Month: April 2010

Posted on

Pigott Falls Short Of Incredible NCAA Record

By being held scoreless in today’s game against Ithaca College, Stevens Women’s Lacrosse captain Alyssa Pigott has fallen just short of a remarkable NCAA streak that started way back on March 3rd of 2007. I have been told by our Athletics Department that the NCAA record stands at 68 games even though the record I found was Amy Appelt from the University of Virginia (according to NCAA Women’s D1 Records: Lacrosse) who scored a goal for her squad in 66 consecutive games. Appelt set the record over the course of her four years at Virginia from Feb. 27, 2002 to March 13, 2005 and ended up scoring 83 goals in her 85 career games at Virginia. Pigott’s streak snapped in her 68th collegiate game, just one game short of tying the all-time NCAA mark. She did however set the Division III mark, beating the record of Scranton’s Liz Baumbach who scored in 45 straight from March 28, 2001 to May 10, 2003. (NCAA Women’s D3 Records: Lacrosse)

Alyssa, who had scored a goal in every single game of her career until today, has scored 222 goals and remarkably has scored 6 goals (4 times) in a game as many times as she has been held to just one. Not surprisingly, a very balanced scorer both at home and on the road, she has averaged 3.26 goals per game in 31 home games while averaging 0.01 goals more in 37 games away from Hoboken. While amassing a 50-18 record since her freshman year, she has also averaged 3.46 in matches her squad has won as opposed to just 2.72 in losses. As if all those numbers were not enough, it is remarkable that she had scored a goal in every single game of her collegiate career up until the one earlier today in Ithaca, New York.

Usually I don’t write about an individual student-athlete setting some record but I thought this one deserves some attention. I had initially found out about the record a couple of weeks ago but due to a superstitious nature of a couple people, decided to hold off posting about it until she had at least tied the record. It also gave me some time to look up and calculate a couple of these stats so I guess it worked out in the end.

Alyssa and her Ducks went undefeated on a Spring Break road trip in Texas earlier this season by defeating Bowdoin College and SUNY Oswego before coming home and dropping a tough one against #6 Colby College in another competitive battle between two ranked teams. I talked with Coach Celine Cunningham earlier in the season on Coach’s Corner where she spoke of the high goals that this squad has said and we saw it by the continued display of excellence on the field with a thrilling triple overtime win against #8 ranked Union College early on in the season.

There was also a piece in Lacrosse Magazine in early March titled “Pigott Ready To Speak Up For Ducks” where they discuss the develop of Pigott not only as a player but as a leader and you can see that success has translated to wins against ranked opponents as opposed to the first year or two. With overall records of 12-8, 14-6, and 16-2 the past three season and 3-4 against ranked opponents (3-1 in their last 4 outings), you can see the dramatic improvement for the Ducks in the last 4 years.

Officially from Stevens, Alyssa was credited with goal number 200 in the win against Union College but my numbers only had her at 198 goals through the three games this season even with through using the ‘official’ statistics from Stevens Athletics. Breaking down her data year by year, she is credited with 53, 67, and 73 goals in her three full seasons and 30 so far this year which puts her up to 222. I only counted 52 goals her freshman year but that is an argument for a different day.

Once again, congratulations to Alyssa Pigott on a remarkable individual run, setting the D-III record and continued success to her and the rest of the squad the remainder of the season.

Feel free to check out statistics and game recaps from each of her games through out here career: 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 available via StevensDucks.com or follow Stevens Athletics on twitter @StevensDucks.

Posted on

Joshua Sacco: Great Speaker, Has Awful Parents

Great moments are born from great opportunities, and that’s what five-year-old Joshua Sacco had on Sunday night in front of a sold out Opening Night at Fenway Park. This kid apparently gained his fame last year when his YouTube clip grew in popularity and gained near cult status. He used the speech Herb Brooks gave his ‘Miracle on Ice’ squad before they went on to defeat the Soviets — with a little twist of course. Last Sunday night (opening night for the 2010 baseball season), he took his act from hockey to baseball and delivered the inspirational speech following by a few fist bumps by the Red Sox players.

Anyways, he still needs better parents to use his public speaking ability to improve his skills rather than saying “Screw ‘Em” in front of a sold out crowd at Fenway Park. Either way, he already has better public speaking skills than me so who am I to criticize?

Posted on

MLB Over/Under Game

Just had an Over/Under draw for the 2010 MLB season with my brother over at The World According To Me and I ended up winning the toss that we virtually held with a Canadian penny. I decided to take the 2nd and 3rd pick, he got 1st and 4th and then we alternated after that until we both had six picks each. The only rule was you can’t repeat a pick of another person but you could pick the same team if you decided to go in the other direction of the first pick.

For those not familiar with the game, Vegas sets a number for how many games each team is going to win. After that, you decide whether a team will go OVER or UNDER that amount, make your pick and forget about it until the end of the season. If any of you want to make picks with me before the rest of the season gets under way tomorrow, let me know.

