Broadside Sports

By John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor

I’ve been hard on some teams this year and I’ve been easy on others. And I’ve let readers know a little too much about my NASCAR obsession.

In the world of George Mason University sports though, we are wrapping up the spring season, the tail end of this year’s sports. So let’s take a look at what happened this year and what to look forward to in the future.

The first thing that comes to mind is the women’s soccer team and the women’s tennis team, who both enjoyed turnaround years. On the women’s soccer side, the team graduated nine seniors and won nine more games than the previous year.

The women’s tennis team improved from last year’s mark of 9-12. While the team seemed to have problems facing Drexel in the conference championship, it will be looking to beat them next year, especially if they meet in the tournament again.

I’ve been singing the praises of the track and field team. The women’s team finished second in the conference championship, and the men’s team won the championship. How can a team possibly improve on that? By winning it again, and continuing its dominance in the conference.

In the world of wrestling, Mendbagana Tovuujav (it took me a long time to get the name right) showed his dominance by being named Second-Team VaSID All-State at 174 pounds. The rest of his team needs to take his lead and back up the sophomore leader to win next year’s matches.

The softball team needs to turn themselves around though. Some of the team’s key players have been highly publicized by Broadside in the Player Spotlight section, and they need to live up to higher expectations.

The baseball team needs to show dominance in its only two remaining conference series, and especially in the championship. The team needs to get the momentum to push it into doing well in the latter part of the year.

The women’s basketball team needs to find some way to score. Even a great defensive team can’t win a game if they fail to put shots up and points on the board.

I know I’ve beat the men’s basketball horse to death, but I really am expecting great things from them, such as making it to at least the third round of the championships, if not winning it.

So look out next year for the conference predictions, and good luck to all teams, athletes and especially you, my incredible readers.