Tag: Stevens

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

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.

Posted on

First Coach’s Corner Interview

Earlier this week, the Stevens Athletics Department launched its own YouTube channel. It is a pretty good way to share views of the coaches, student-athletes and even some game footage from the games that take place. I think they have done a pretty good job adapting the change in social media by connecting with fans through Twitter, Facebook and now YouTube.

The first interview was conducted by Rob (our Sports Information Director) which was done two days ago with the Head Baseball Coach John Crane and the second one, which is embedded below, is my first one with Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach Celine Cunningham.

There are going to be more of these as the semester progresses and selfishly, it is quite unfortunate this is all starting in my last semester. However, comparing it to how things were when I first started school here — the change has been awesome.

Blame the darkness of the video on a gloomy, rainy day in Hoboken but I thought the interview went beautifully and Celine is always a pleasure to talk to, both on and off the record. She’s a huge Maryland fan and she took some Duke jabs at me before the interview so I’m homing Coach K and company take care of business in the ACC.

While watching this video, please be critical towards me — as critical as you can get, as I want to use this to improve my own techniques like I definitely should have had a straighter posture and maybe applied a couple of follow up questions. What else do you suggest?

To view this video at the Stevens YouTube Channel, click here.

Posted on

One Last Fascist Email (Hopefully)

Well there was one final “warning” sent about 8pm tonight and this one might have been sent out to the entire Stevens community as opposed to the other ones being just to those residing in off-campus housing.

Enjoy:

To:     Stevens Community
From:   Kenneth Nilsen, Dean of Student Life
Date:   March 5, 2010
Re:     Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Parade

The Hoboken St. Patrick’s Day Parade and associated city-wide partying will take place on Saturday, March 6, 2010.  This event brings thousands of people to Hoboken which in the past has created issues related to public intoxication, public indecency and general safety concerns.

As a result, Hoboken Police have established a “Zero Tolerance Policy” for open containers, public urination, excessive noise from house parties, and disorderly conduct. .  Specifically, the Hoboken Police along with the Hudson County Prosecutors Office will have officers (uniformed and plain clothes) enforcing the following ordinances:

  1. City Ordinance 145-23 A/B (Consumption of Alcohol/Open Container in Public)- Any person seen possessing an open container of alcohol in public faces maximum penalties of a fine up to $2,000, and the possible sentence of having to perform Community Service.
  2. City Ordinance 145-22 (Urinating in Public)- Any person observed urinating on public streets, sidewalks or in parks faces maximum penalties of a fine up to $2,000, and the possible sentence of having to perform Community Service.
  3. New Jersey State Statute 2C:33-12 (Maintaining a Nuisance) – House parties have become our largest problem on the parade day. The maximum penalties for this offense are imprisonment of up to 6 months and fines not to exceed $1,000.
  4. New Jersey State Statute 2C: 33-2a (Disorderly Conduct, Improper Behavior) – A Person is guilty of disorderly conduct if “with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof he, (1) Engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior, or (2) Creates a hazardous or physically dangerous condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose.” This offense carries maximum penalties of a 30 day prison term and a fine not to exceed $500.

The best approach is to act in responsible manner and avoid any behavior that makes you or your friends a target for a police officer response. If you have any questions, please contact Stevens Police at 201-216-5105.

Posted on

Muslim-American To Speak At Stevens

I got this email just about half an hour ago stating that as part of Women’s Programs and Graduate activies, Zainab Al-Suwaij will be hosting “Women’s Equality in the Muslim Word” on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 9:00 PM in the De Baun Auditorium.

The e-mail states:

At the age of 20, Zainab was one of the few women to join the 1991 intifada uprising against Saddam Hussein. After it’s failing, she went into hiding and eventually fled to the US where she became and citizen and a respected professor at Yale.

Co-founder of the American-Islamic Congress, Zainab provides an eye-opening account of her experiences as a Muslim-American & serves as a bridge across cultures, religious divides, & political differences.

I don’t think I have ever heard of the American Islamic Congress where she holds the position of Executive Director but this is their mission statement:

The American Islamic Congress (AIC) is a civil rights organization promoting tolerance and the exchange of ideas among Muslims and between other peoples. AIC challenges increasingly negative perceptions of Muslims by advocating responsible leadership and ‘two-way’ interfaith understanding. As Muslim-Americans, thriving amidst America’s open multicultural society and civil liberties, we promote these same values for the global Muslim community.

So I think any civic organization that is working towards achieving moderation and promoting tolerance between people of different faiths is certainly something worth listening to.

I will be attending the event later this month and will hopefully be able to provide a follow up to the event. If you go to Stevens or are even in the area, I urge you to attend and take a look for yourself and make your own judgment and even take part in the discussion on culture, religion and gender.

For more information on Zainab Al-Suwaij, please visit American Islamic Congress.