Nearly everyone on campus is excited this week for a variety of reasons. It’s the last full week of classes before Thanksgiving Break, and the fall semester is quickly drawing to a close as students eagerly chose their classes for the spring. However for many students on campus, this week marks the start of the first of many competitions and games for their winter seasons. Winter student athletes began practices on November 1st, so many of them are eager to dive into the pool and step onto the ice, court, track, or wrestling mat to finally start competition. Luckily HerCampus had the opportunity to catch up with some of the coaches and athletes participating in this winter season and compiled a quick preview to help you root on some of your favorite Trinity teams!
To start is Men’s Wrestling! They start at home this Friday against East Stroudsburg at 7 before heading up to Springfield, Mass. on Saturday for a Doug Parker Invitational match. Head coach Marques Gales is expecting big things from his guys who ended the season last year 7-11.
Next up is the Women’s Basketball team, who welcomed a new coaching staff this year. The head coach is now Emily Garner, and she added two assistant coaches to her team: Keyokah Mars-Garrick and Chelsey Bunyer. “We’re extremely excited about the upcoming season. We’re proud of the energy and focus coming from the team, and we are working to get better every single day,” Coach Garner shared with HerCampus earlier this week. Coach Mars-Garrick shared her matching sentiments telling us, “I couldn’t be more excited for this journey to start with the team this weekend. We’ve all waited a long time to come together on game day as we continue to focus on us and improving every day!” The Bantams went 12-11 overall last year and are looking to improve upon that record this year. They’ll start this Saturday at 1 in a tip-off tournament at Curry College.
The Men’s team will also be coming out for blood this weekend after ending their 19-8 season in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They’ll open up this Friday at 7:30 in The Hampton Inn Classic tournament up at UMass-Dartmouth. The boys are looking to do big things this year. Senior Chris Turnbull shares, “I know everybody can’t wait to put their Trinity uniform on. Right now as a team we are working to improve and grow each and everyday so we can continue to build upon the success we’ve had the past couple of years.” For this program success is a given with head coach James Cosgrove leading the pack. Coach Cosgrove was awarded Coach of the Year during Trinity’s annual athletic awards last spring, and he certainly wont stand for any of his Bantams slacking!
Of course you can’t be a true Trinity student without being up to date on how the Men and Women’s Squash Teams are doing. Historically successful, both squads are looking to crush it this year. Women’s Squash has already been ranked number three in the country according to some preseason polls, while Men’s Squash is ranked an impressive number one. Both teams will begin this weekend at home on Saturday at 11 and then again at 3 as they face off against Maine teams Bowdoin and Bates. If you can’t catch those matches, they play home again Sunday against Drexel at 10.
Women and Men’s Swimming and Diving have also been preparing to start this weekend. With meets on both Saturday (@ Hamilton, 12) and Sunday (Home, 12), these student athletes are excited to start off on a high note. As said by junior swimmer Nia Vogel, “I think that the start of the season is three things: Exciting, nerve-wracking, and bittersweet. It’s exciting because we’ve put in countless hours of work a week for a few minutes of competition on the weekends. I’m excited to cheer on my teammates, and that’s the whole point. It’s nerve-wracking because I spend so much time working so hard, so I would love to do well for both the team and myself. It’s bittersweet because our winter season is so short, and even though it’s only our first week of competition, it’s already one weekend closer to the end of season.” Here’s hoping this weekend calms those nerves, Nia!
The Women’s Ice Hockey team is also looking to dominate this season. They’ll start against Middlebury, who they lost to in NESCAC Semifinals last season 3-1. Keith Maurice and his team will be looking to avenge themselves this Friday at 7:30. The ladies lost 5 seniors last year, but are very eager to share the ice with their 7 new freshmen. “It’s just exciting!” says Melissa Maffeo, junior forward. “We’re so ready to go.” Both of these games are home, so try to head over to Koeppel to support the ladies this weekend.
Last, but certainly not least, the Men’s Ice Hockey program are looking to do big things this year. Two years ago the Men’s Ice Hockey team won the National Championship, and this year head coach Matt Greason and his team are looking to repeat that amazing feat. They won the NESCAC title last year but are hungry for more as they start off this season. This weekend they’ll play two games, Tufts on Friday at 7 and Connecticut College on Saturday at 3. These Bants are currently ranked sixth in the nation according to a USCHO Pre-Season Poll, so you certainly don’t want to miss these games.
For any additional information regarding these Winter Bantams checkout Trinity’s Athletic Site at http://www.bantamsports.com/. Go Bants!