By Chris Judd, News Correspondent
The Northeastern women’s rowing team lost in the Orange Cup to Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday in Philadelphia, Pa., but the weekend turned around for the Huskies on Sunday with another chance to race.
They placed second in the Woodbury Cup in Ridgefield Park, N.J. with a win against Dartmouth College, but a loss against Columbia University. After their weekend performances, the Huskies are now 2-6 for the year.
Northeastern took an early lead in the first varsity eight race in the Orange Cup, but fell behind in the second 500 meters. They held onto second place until Pennsylvania overtook them with about 600 meters left in the 2000-meter race.
“So far this season the varsity eight has been able to get out of the gates with everyone we have raced,“ coach Joe Wilhelm said. “This is a great skill to have, but we need to work on maintaining our speed as the race goes on … The crew did a better job on Sunday of starting strong, and holding off a really hard-charging Dartmouth crew.“
The first varsity eight team finished eight seconds out of first at 6:35.9. The second varsity eight team also finished eight seconds out of first (6:50.9).
On Sunday the Huskies had mixed results, falling into the middle of the pack by the time all four races were finished. Their varsity eight team finished in second place (6:41.3), which was 10 seconds ahead of Dartmouth but 13 seconds behind Columbia.
“Despite losing to Columbia, I was much happier with the effort of the varsity eight on Sunday,“ Wilhelm said. “They made the adjustments we were looking for after Saturday’s race, and beat a good Dartmouth crew, that is what the season is all about. I don’t think our overall team effort this weekend was where it needs to be. As a team, we still need to develop the tenacity that it takes to win races.“
The women’s rowing team will next compete this weekend in the Knecht Cup in Cherry Hill, N.J. So far, the Huskies have not faced any Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) competition. Since the winner of each conference automatically gets into the NCAA tournament, the Huskies have time to compete against some of the best rowing teams in the nation without a penalty to their record when it comes to the NCAAs.
“The four schools we faced this weekend…are all very good programs, and will all be in the hunt for a spot in the NCAAs. We expect to be competitive with these crews as the season goes on, but we haven’t hit our stride yet…We have six weeks before the CAA championships, and we expect to make substantial improvements in that time.“
With only two weeks into the season, the Huskies have not faced any conference competition. The only CAA team the Huskies will race against in the regular season is going to be Boston University in the rowing Beanpot on April 28. They will also be competing against crosstown rivals Boston College, Harvard, and MIT.
Although the men’s rowing team did not compete this weekend, the men’s varsity eight team was ranked as the sixth-best team in the nation in the 2013 season’s first US Rowing Collegiate Poll after sweeping George Washington University, Pennsylvania and Georgetown University in the Pennsylvania Invitational. They will compete against Boston University this weekend on the Seekonk River in Providence, R.I.
