BY CAITLIN LYNCH '20
The Student Athletic Advisory Committee is hosting its fourth annual toy drive in conjunction with the Springfield, Holyoke and Van Wart offices of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. SAAC gets a list from DCF of children in the area who would not otherwise receive holiday gifts, and Mount Holyoke students can sign up to sponsor them.
BY CAITLIN LYNCH '20
Mount Holyoke Field Hockey ended its regular season on Saturday with a 4-0 victory over Wheaton College, and defeated Wellesley College 2-1 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the NEWMAC Field Hockey Championships. With the two wins, the team moved to 5-3 in regular season NEWMAC rankings and 12-6 in total games
BY ANNA BALLOU '20
This past Saturday, the MHC Equestrian Team hosted eight other college equestrian teams for their first home Intercollegiate Horse Show Association show of the competitive season. MHC finished the day first out of the nine competing teams, with a total score of 45, only four points shy of perfection.
BY ANNA BALLOU '20
On a bitterly cold Tuesday afternoon, Mount Holyoke Soccer fought in overtime against local conference rival Smith College. The game took place at the Pioneers’ home field and marked Mount Holyoke’s penultimate game of the regular season. With the 3-2 loss, Mount Holyoke fell to 8-9-0 overall and 2-7-0 in the NEWMAC.
BY ANNA BALLOU ’20
In a competitive field of nine teams, the Mount Holyoke Equestrian team saw a first overall finish at the Intercollegiate Horse Show this past Saturday. The equestrian team completed the day with a total score of 40, edging out local rival and host Smith College by only one point. At the second show of the competitive season, the team had seven riders take first place in their respective disciplines and 18 place in the top three.
Photos by Tsion Girmay ’19
Mount Holyoke Rugby defeated MIT with a score of 61-38. Their record improves to 3-1 in their conference.
BY CAITLIN LYNCH ’20
Mount Holyoke Rugby proved their worth on Saturday with a win against MIT. The final score was 61-38, and the win brought Mount Holyoke to 3-1 in the New England Wide Collegiate Rugby Conference.
The match started off with a score by MIT. “They scored the first try, but after that we kicked it up,” said captain Julia Seiple ’18. Within five minutes of play-time, Mount Holyoke took the lead and sustained it through the end. “We played really strong throughout the whole game, even to the last minute. I’m really pleased with how this team has grown,” said Seiple.
MIT rugby only had 10 eligible players this weekend, but NEWCRC requires 15 players per side. MHC Rugby has 38 players on roster with about 24 active members, and so was able to lend five players (Elyse Tunkelrott ’20, Anne-Gail More- land ’20, Basil Bartlett ’19, Emily Kellogg ’20 and Hampshire junior Nyk Lifson) to MIT to even the playing field. “It’s actually really cool to play when we have some of our players on the other team because it’s nice to be familiar with who you’re playing,” said loose forward Eloise Nimocks ’17. “Some of the best plays by people who are technically on our team were done when they were playing for MIT. They had some really good intercepting plays.” Inside center Erin Murdock ’18 noted that this switch-up made the game more fun: “It’s like a pleasant surprise to go into a ruck against a teammate. It also helps our players feel more comfortable because they are competing against familiar faces.”
Because MIT did not have a full team, the competition on Saturday was technically a scrimmage as opposed to an official match. No matter what you call it, the rugby players are proud of their performances against (and, in five cases, assisting) MIT. “Normally there are some moments when we’re not so strong in our play, usually having to do with defense, but this time we really came together,” said captain Bennett de Paula ’17. “There weren’t just one or two good moments, there were many of them and they were back to back. It was really good rugby.”
The team feels as though this win was indicative of the improvements they have made since the beginning of the season. “We’ve been on an upwards trajectory in our overall skill as a team,” says de Paula, “we’re really getting to the point where we’re doing well for ourselves.”
Mount Holyoke Rugby is currently ranked second in their conference, with Amherst College in first. The two teams face off at Amherst this Saturday, Oct. 22 at 1 p.m.
BY MARYA JUCEWICZ '17
Former field hockey captain Laura Murphy ’15 was honored with a memorial service in Abbey Chapel on Sunday after having been killed in a car accident this summer. Murphy’s life was also celebrated with a reception at Kendall Sports and Dance Complex after the service, and with the field hockey team’s annual Alumnae Game. The game was permanently renamed the Laura Murphy ’15 Alumnae Game in her memory.
BY MARYA JUCEWICZ '17
Five different players added a goal for Mount Holyoke in the soccer team’s 7–1 rout of Bay Path University Tuesday night at home.
Avia Jacobs ’19 scored two quick goals early in the first half thanks to assists from Sara Sanaú Ruiz ’19, giving the Lyons a 2–0 advantage less than five minutes into the match.
Mount Holyoke found their stride again at 20:50, when Dale Leonhart ’19 scored on an assist from Hannah Finn-Erb ’20. Liz Rose ’18 kept the momentum going for the Lyons, scoring just a couple of minutes later on another assist from Finn-Erb.
Finn-Erb found the net herself in the 25th minute with a quick shot at the left post. These three goals, scored in just five minutes, widened the lead to 5–0 for Mount Holyoke.
Jamie Collings ’18 added one more goal for the Lyons before the half was over, firing a shot past Bay Path senior goalkeeper Alma Rizvani on a rebound.
The Wildcats finally got on the scoreboard at the 57-minute mark thanks to a goal from freshman Joanna Feliciano. Feliciano scored on a penalty kick after a foul in the box by the Lyons.
Collings scored again in the second half on an impressive unassisted effort to widen the Lyons’ lead to 7–1.
Lyons goalkeeper Amanda Manaster ’19 earned the win, posting three saves. For Bay Path, Rizvani had seven saves and freshman Caitlyn Esposito had two.
On Saturday afternoon the Lyons took a 2–1 loss to Emerson College. Two Emerson goals less than three minutes apart early in the second half gave the Lions a 2–0 lead with less than half an hour left in the match.
Finn-Erb found the net for the Lyons in the 88th minute on an assist from Cora Melcher ’20 to close the gap to 2–1 before time ran out for Mount Holyoke.
The Lyons have a record of 5–4 and will face MIT in Cambridge on Saturday, Oct. 1.
