Men’s Soccer
2-4-2 (0-2 LEC)
As has been the case all season, it’s hard to get a real sense of how the 2012 Beacons will fare. They have been wildly inconsistent. After scoring four goals against Fitchburg, they only scored two in their next three matches, including a hard fought 0-0 tie in double overtime against Salem State on Sept. 19. Defensively, the guys have been rock solid. Brycen Dowd is fantastic in the net, but the guys have had trouble giving him any goal support. Bryce Menard and Hamza Abdul have also picked up some starts to give Dowd a rest. With only two outright wins so far, the guys are in an early hole, but with some potentially explosive goal scorers including Stefanos Galouzis, they can turn things around quickly.
Women’s Soccer
8-1 (2-0 LEC)
Wow. The ladies have completely shattered everyone’s wildest expectations so far this year, and have established themselves as the best team on campus. For a team that wasn’t even sure about where they were going to play this year, they have put everything together and have begun the season on an unprecedented eight-game winning streak. They only just lost their first match of the season, a wild 5-4 overtime contest against Wheaton on Sept. 25. Krista Ledin and Tayla Andrews are forming a lethal combination up front with 11 and 10 goals, respectively. Kristen Spain has been a huge surprise in goal, with a very strong .97 goals-against average. The Beacons are rolling right now, and talk of a conference championship is buzzing around the Clark Center. We’ll just have to see if they can remain humble for the rest of the year and bring some hardware to campus.
Women’s Tennis
2-5 (0-3 LEC)
The ladies at now playing with a full team, but they still are fairly inexperienced and as a result have lost some matches in the early part of the year. They’ll have to wait for a little while to get back on the court, because their Sept. 28 match against Western Connecticut was rained out. Hieu Nguyen and Sam Counts are leading the way, each sporting a 3-4 record. The doubles team of Counts and Nguyen also stands at 3-4.
In related news, the men’s team, tuning up for their spring season, thumped Colby Sawyer 9-0, so they’re looking very good heading into the winter break.
Volleyball
9-5 (3-0 LEC)
Although the Beacons aren’t displaying the same outright dominance that they showed last year, they are still a very solid and talented club. The ladies are yet to lose in the conference, but they’ve gone a pedestrian 6-5 outside the LEC. One of those losses came last Tuesday at Bowdoin, where they were swept three sets to none. The season has been a challenge for the Beacons because construction has forced them to abandon their home floor for the year. Even their tournament, the Beacons Invitational, has been moved to Tufts. There is, however, good news. The ladies were on a five-match win streak before the loss at Bowdoin, and as usual Shannon Thompson has had an all-star season. If the ladies can hit their stride, they will still be NCAA Tournament contenders with a good chance of winning the Northeast region.