Weekly sports roundup: Women's swimming places third in Ivies

Coming at the end of a season of intense competition, the women's swimming and diving team finished third in the Ivy League at the conference's championship meet at Brown this weekend. All but one of the 22 swimmers competing for Yale scored points, and the Bulldogs improved over last year's fourth-place finish. Harvard claimed the championship, and Princeton came in second. 

In other sports news this week (information from Yale Sports Publicity):

With just two weeks of competition left for the men's basketball team, the Bulldogs are vying with Harvard for the league title and a trip to the NCAA tournament: the teams were tied for first going into the weekend, but Yale (14–10, 8–2 Ivy) fell one game behind after a loss to Columbia 62–46 on Sunday Ended a seven-game winning streak. Earlier this week the team defeated Cornell 82–65.

The women's basketball team notched two wins this week. The Bulldogs (12–12, 6–4 Ivy) took down Cornell 60–52, then went on to defeat Columbia 73–68 the next day. Yale is now fourth in the Ivy League, behind Princeton, Penn, and Harvard. 

Last week, for the first time since the No. 14 men's ice hockey team prevailed over Harvard at the Rivalry on Ice at Madison Square Garden, the Bulldogs took on the Crimson—and the results were just as impressive. Yale (14–8–5, 9–7–4 ECAC) took down Harvard 5–2 and went on to make a 3–3 overtime tie against Dartmouth. 

The No. 4 women's squash team completed this weekend's Howe Cup with two wins and a loss. No. 5 Princeton and No. 3 Penn each fell to Yale with scores of 5–4, while the Bulldogs lost to the Crimson, ranked first in the nation, with a score of 6–3. The victory against Penn earned Yale a third-place finish at the meet—and a third-place national ranking--just days before the CSA individual championships at Penn this weekend. 

Facing three other Ivy competitors, the gymnastics team placed second with 190.250 points at this weekend's Ivy Classic. Brown, which hosted the meet, won, and Penn and Cornell took third and fourth place, respectively. The day's top scores went to Morgan Traina ’15, who made a 9.825 on the balance beam, and Camilla Opperman ’16, who scored a career-high 9.825 on the floor exercise.

At this weekend's US Collegiate Squad Championships at Penn, the men's and women's fencing teams put forth a lackluster performance. The women came in fifth in epee, fourth in saber, and sixth in foil, while the men came in fourth in epee, fifth in saber, and fifth in foil. Now both teams have a break until NCAA Championships next month. 

It was a tough week for the women's tennis team at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama. The No. 36 Bulldogs fell 4–1 to No. 21 Texas Tech on the first day of competition, and then lost 4–3 to Illinois on the second. The final round of competition brought better fortune for Yale, which beat No. 75 Tulane with a score of 4–2. No. 14 Alabama, the meet's hosts, won the tournament. 

Just beginning its 2014 season, the softball team saw some disappointing results in the its first couple of matches. The Bulldogs fell to Wagner and Norfolk State, with scores of 9–7 and 3–1, respectively, at the Norfolk State Tournament in Virginia Beach. But the team quickly bounced back from the loss and defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 4–1 in their final match at the tournament this weekend. 

Thanks to a second-half shutdown, the women's lacrosse team earned a victory for Yale in its very first game of the season. The team defeated Holy Cross 10–8. Midfielder Erin Magnuson ’15 scored three goals for the Bulldogs. 

This weekend's season-opener was just as strong for the No. 13 men's lacrosse team, which defeated No. 19 St. John's with a score of 10–6. This week, the Bulldogs take on Bryant. 

Two home games ended in disappointment for the women's ice hockey team this weekend — but Yale certainly put up a fight. The Bulldogs made a 3–3 overtime tie against Harvard, ranked fifth in the nation, on Friday and then suffered a 2–1 loss against Dartmouth on Saturday. Next up for the team: the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals.