UMW athletics falls short for homecoming games

By RYAN BRAUCH

Staff Writer

Last weekend Mary Washington athletics hosted various teams for their 2017 Homecoming. Unfortunately, the tailgate was about all the UMW students, faculty, and alum could enjoy, as a majority of UMW’s teams lost their Homecoming games. Volleyball and men’s rugby were the only two teams that played that topped their opponents in front of the home crowd.

Men’s soccer played a highly competitive, low-scoring game against Christopher Newport University. Daniel Zeitoun of CNU, scored the first and only goal for either team in half, about twenty minutes into the game off of an assist by teammate Davis Pillow. UMW’s Jeremy Hokenson found an opportunity to tie up the game early in the second half, on a Gary Foley assist. After keeping the game tied for a large portion of the second half, Jimmy Grace of CNU nailed a penalty kick to put CNU up 2 to 1 against UMW with only a few minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they were unable to hit a game tying goal and lost the game.

Christopher Newport continued to spoil UMW’s Homecoming weekend, as they ripped past our Lady Eagles in the women’s soccer game. Brooke Bauman put UMW up early in the game, but it was all downhill from there, as the Eagles let the Captains score five unanswered goals. CNU had an absolute field day on offense following Bauman’s goal.

On the opposite side of campus, the volleyball team was able to provide an uplifting win for their home crowd. Peyton Dunow shined with 14 kills against Southern Virginia, leading the Eagles to a 3 to 1 victory. UMW now has a 15 to 9 record and 5 to 2 conference record as they prepare for their last game of the regular season.

Field hockey struggled on Saturday, failing to score against Salisbury. Both teams went scoreless in the first half, but Camryn Dennis of Salisbury cracked the game open with a score off of a penalty kick early in the second half. The Sea Gulls then scored on the Eagles twice in a span of three minutes then closed out the game with two more goals, as Salisbury made easy work of the Eagles 5-0.

The women’s rugby team had an interesting twist for their Homecoming game, as they brought back a team full of some of their best former players for the Alumni game. Fans could easily see the love the current and former players had for each other and the fun they were having. Unfortunately for our current players, the former players had a little too much fun and put on a clinic, demolishing the current players 133 to 7. In our current players’ defense these were some of the school’s best former players, some of which have even represented the United States internationally.

Fortunately, the men’s rugby was able to remain undefeated, as they handled Virginia Tech 55 to 10. Our male ruggers were the highlight of Homecoming, putting on a show for the home fans, defeating a respectable team such as Virginia Tech.

Although most of Mary Washington’s athletic teams failed to capture a win for Homecoming weekend, the fans seemed to have a fun time tailgating and spectating the games.