By Kirby Morrison, News Correspondent

The women’s crew placed second in the highly contested 30th rowing of the Orange Cup Saturday, narrowly losing to Syracuse while barely ousting Pennsylvania. Northeastern finished the 2000 meter course on Lake Onondaga, Syracuse, NY in 7:06.8, trailing only Syracuse’s time of 7:03.5. Pennsylvania finished third in 7:08.1.
Despite the second place finish, Northeastern has won the Orange Cup 15 times since 1981, including first place finishes in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Head coach Joe Wilhelm said the race is an important test for his team.
‘ ‘It’s very important, we look at [The Orange Cup] as two crews that historically and right now are fairly comparable in speed to us. It’s always a contested race and I think it gives us a good indication at this time of the year. You’ve got three programs that have been to the NCAA championships and have it on their agendas to get back there.’
A strong head wind and choppy waters at the start of the course made for tough conditions as Syracuse jumped out to an early lead and held onto it for the rest of the morning. Northeastern and Pennsylvania battled for second place until the 1500 meter mark when Northeastern securely grabbed second place.
‘Looking at the results from the last couple weekends and from what Syracuse and Penn have done, we knew this year was going to be a close race,’ Wilhelm said. ‘I think there were some things we could’ve done better in the middle of the race to make things more competitive.’
Northeastern looks ahead to the first-ever Colonial Athletic Association Championship next Saturday on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia and to the EAWRC on May 17 which will be held on the Cooper River in Camden County, New Jersey.
The men’s crew won the 32nd annual Arlett Cup with a half-length victory over Boston University.
The Huskies, with the aid of a tailwind, sped over the 2000-meter Charles River course in 5:50.3 to the Terriers’ 5:50.9. Northeastern led all the way, taking a two-seat lead at the settle, expanding it to four seats at 500 and six at 1500. NU has won eight of the last nine Arlett Cups and is now 39-11 all time against the Terriers. Saturday the Huskies will travel to the Seekonk River to face Brown, who lost to Harvard immediately before the NU-BU race.

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