Ayaz
1. Mets OVER 80.5
4. Giants OVER 81.5
6. Angels OVER 83.5
8. Philadelphia UNDER 92.5
10. Washington OVER 70.5
12. Yankees UNDER 95.5

Faraz
2. Detroit UNDER 80.5
3. Minnesota OVER 83.5
5. Tampa UNDER 89.5
7. Cubs OVER 82.5
9. Philadelphia OVER 92.5
11. Toronto UNDER 70.5

————————

Mike
1. San Francisco O81.5
4. Seattle O83.5
6. Washington O70.5
8. Boston U94.5
10. Angels U83.5
12. Cleveland U74.5

Faraz
2. Detroit U80.5
3. Minnesota O83.5
5. Philadelphia O92.5
7. Angels O83.5
9. Baltimore O74.5
11. Pittsburgh U69.5

——————————

Faraz
1. Mets O80.5
4. Minnesota O83.5
6. San Francisco O81.5
8. Angels O83.5
10. Cleveland U74.5
12. Washington O70.5

Cindy
2. Boston U94.5
3. Baltimore U74.5
5. Pittsburgh O69.5
7. Philadelphia O92.5
9. White Sox U82.5
11. Seattle U83.5

Posted on

MLB Predictions For The 2010 Season

1. Unfortunately, the Toronto Blue Jays will lose 100+ games this season. In addition to playing AL East teams 19 times who have all seemingly improved from last year, the Blue Jays have a month long stretch from June 18th to July 11th where they have one “easy” series. The teams they play are Giants (3), Cardinals (3), Phillies (3), @Indians (4), @Yankees (3), Twins (3) and Red Sox (3). A rough 22 game stretch going into the All-Star Break. I don’t think too many teams get to play that tough of a stretch very often. They certainly have a powerful offense to compete with anyone in the game but the lack of experience in pitching will probably cost them way too many games.

Even though I make that prediction, I am going to be rooting every day like there is not tomorrow for the Blue Jays to prove me wrong.

2. On the other hand, Yankees will not win 100 games this year. I have seen several reports that have them at 103/104 wins but I don’t see that happening in the ever improving and difficult AL East. They improved in CF by getting Granderson but lost clutch hitters like Damon and Matsui and Gardner/Swisher isn’t a very intimidating corner OF. I am interested in seeing how Vazquez does because I have a feeling he could end up wining the most games in that rotation this year.

3. Even without Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins will comfortably win the AL Central. Tigers improved a little not nearly as much as they needed to and that playoff type rotation for White Sox will only help them so much. Behind the leadership (and new contract extension) of Joe Mauer and some decent pitching, I think they still win the division by at least 10 games even without Joe Nathan.

4. Both winners of the West divisions will have less than 90 wins. It has happened a few times in the past decade for the NL West but not in the AL since 1998 when Texas won the division with with 88 wins. Both Dodgers and Angels should win their respective divisions again but the Angels will have a much tougher fight and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners are competing for a playoff spot in late August or early September.

5. The first baseball game of the season I will attend is going to be May 19, 2010 when Tampa Bay Rays come to the Bronx to play the Yankees. Haven’t bought any tickets to the game yet, but it is the first date when everyone is done with finals and it just might work out.

Posted on

Stevens And The Lack Of Recycling

There was a rather interesting take in my Public Policy class last night where the professor asked how many students recycled. I don’t think I recall a single person raising their hand much to the dismay of the professor but that leads to an overlying situation on the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology.

Although the administration on campus along with the students and faculty have tried to make efforts at times individually, but there is only so much they can do without an institution to support them. Until I moved into the 538 apartments, I never recycled on campus simply because there was no place to drop off the recyclable materials. Even moving off campus, it’s not like Stevens provided us with recycling bins which is something I learned about half way through the year — it turned out my roommate had gone out and purchased a bin for us that we have used since moving in. Even though I don’t know the exact amount, I would be fairly confident in taking the under if it O/U on our building was 1.5 apartment (not including us).

It is important to note that recycling on its own probably will not make that huge of a difference. People need to start making a concerted effort to reduce energy use on a person level by turning off lights in rooms that are not in use or turning the thermostat down a few degrees just as spring- and summer-time roll around. Students at Stevens live really close to the city and are most certainly within walking distance of almost every where they need to go so reducing the driving is not a very pressing issue. However, getting them to maintain this lifestyle once they are out of Hoboken is a much more troubling task.

There is a Green Engineering program at Stevens that claims the following mission statement:

The Green Initiatives Committee at Stevens represents all major constituencies on campus and is working to promote green approaches to all facets of the campus  environment, from academics to infrastructure, from purchasing practices to recycling. Most importantly it is fostering a green philosophy which is at the heart of reducing the carbon footprint of the campus and making sustainability a core value.

Not really sure how much of an impact they will really have on the day-to-day life on campus but the addition of solar panels have been good (not really sure how effectively they are being used) but its a start. Another positive step could be the addition of recycle bins through our very tiny campus and more reasonable usage of lighting probably wouldn’t hurt in the long run either.