SPORTS
January 14, 2022
The Brandeis Hoot 5
Athletics bans spectators, games postponed By Sasha Skarboviychuk editor
As of Jan. 7, no spectators will be allowed at games. The previous policy was a negative test from 72 hours prior, to attend a game at the Gosman Sports and Convocation center, according to the Brandeis Judges website. The policy for attending the Gosman Sports and Convocation center for members of the Brandeis community remains: all
attendees must have a green passport to enter the facility. Individuals that have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 90 days and are exempt from testing must provide proof of the date of their illness. Masks are required for all visitors of Gosman. Brandeis ranked 50th in the initial Learfield Directors’ Cup, according to the website. Brandeis’ points came from two sports: women’s cross country and women’s soccer. These are mid-season
rankings, which are unofficial. This makes Brandeis 10th in New England. Official rankings will be released in the spring, once all seasons are complete. The women’s cross country team placed 20th in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which earned Brandeis 54 points. While the women’s soccer team, which got to the second round of the NCAA tournament, got 50 points. Points are awarded based on the way the school fin-
ishes in the NCAA competitions. The Cup was created by USA Today and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Due to a high volume of positive tests, the Dec. 30 men’s basketball game against Union College was canceled, according to the Judges website. Additionally, the men’s game against Bates that was supposed to take place on Jan. 3 was postponed to Feb. 16. The games against New York University on
Jan. 8, against Carnegie Mellon on Jan. 14 and Case Western Reserve University on Jan. 16 were postponed as well. The next scheduled home game for the men is against Emory on Feb. 4. On the women’s side, their Dec. 31 game against Gordon was also canceled. Their Jan. 3 game against Clark was postponed; no makeup date has been announced. Additional changes to policies can be found on the Judges’ website.
Women’s basketball plays close games By Justin Leung editor
Before going on winter break, the Brandeis women’s basketball team played two games at home against Bridgewater State University and Eastern Nazarene College. The first game was against Bridgewater St. on Dec. 2. The Judges had very even scores throughout the team in the first quarter, as no player had over three points. Guard Tathiana Pierre ’23 had three points with five different Brandeis players having two. Both teams shot below 30 percent from the field, resulting in 28 combined points in the first quarter between the two teams. The Judges’ shooting inconsistencies continued into the second quarter as the team
only made three of 12 shots. Senior guard Camilia Casanueva ’22 had four points all from the freethrow line. Guard Emma Reavis ’23 and first-year forward Mollie Obar ’25 had three points. The third quarter saw both teams be much more efficient shooting as Bridgewater St. had 24 points and Brandeis had 23 points. Sophomore guard Selenya Gonzalez ’24 came off the bench and scored nine points. Reavis and Casanueva added four and three points in the quarter. Going into the final quarter of the game, Brandeis was down by eight points. To make the comeback, they proceeded to hit five 3-pointers within the quarter. Obar had 11 points in the quarter while making 3-pointers. Forward Caitlin Gresko ’25 also came alive in the quarter with six
points. Brandeis was down one point in the final minute, but the team could not get any shot to fall and ultimately, they lost the game 73-74. In the game against Eastern Nazarene, the Judges took the lead quickly in the first quarter and then never looked back. Casanueva and forward Kerry Tanke ’22 had six points in the quarter, while Gresko led the team in rebounds with four. In the second quarter, Casanueva and Tanke again had six points to lead the team. Reavis distributed the ball well with three assists. During the final two quarters, the Judges were outscored, however, their lead built up in the first two quarters was too much for Eastern Nazarene to overcome. The final score of the game was 66-51, giving Brandeis a big win. Tanke
finished the game with 18 points and Casanueva added 13. Gresko had an all-around good game with six points, 10 rebounds and two steals. A month later the Judges faced off against New York University (NYU). The two teams went back and forth for three quarters. Tanke started the first quarter well with seven points and two rebounds. Every player in the starting lineup scored. Casanueva had three points and two assists. The starting lineup continued to play well as Gresko and Reavis both had five points in the quarter. Tanke had another seven points and four rebounds. Both teams were inconsistent in the third quarter on offense. The two teams combined to score just 26 points. In spite of this, Tanke still scored six points. Going
into the fourth quarter, Brandeis was winning 56-53. The NYU offense proceeded to go on a strong run and outscore Brandeis 23-12 in the final quarter. This led to a Brandeis loss of 68-76. Three Brandeis players finished the game with double-digit points. Tanke had 20, Reavis had 13 and Casanueva had 12. Tanke led the team in rebounds with eight, while Casanueva led the team in assists with six. The Brandeis women’s basketball team will play against Carnegie Mellon on Jan. 14, 2022. Editor’s note: Francesca Marchese is a staff writer for The Brandeis Hoot and did not contribute to the writing or editing of this article.
