Women’s rugby
After a wildly successful season that saw the Bears (9-1, 7-0 Ivy) sweep their Ivy League competition and win a first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament, the women’s rugby team received one more accolade for its historic year: USA Rugby announced Saturday that Head Coach Kathy Flores was selected as the Female Coach of the Year.
This fall marked the Bears’ first season after being promoted from club to varsity status. With high expectations accompanying their new mantle, the team flourished, crushing its first nine opponents by an average of 42.4 points per game and winning the Ivy League championship before falling to Quinnipiac in the national semifinals.
Skiing
For the 36th consecutive divisional race, the skiing team emerged victorious. The Bears swept the Clarkson Carnival in Lake Placid, New York last weekend, extending their winning streak in the MacConnell Division of the Eastern Collegiate Ski Conference. The last time Bruno failed to earn first place in either a slalom or a giant slalom event was in 2011.
Natalie Pearl ’17 continued her dominant sophomore campaign, placing first in the slalom event Sunday. The phenom has finished with the best time in five of the six races that the team has competed in this season, earning her the top spot in the division’s individual standings.
Pearl has amassed 500 points on the season — 100 for each first-place victory. The only two competitors in the division within 200 points of the sophomore are teammates Ali Gunesch ’17 and Amanda Engelhardt ’15. Gunesch took home her first victory of the season in giant slalom Saturday, while Engelhardt earned second place in the slalom.
This weekend, the team will travel to Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire to compete in the St. Anselm Invitational.
Gymnastics
The gymnastics team came away with a victory in its second match of the season Saturday, defeating the University of Bridgeport, Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island in the Beauty and the Beast meet. Caroline Morant ’17 won the all-around, finishing first on the beam and second on the vault, earning the title of ECAC Co-Gymnast of the Week.
Competing at the same time as the wrestling team, the Bears defeated the Purple Knights, winners of six consecutive USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships, in addition to the Anchormen and Rams. Bruno narrowly fell to Bridgeport in its season opener at Southern Connecticut State two weeks ago and went winless in the teams’ three head-to-head meetings last season, before the Purple Knights claimed the national championship at the Bears’ own Pizzitola Center.
After winning the ECAC championship and their second consecutive Ivy League title last year, the Bears are off to a strong start. Their schedule will continue Saturday at Rutgers University with Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.
Women’s tennis
The women’s tennis team opened the spring season last weekend at the Ivy Kick-Off Weekend in New Hampshire. Bruno lost its first dual match to host Dartmouth but rebounded smoothly and secured a narrow victory over Cornell.
The Big Green (3-0) held serve on its home court, beating the Bears (1-1) by a comfortable 5-2 margin. The hosts took two of the three doubles matches — which equates to a single team point — and handled Bruno 4-2 in the singles contests.
But the Bears bounced back Sunday, drawing Cornell (0-2) 3-3 in singles and earning the all-important doubles point to win the matchup 4-3.
Hannah Camhi ’16, a former Herald sports staff writer, was a bright spot for the Bears over the course of the two-day event. The junior took both of her singles bouts, as well as a doubles match that sealed the win for Bruno over Big Red.
The team will return home for a dual match against UMass-Amherst (1-0) Friday at 4 p.m.
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