Posted by Audrey Nelson
The No. 5 field hockey team won both games against The College of New Jersey on Nov. 13 and against Eastern University on Nov. 14, placing the Thoroughbreds in the Final Four.
In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, hosted at Skidmore, senior Christine Kemp scored the winning goal in overtime for a 3-2 victory over TCNJ. The win advanced the Thoroughbreds to the quarterfinals for the second straight season.
Kemp scored the first goal of the game at the 13:39 mark with an assist from Lauren McCarthy '11. The Lions came back at the 28:59 mark tying up the score to 1-1. Skidmore answered a few minutes later with junior Annie Rosencrans's goal. The Thoroughbreds finished the first half with a 2-1 lead.
TCNJ tied it at 2-2 at the 42:10 mark, where the score stayed until overtime. The Lions had possession for most of the overtime period, but Kemp broke from the defense for a shot on goal. TCNJ keeper, Shannon Syciarz '12 made the save, but Kemp scored the rebound off her own knees to give the Thoroughbreds the 3-2 victory.
The third round of the tournament finished similarly with Rosencrans's game winning goal with 2:41 remaining on the clock. The final score was 4-3 against Eastern University. The win earned the team a place in the semifinals hosted in Newport News, Virginia.
The women will face Bowdoin College at 2 p.m. ET on Nov. 20. The Thoroughbreds improve to 20-1, setting a program record of a 19 game winning streak.
The Eagles scored a quick first goal at the 2:27 mark. Kemp set the score to 1-1 at the 8:09 mark, landing her 28th goal of the season. Four minutes later, senior Brittany O'Brien gave Skidmore the lead, making the score 2-1. Eastern tied it back up early in the second half, but Skidmore responded with another goal at the 56:13 mark when O'Brien redirected a shot from Rosencrans.
Within three minutes, the Eagles tied it up again at 3-3. With less than three minutes remaining, Rosencrans landed the winning goal with assist from O'Brien. The Thoroughbreds will travel to Virginia to compete in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 20.
Women's basketball
The Skidmore women's basketball team won their first game of the season against Sage College on Nov. 15. Junior Christina Gargiso scored a game-high 18 points to the game's final score of 62-53. Opening game for both teams, Skidmore improves to 1-0 while Sage drops to 0-1.
Skidmore held a close advantage of 31-30 at the end of the first half, but exchanged leads with the Gators until the 9:40 mark when Skidmore regained the lead at 41-40. Sage made a comeback to tie the score at 48-48 and was only down by two points at the 3:32 mark, but couldn't maintain the close game in the final minutes.
Four Skidmore players, in addition to Gargiso, finished with double-digits including junior Megan Gaugler with 12 points, first-year Jordyn Wartts with 11 points, and sophomore Jesse Kavana with 10 points. The Thoroughbreds will host a tournament on Nov. 19-20 and will play Oneonta State at 6 p.m., Nov. 19.
Men's & women's swimming & diving
The Thoroughbreds' swimming and diving teams competed at home for the first time this season on Nov. 13. Both teams lost to the College of St. Rose with scores of 184-96 for the men's team, and 171-106 on the women's team.
First-year Sarah Shaw finished strong in her races, taking second place in the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly, and third in the 400 IM. Senior Kelsey Carson took second in the 500 freestyle. Divers Kristen Stearns '13 and Krista Pelton '14 went 1-2 in the 1 and 3 meter dives.
In the men's meet, Stephen Lento '11 broke his own record in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:31:49. Teammate Jesse Adler '13 took second place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54:67 and in the 200 backstroke in 2:09:09.
The men's and women's teams will race Utica College at their second home meet on Nov. 20.