants make an insane profit on drinks, and I was so pleased with my ingenuity that at dinner, that I accidently let slip what I had done. My mother was appalled. She gave me a lecture that made me feel like I had stolen money from orphans, and the very next day, I went to Chipotle, ordered nothing but a drink, and left $1.55 as a tip for good measure. It’s this kind of crap that my super ego puts me through even when my mother isn’t around — and my conscience gives a damn good lecture. So tell me, why in the world in my off time would I want to be a bad girl, a naughty girl, a dirty girl? No thank you.

If your partner wants to tickle you with feathers and rub you with silk and wear edible underwear, why is naughty the default world to describe him or her? Creative has much better connotations, or if you’re feeling really impressed, try ingenious. Is the way your partner moves a work of art? Is he or she a Picasso of the bedroom? Does he or she make your heart pound like a drum; do you hear music in your ears when you’re pushed up against him or her on the dorm room floor? Is he or she your Mozart? Does he or she make you feel so open, so raw, that you want to just share your secrets with the entire world, like your own personal Julian Assange? … oh, awkward.

And maybe your partner actually enjoys being very, very naughty, leather riding crop and all. In which case, get on with your bad selves. It’s just as big a disservice to make someone your angel who’d rather be your devil as it is to put someone in handcuffs who would rather be in silk sheets. Next time you’re getting down, consider the idea that bad sex isn’t the only kind of “good” sex. “Good” can be sexy too.
Krystyna Holland is a Behind Closed Doors columnist and encourages everyone to channel their inner Mozart.

Showdown on DoG Street: Students and residents perform in “West Side Story” LipDub

By
-

TWAMPS and Townies took to Merchant Square this past Saturday to fight out an ancient feud in the Williamsburg community. Who would win? Student body president Kaveh Sadeghian ‘12 and President Taylor Reveley backed by an army of Quidditch players and fencing team members? Or Mayor Clyde Haulman and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation President Colin Campbell flanked by Blue Talon chefs and karate chopping Williamsburg children?

In an effort to raise awareness about the upcoming William and Mary Global Film Festival, the Global Film Festival History and Production class put together a town musical in the form of a LipDub. Students, professors and townspeople came out to Kimball theatre on Nov. 5 to star in the community musical project.
“We wanted to bring the community together like we do at the film festival,” Greg Thompson ’13, public relations representative for the film festival, said. “We wanted to play off of West Side Story because it is the 50th anniversary of the film this month.”

Instead of West Side Story, the film class staged a LipDub, or a combination of lip synching and audio dubbing, as a SouthEast Side Story with the Williamsburg Townies fighting the College of William and Mary TWAMPs. The project was designed to bring the two groups together, although the main plot of the musical is the conflict between them.

“The key mission of the film festival is to bring the Williamsburg community across the town and gown divide through the celebration of film and film culture,” professor Tim Barnard said. “What we achieved on Saturday was this really fun experiment in making a film as a community.”

The LipDub film project was designed as a fall promotional event for the February Film Festival. The idea stemmed from the recent popularity that West Side Story has garnered on Glee and the 50th anniversary of the film.

“We had the idea before fall break, and then when we got back, we just hit the ground running,” Thompson said. “It has been the last three to four weeks of just going crazy on this. They really have put their best foot forward.”

Now, the students will work over the course of the week to complete a finished product. The LipDub will premiere Nov. 12 at the Kimball Theatre before an anniversary showing of West Side Story.
“The next step is [to] go into the editing room, and we need to edit,” Barnard said. “We had eight cinematographers filming and we need to go through all of that footage and piece it together. The film will be about three minutes long.”

Led by directors Matt Sonnenfeld ’12 and Roman Dent ’12, the team of students working on the project Saturday included members of the Global Film Festival History and Production class and some alumni of the class. The class focuses on the academic side of film festivals while allowing students to learn through experience as well.

“We spend the first part of the semester where we study the history of film festival and the role they play in the global film culture,” Barnard said. “Then we start producing and planning and making preparations for our own film festival.”

The theme of this year’s film festival is “The City.” The LipDub project fit appropriately with the theme, focusing on a city conflict and adapting it to a local town level.

“It is all really to introduce the theme of the February main event where we will have films from all around the world that are related to the city or feature the city,” Barnard said.

The LipDub project is something that has never before been attempted in Williamsburg. Barnard was concerned about undertaking such a large project in such a short period of time, but the end result was satisfying.