Brandeis swim & dive place seventh By Sasha Skarboviychuk editor
The Judges competed at the Gompei Invitational at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Sunday, Dec. 5. They earned 3,400 points during the three-day competition. Two new school records were set in one event by the women. Chloe Gonzalez ’25 set Brandeis’ record with a time of 53.46 in the 100-yard freestyle, however, in the next heat, Ema Rennie ’23 broke Gonzalez’s record with a time of 53.41. Rennie also placed eighth. In the 400-yard freestyle
relay event, Gonzalez, Rennie, Bailey Gold ’23 and Monica Iizuka ’24 placed fifth, while also setting a new school record with a time of 3:37. In the 200-yard butterfly, Gold placed second with a time of 2:07.42. In the 200-yard backstroke, Iizuka placed ninth with a time of 2:11.33. On the entire team, 13 events qualified for individual finals. The men’s team also had 13 events that qualified for individual finals. Sam Dienstag ’24 won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:44.82; the second-place swimmer was over 30 seconds behind. In the 400-yard freestyle
relay, Dienstag, Benton Ferebee ’22, Brendon Lu ’22 and Dylan Levy ’24 finished ninth, with a time of 3:12.16. In the 50-yard breaststroke, Seth Shin ’24 placed fourth with a time of 27.61. Andrew Ngo ’25 placed eighth in the 100-yard individual medley, with a time of 54.56, while Tal Spector ’25 finished the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.90, placing 10th. The swimmers are back in the pool on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 1:00 p.m. They will compete against Bridgewater State and Keene State.
PHOTO BY SASHA SKARBOVIYCHUK/THE HOOT
Men’s basketball wins four straight games By Justin Leung editor
Before winter break, the Brandeis men’s basketball team played four games in the month of December. On Dec. 3, the team played in the New England Big Four Challenge against Babson College. In the first half, both teams were very even, as the score was 30-25. Guard Colin Sawyer (GRAD) led the team in scoring with 12 points. Forward Chandler Jones ’22 came off the bench and added eight points and three rebounds. Both teams had inconsistent shooting as Babson shot 37.9 percent from the field, while Brandeis shot just 33.3 percent. The key difference came from the Judges’ 3-point shooting as Brandeis had four more 3-pointers in the first half. The second half started with just
a five-point lead from Brandeis. Both teams saw increased shooting efficiency, and this resulted in 40 points from Babson in the second half and 42 from Brandeis. This led to a 72-65 win for the Judges in the New England Big Four Challenge opener. The second-half scoring for Brandeis was led by guard Dylan Lien ’23 as he added 11 points and three assists in the half. Overall, the Judges beat Babson in all aspects of the game. Brandeis outrebounded them by eight and had nine more free throw attempts. On Dec. 4, the Judges faced off against Tufts University in a quintuple overtime championship game. Both teams had limited scoring within the first half as the Judges had 25 points and Tufts had 21. Sawyer led the team in scoring with six. Forward Nolan Hagerty ’22 led the team in rebounds with five. The team had
eight more rebounds than Tufts in the first half. Going into the second half of the championship game, the Judges looked to maintain their fourpoint lead. With three seconds remaining, Tufts tied the game to move to overtime. Sawyer and Hagerty led the team in scoring with 12 and 11, respectively. Jones had six points off the bench in the half. However, the team shot just 35.5 percent from the field. The game was locked for four consecutive overtime periods. This led the teams to remain tied going into their fifth overtime period. In the fifth overtime, Brandeis went right after Tufts and attempted to get to the freethrow line as much as possible. Forward Toby Harris ’25 accomplished this as he had eight points in the period with five of them coming from the free-throw line. The team overall had 11 points in
the overtime period just from the free-throw line. Overall, the game ended with a score of 108-102. On Dec. 7 the Judges faced Lasell University. The Judges took the lead quickly in the first half and did not look back. Brandeis took 43 points compared to Lasell’s 23. Sawyer and Harris had 10 points in the half with Hagerty adding six points and six rebounds. Overall, the team shot 58.6 percent from the field. In the second half, the Judges continue to push their lead. They shot well overall 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line. Harris had another 10 points in the first half. Guard Austin Clamage (GRAD) had six points after coming off the bench while not missing a single shot. The final score of the game was 88-44 in favor of Brandeis. In the team’s final game before going on winter break, the Judges
faced off against Colby College. The first half saw both teams’ neck and neck as the score was 30-29 with Brandeis leading by one point. Jones led the team in scoring with eight and was followed by sophomore Ryan Power ’24 who had seven points. The second half saw the lead slip away from Brandeis as the team was down by seven points with three minutes in the game. However, the Judges made a strong comeback within the last three minutes. Jones finished the comeback with a clutch free throw with three seconds remaining to take a one-point lead. Colby College would not get another shot off leading to a final score of 69-68. Since that game, the team has not played another game due to the games being postponed.
