By Bradley Rosenberg
The Huskies’ hopes of winning the Orange Cup were blown out of the water Saturday by a dominant Syracuse crew and an assertive U. of Penn. team, leaving the NU women’s crew team with a third place finish and a boat-load of disappointment.
Syracuse finished first with a time of 6:41.3, winning their third Orange Cup in the process. NU and Syracuse then battled it out for second, with Syracuse only gaining the advantage during the last 500 meters, according to NU coach Joe Wilhelm. Syracuse then snatched second with a time of 6:48.9 while NU got third with a time of 6:53.7. The Huskies now sit with a record of 3-2.
But, Wilhelm is not happy.
“We weren’t aggressive enough,” he said. “I think our varsity rode well, but they just weren’t as aggressive as the other teams. I think we were just a little bit flat, and if you’re flat in a league like our’s, you’re going to get beat.”
Wilhelm, however, still has hope.
“I think this is one of the strongest teams that we’ve had, but it’s hard right now,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of water time. I think that the potential is there, though. We’re just finding our stride.”
Part of that potential was shown through the victory of the novice crew members. They beat both Syracuse and Penn. with a time of 7:22.2, preventing a complete sweep by Syracuse.
“[The] Novice-8 [team] was particularly good,” he said. He also gave praise to the Varsity-4, saying that “those guys deserve a lot of credit.”
Kathryn Foy, a freshman bowman for the novice team, is glad that they were able to give their coach a good showing.
“Our race went well,” she said. “I think that the novice team is definitely improving with each race.”
Jessica Shaw, a freshman stroke seat for the novice team, agreed, stating that the team “is doing really well,” but attributes their success to “good coaching, training hard, preparation, and taking each stroke seriously.”
As for next week, when the team takes on Columbia, Navy, and the University of Massachusetts in New Rochelle, New York, Shaw is confident that the whole team will perform successfully.
“I think we’ll do well,” she says.
Wilhelm has similar hopes, but he says that will only happen if the team races as boldly as they can.
“Our goal for this week is to race a lot more aggressively and have the other teams match our speed,” he said. “You’re going to be a lot more successful if you go out there and set the tone for the whole race.”
