No crowds, but revenge and guts.

Women’s rugby certainly doesn’t crowd the headlines or the stadiums, but there was an epic game today.

First, a little backstory. Last year the Eastern Panthers lost to the West Chester Golden Rams 10-19 (a devastating blow to their ego, and their near-perfect record). Today, they sought revenge in PA. And they didn’t just stick the knife in, they twisted it.

The Panthers absolutely slaughtered the Golden Rams 38-5, avenging their defeat and continuing their perfect record, now at 4-0.

Ahh, there’s certainly something to be said for the sweet taste of revenge.

Record Breaking Comeback

While perusing today’s sports updates and features, I stumbled upon a fun fact that I thought I would share. This one takes us to Austin, Texas where Austin College and the East Texas Baptist University battled out a DIII men’s soccer match.

EBTU scored at the 81:44 mark to put the Tigers ahead 2-1, but Austin College came back with a counter goal at the 81:51 mark. It is the fastest counter goal in Division III history. Seven seconds to be exact. Previously, a Catholic vs. Salisbury match held the title at ten seconds.

All I have to say is don’t mess with Texas.

Are you ready for some football?!

I just realized that I’ve neglected on of fall’s most cherished sport: the beloved All-American football. It is already late September and some teams are rising while other teams can’t quite keep their hands on the pig skin.

One of my favorite improve-as-they-go team on the season is Salisbury University, who has moved up in the polls week after week and now has a 3-0 record. The Sea Gulls have never been a stand-out team, nor were the expected to open the season with three wins. But their nickname preceeds them and just when you think you have that sandwich all wrapped up, the Sea Gulls come to steal it from you. This is certainly a team to keep your eye on this season.

Teams that have disappointed on the other hand are St. John’s and Bethel, who have always been midwestern powerhouses in DIII football, but both teams fell this week to Concordia and Arden Hills, respectively. I know early seasons losses aren’t the fatal blow, but it was a wild weekend to say the least.

Well, there’s a lot more football still to be played folks. Keep your eyes peeled and your giant foam fingers waving. Who knows what’s in store this week!

Some fun, some serious

Okay, so I might have a strange mascot fetish, but this is just too funny. Check out Wilkes College first life-size mascot: the Colonel:

Okay seriously, how funny is that. Students were given the opportunity to “try-out” to be the mascot. I wonder what sort of freakish 8th grade cheer leading moves mixed with dangerous amounts of alcohol that entailed?

Good luck to the Colonels and their new freakish mascot.

In other news, I wanted to send my best to Hanover College whose week long cancellation due to the remnants of Hurricane Ike has hindered the athletic schedule there. I hope all the athletes are hanging in there!

While we’re on bad news, the NCAA is reporting that costs for championship travel rose over 7% in the last year and 43% over the last three years. So that’s what all those tuition increases have been for.

That’s all for today sports fans.

Manic Monday!

It’s another crazy Monday and I’m at work…oh the glorious life of an intern.  Anyway, I had a quick chance to update all you sports fans on some weekend DIII sports news. First of all, I am super pumped to find out that the DIII Men’s Hockey Championship will again take place in upstate NY in beautiful Lake Placid on March 21 and 22. Last year the event shattered all kind of attendance records by attracting 10,000 fans! Holy smokes. And while the Bombers may not have a hockey team, Ithaca is close enough to Canada to love hockey and even if you aren’t a fan of the ice sport, chances are you will catch a fight, or at the very least someone’s loss of a tooth.

Okay, that’s all for today folks. Catch you on Wednesday.

Friday’s Foolishly Fun Mascot Madness

For the sake of TGIF workers everywhere, I want to keep Fridays fun, festive, and possibly foolish. So, I’ve decided to find the strangest mascots in Division III sports and highlight one every week. I don’t want to be too biased here, but what got me thinking about the especially strange mascots that pop out of the woodwork in Division III sports is the fact that Ithaca College doesn’t really have one. Sure we are the Bombers, but what is that? According to rumor a Bomber plane, and clearly after 9/11 [Not to get all GW on you] that didn’t fly so much. No pun intended.

Another school with a foolishly fun mascot is Williams College in Massachusetts. While known for its academics, the school is also well known in the area for it’s purple and gold cow. I didn’t know Massachusetts was known for its dairy products, nor such a fan of such lovely colors. The cow’s name, you ask? Of course, Ephelia is suiting. Don’t you think? Rumors from the way cows look grazing in the mountains near the school, to a ribbon touting baseball team run ramped all over the Internet, but no one is truly sure where the cow came to be. All we know is Williams College loves it. Just ask their beloved hockey team, who rocks that purple color more with more masculinity than Perez would ever dare to blog about.

What do you think of the purple cow with the gold spots? Scary huh?

A Belated Beginning

Well hello D-III sports fans! I’m a little behind my fellow bloggers here at The Ithacan, but I’m just going to blame that on the time difference. I’m currently doing a semester through Ithaca College’s Los Angeles program and will be posting from the city of sunshine [or angels, depending on how technical you want to be]. And since I am new to the Ithacan bloggers, I thought I’d take a second to let you know my background.

I love sports. I’ve been playing my whole life and while I never rose to D-III stature, I have been embarking on various athletic endeavors since I could walk. I’ve also been a sports writer here at The Ithacanfor three, opps, going on four years. I know, HUGE credentials. Enough about me, lets get to the action…

Maybe because I am a woman, or because Wednesday starts with a W, I’m going to designated Wednesday to women’s D-III sports and right now there are some interesting happenings. The Bowdoin women’s field hockey team is training in Argentina! Say whhhaaat? I know, I’m oozing with jealousy. Not only are they the top seed in women’s field hockey this fall, but they get to travel south of the border to train. Not too shabby if you ask me. You can check out what they are doing in their own words: http://bowdoinfh.wordpress.com/.

Wheaton Women\’s Soccer In other women’s D-III sports news, Wheaton College extended it’s winning streak to 36 straight games! They have been the most dominant force in D-III women’s soccer for almost five years now, and they show no sign of slowing down. Despite losing six starters, Wheaton still has it’s eyes on the NCAA championship. Maybe they should be in D-II? But that’s another topic for another day.

What else have wonderful women’s althetics been up to? I thought it might be interesting to check out some of the women’s D-III blogs on the NCAA website, but holy crap, they are BORING! Check out this one by a cross country runner from Amherst: http://www.ncaa.com/sport/default.aspx?sid=911&id=327890. My goodness, she could put her opponents to sleep on the trail reading that out loud.

Well, I think that’s all for this edition of the Hat Trick. I’ll catch up with you all on Friday for some freakish Friday trivia to round out the week.