Quotes of the Week (Week of Nov. 1)

In ‘Quotes of the Week’, The Back Page will look each weekend at the five best quotes of the week, providing context for the five best moments from the past seven days in Crimson sports.

“Our coaches have been stressing keeping the intensity and visualizing tackling people that we walk by on the streets to get in that mindset of having to do it on the field.” –Brandy Machado ‘13

In just the Crimson’s inaugural season, the women’s rugby team is two wins away from claiming an Ivy League championship. The team has not played since October 19 (a 36-0 blowout win over Princeton), but Harvard is staying ready as it preps for its first tournament game against Brown on Saturday. With a win, the second seeded Crimson would play either Dartmouth or Princeton for the Ancient Eight crown on Sunday.

“It is fun at artificial breaks, like the end of the season for example, to ask ‘How did we do?’, and ‘Are we working on the right things?’ If we measure ourselves against the competition we had, we had three wins and… it was a pretty successful fall. I am very proud of what the team did. I am very proud of how we worked as a team. Nobody takes days off, nobody is selfish.” – Women's golf coach Kevin Rhoads

The Harvard women’s golf team wrapped up its fall season this weekend at the Lehigh University Invitational in Pennsylvania. The team’s overall score of 600 was enough to seal a victory, earning the Crimson its third tournament win in four tries this fall. Junior Tiffany Lim led the way for Harvard, shooting a 74 and a 72 on Saturday and Sunday respectively. However, the Crimson were victorious on account of a well-rounded performance as all five of its players shot in the 70’s in both rounds.

“We knew that if we stuck to our game plan and just pressured them the whole field, they weren’t going to be able to handle us. We had trouble in the first half, but we refocused at halftime and just got back to our plan. The whole season we’ve been saying it over and over. If we just stick to our process, then we know good things are going to come, and you’re seeing it now.” –Daniel Smith ‘17

After opening the season 1-6-2, the Harvard men’s soccer team has initiated a massive turnaround. The team has won three straight conference games, propelling the Crimson (4-7-2, 3-1-0 Ivy) to second place in the Ancient Eight. In its most recent win, Harvard came back to beat Princeton 2-1 after freshman Daniel Smith scored the game-winner in the 83rd minute.

“We take pride in winning Ivy League games. We take pride in winning any game. But certainly it’s fun to beat Princeton...they’ve always been a rivalry of ours.” –Hilary Crowe ‘15

The seventh ranked women’s hockey team has opened the season with back to back wins, beating Quinnipiac 4-2 on Friday and Princeton 4-0 on Saturday. Since Quinnipiac is a member of the ECAC, both wins are conference wins for the Crimson, but the win over Princeton marks the team’s first true “Ivy League win.” Hilary Crowe had two goals and an assist, while goalie Emerance Maschmeyer notched 44 saves in the shutout.

“I think you’re going to learn just how resilient we are. Our kids have a tremendous amount of pride. Some years you lose a tough game like this, and you’ve got a maybe average opponent. We don’t have that luxury.” –Coach Tim Murphy

The Crimson football team saw its unbeaten streak come to an end this week when Princeton emerged from Harvard Stadium with a 51-48 victory in triple overtime. Despite coming up just short, Coach Tim Murphy is confident that his team will be quick to rebound.