“I thought it went fantastically,” Barnard said. “There were a lot of unknowns about what to expect. For almost everyone involved, including myself, we had never done anything like that before.”
For the directors, seeing their hard work come together in a matter of a few short weeks was a new experience.

“The first time I called action on the rumble was just a wide shot shooting from stage over onto the entire audience,” Sonnerfeld said. “The first time I called action and everyone got up and did their piece and it just started to go simultaneously, I just couldn’t hide my smile.”

For Dent, who has worked on other film projects, getting to play the role of director played to his future dreams.

“As an aspiring filmmaker, it was a totally unique experience,” Dent said. “It was kind of a system overload experience just to concentrate on directing and to have all of these things happening unbeknownst to you.”
Former basketball player David Schneider ’10 and Dylan McCann ’12 played Tony and Maria. Schneider and McCann are currently dating, and Schneider is now a Townie and McCann is a TWAMP, so the match fit the movie.

“I think it was surreal because we are dating right now,” Schneider said. “Everyone was joking about the chemistry we had from the get go, and it was definitely great chemistry. She carried my performance.”

After a cancellation the week before, the film festival team put the filming together and brought both the TWAMPs and the Townies on one level playing field.

“The moment when all of the TWAMPs were on one end of Merchant Square and the others were on the other side, you could just feel the sense of community fun and community unity,” Barnard said. “I feel like we already succeeded in fulfilling the mission of the film festival.”

Error message 1693

By
-

Freshmen: Forget Orientation and Opening Convocation. Welcome to the College of William and Mary’s ultimate induction ceremony: Getting locked out of banner.

Thursday, the College’s course registration system crashed after it was inundated with requests by the hordes of freshmen attempting to register for their spring classes. While we all know how it feels to see the one class you’ve been dying to get into for the last month fill up, believe us when we say: You will survive.

There seems to be this intense pressure on students at the College when registering for classes. We even have our own word in Urban Dictionary for being royally disappointed in and stressed out by the registration process. Registration is just signing up for classes. There is no need to scream if the program crashes, throw your belongings at students who got into a class before the crash ruined your life or spread rumors about the police being called in to maintain order on campus. These reactions are just ridiculous.

The College is a challenging institution. When it challenges us to the point that we feel we must design the perfect course schedule with no flexibility in the classes we take, it has gone too far.

It is important to remember that registration is not over. You have several months before the second semester actually starts. This is only registration round one. Seasoned students know that, in some ways, the closed class designation means very little and does not bar you from the class. Let us remind you of the three magic words: maximum capacity override. In some cases, professors take kindly to students who show up to the first day of class requesting an override. Also, show some initiative and go to the professor’s office hours. Just calm down before you start thinking the world has ended because you didn’t get into the literary fantasy class you wanted or the class about dinosaurs you promised four of your friends you would take with them.

For some reason, we always put academic pressures on ourselves and then regret doing so later. More attention should be given to the amount of pressure students place at the College place on themselves. The difficulty of our classes or how many papers we have due in a given week seem to be a source of bragging rights. Students should move past this so that when registration does not turn out the way they had hoped, they don’t begin rioting through the streets of Williamsburg. We don’t need another revolution in Colonial Williamsburg, especially one with angry freshmen.

Freshmen, we humbly ask you to calm yourselves and realize that not getting into one class will not ruin your entire academic career. Besides, who actually retains their original schedule? Most people don’t, that’s for sure. Realize that professors are kind and are willing to give you overrides and that you’ll have other chances to take the classes, assuming you aren’t a second-semester senior. Finally, be happy that your registration was at 3:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m.

Women’s soccer: Tribe one win away after comeback win over Delaware

By
-

Who else but Mallory Schaffer? The junior striker and 2011 CAA Player of the Year came through once more, scoring both of the Tribe’s goals as it overcame a sluggish first-half to beat Delaware 2-1 in the semi-final match of the CAA tournament.

After finishing up a dominant regular season with a 10-1 conference record, the Tribe found itself in the unusual position of trailing an opponent at halftime. A loss would’ve dealt a blow to the College’s NCAA tournament hopes, but Schaffer and the Tribe rose to the occasion. Her game-winner came in the 69th minute, and was the result of a box-to-box counterattack. Sophomore midfielder Dani Rutter passed to junior forward Erin Liberatore, who then sent the ball to the far post, where Schaffer came sliding in to net the goal.

