New Haven, CT — The first day of competition is winding down.
Women’s C Division – E Division
Women’s C Division (Walker Cup): Earlier in the day, a quartet of NESCAC schools advanced to the semifinals. Amherst will play Colby in one semifinal, and Bates will play Bowdoin in the other.
Women’s D Division (Epps Cup): A year after winning the E Division, top-seeded Dickinson made a splash in their D Division debut, sweeping Haverford, 9-0. Not to be outdone, Wesleyan and William Smith also advanced out of the quarterfinals with 9-0 wins. Wesleyan, seeded second in the division, defeated Vassar, while the Herons took down the Boston College Eagles. William Smith will get a chance to reverse a first-semester loss to the Cardinals when the two teams meet tomorrow in the semifinals. Dickinson will play Connecticut College in the other semifinal. The Camels earned a berth in the semifinals with a 6-3 win over Mount Holyoke, the closest match of the day in the division. Tomorrow’s Dickinson-Conn contest may be another close one; the Red Devils won 5-4 over the Camels when the two teams met in mid-January.
Women’s E Division: The E Division matches were all scheduled for late evening, and results were not available at the time of publication.
Men’s C Division – H Division
Men’s C Division (Summers Cup): The top two seeds in the division marched into the semifinals with decisive wins. Coming into the weekend, it looked like number 1 seed Bates might have a bumpy trip in the first round after the Bobcats escaped Geneva with a 6-3 win over Hobart. Bates was back in fighting form today, sweeping the Statesmen, 9-0. Williams, the number 2 seed, also came out strong with a 9-0 win over Bowdoin. The Ephs are now 2-0 on the season against the Polar Bears. The University of Virginia opened the tournament with an 8-1 win over Colby, and Wesleyan proved that their regular season win over Amherst was no accident, winning 7-2. The two semifinals will feature rematches from the regular season: Bates versus Virginia, and Williams versus Wesleyan. During the regular season, Bates and Williams won their respective contests; will Wesleyan and Virginia be able to reverse those outcomes tomorrow?
Men’s D Division (Conroy Cup): Earlier in the day, the following teams advanced to the semifinals: Western Ontario, Denison, Dickinson, and Stanford. Western Ontario will play Denison in the semifinals, and Stanford will play Dickinson.
Men’s E Division: (Chaffee Cup): Top-seeded Tufts cruised into the semifinals without dropping a game to Lehigh. The Jumbos will face NYU in tomorrow’s semifinal; NYU advanced thanks to a 7-2 win over Georgetown. The other semifinal — Haverford vs. Connecticut College — may be one to watch. When the two teams played in January, Conn won by a one-match margin. Today’s matches weren’t quite as close. Haverford made it out of the quarterfinals with an 8-1 victory over Fordham, and Conn advanced with an 8-1 victory over the University of Chicago.
Men’s F Division (Serues Cup): Defending Serues Cup champions Boston College may have come into this weekend seeded last in the F Division, but the Eagles didn’t go down without a fight in their match against the University of Richmond. While the top-seeded Spiders still advanced to the semifinals, BC managed to take three matches off of Richmond. In the other quarterfinal played this afternoon, Boston University dispatched the University of Washington, 8-1. The other Serues matches — Northeastern versus Bard and Minnesota versus Miami — were scheduled for this evening.
Men’s G Division (Hawthorn Cup): Northwestern, the number 1 seed in the Hawthorn Cup, recorded a strong 8-1 win over Davidson to start the tournament. In tomorrow’s semifinal, the Huskies will face the winner of the Swarthmore-Wash U match scheduled for this evening. The Hawthorn Cup also saw the closest men’s match of the tournament so far: Penn State’s 5-4 win over Vassar. The Brewers led after the first flight of matches, but the Nittany Lions came from behind to take the win. Penn State will play Colgate tomorrow. Colgate swept Notre Dame to advance to the semifinals.
Men’s H Division: Duke University was the first H Division team to advance out of the first round. The Blue Devils notched a convincing 8-1 win over Oregon. The other H Division matches are scheduled for this evening and Saturday morning.