With the win, the Tribe advances to the tournament final against Virginia Commonwealth Sunday at Martin Family Stadium. The Rams, who posted the second best record in the conference and beat Northeastern in the semifinal round, dealt the College its only conference loss of 2011 in the penultimate game of the regular season, 1-0 in Richmond. The Tribe, however, has historically had the upper hand in the series, posting a 17-3-3 record against VCU. A win would give the College its 10th CAA championship.

Women’s basketball preview

By
-

2010 record: 3-26, 2-16 CAA

Injuries and late-game letdowns doomed the 2010-11 Tribe to one of its worst records — 3-26, 2-16 CAA — in program history and a first-round exit from the CAA tournament, so it should come as no surprise that head coach Debbie Taylor’s squad is eagerly preparing for its shot at redemption starting Nov. 11 at Kaplan Arena.

“Last year was rough,” Taylor said. “It wasn’t expected, and it was tough. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder.”

The 2011-12 team is both revamped and experienced. After losing three graduating players, the Tribe adds four freshmen to go along with the return of junior guard and forward Chanel Murchison — who missed the entirety of last season due to an injury — and junior guard Janine Aldridge, who was sidelined with a season-ending injury after just eight games.

“We have more bodies, which is nice,” Taylor said. “We have 12 healthy bodies and we have eight players who have started at some point in their career.”

Otherwise, the core of the team will return with an extra year of experience under its belt. Senior guards Katherine DeHenzel and Taysha Pye, who was the team’s leading scorer in 2010-11 and a pre-season all-conference second team selection, will anchor the team’s back court while 6’3’’ junior forward Emily Correal, 6’2” sophomore forward Kaitlyn Mathieu – the team’s second-leading scorer last season – and 6’3” junior center Jaclyn McKenna will play down low. Aldridge and junior guard and forward Taylor Hilton should see significant action as well.

“We’re all excited,” Pye said. “We’re not about talking anymore. I’m personally kind of over saying what I expect, we just have to come out and do it this year because we didn’t do it last year.”

Besides the added depth, the team should get some added size. The Tribe’s tallest player will be freshman center MacKenzie Morrison, who stands at 6’4”. The Iowa native was a McDonald’s All-American nominee and a four-time all-state honoree.

“She’s a big 6’4”,” Taylor said. “She can finish under the basket, and she pulls rebounds because she just takes up space. We can put a big lineup on the floor, so we can play a little bit of chess this year in whether we go with size or speed, but we’re a big team.”

Put it all together, and Taylor thinks she has a squad that can make history.

“One of the biggest goals is to make the biggest turnaround in the country,” she said. “That’s what we’re aiming for. We’d like to get a bid for the [NCAA] tournament, and we’d like to be the first team to go to post-season play in the history of the program.”

Head Coach Debbie Taylor

Head coach Debbie Taylor ’86 enters her 13th year as the leader of the program. Last season was undoubtedly her toughest, as she watched her team struggle to come up big late in games en route to an abysmal 3-26 season. Taylor has, however, had success at the College. In 2007 the team finished with a 19-12 record, reaching the second round of the conference tournament. The coach has stated throughout the off-season that her team’s goal is to make the biggest turnaround in the country.

Guards

Senior Katherine DeHenzel will once again be running the show for the Tribe at the point with senior Taysha Pye providing the bulk of the team’s scoring from the shooting guard spot. Junior Janine Aldridge, who was hurt for most of last season, will be back as one of the squad’s top three-point shooters.

Forwards/Centers

The Tribe will look to flex its size this year in the post. Sophomore forward Kaitlyn Mathieu is coming off an impressive rookie campaign in which she showed an ability to play in the post and shoot from the outside while junior forward Emily Correal and junior center Jaclyn McKenna will look to dominate the paint on both sides and pull down big rebounds.

Freshmen

Guard Anna Kestler, out of Pittsburgh, will be spelling senior Katherine DeHenzel at the point, while Tennessee native Kyla Kerstetter will use her sharp-shooting skills off the bench at the shooting guard position. Taylor raved about forward Jazmen Boone’s smarts, calling her one of the smartest players she’s ever coached, and MacKenzie Morrison, standing at 6’4”, will give the Tribe an added inside presence.

1...91011...456Page 10 of 456
© 1911-Present. The Flat Hat. All Rights Reserved.