Besides being one of the biggest national sports events of the year, this Super
Bowl features a premier regional matchup – New York vs. New England, so the
local bars are sure to be high energy (and probably packed with Pats fans).

Coming off of two consecutive wins against Wheaton College and Simmons College in mid-January, the Mount Holyoke Swimming and Diving team turned in another strong performance in the Seven Sisters Championship held at Smith on Jan. 21 and 22. The Lyons racked up 637 points en route to a third place finish in the five team competition. The Championship title went to Wellesley for the fifteenth straight year. Vassar came in second place, while Smith and Bryn Mawr finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The highly anticipated Super Bowl XLVI will take place Sunday, Feb. 5 in Indiana for what is sure to be an unforgettable match-up between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. In 2008, the Giants and the Patriots played in Super Bowl XLII in Arizona. It was a very close game, but the Giants won 17-14. Quarterback Eli Manning earned MVP with the completion of 19 out of 34 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

We all came back from winter break with our New Year’s resolution in the forefront of our minds, hoping to make this the best semester ever (or at least better than the last one). For many of us, our resolutions went something like, “I want to get in shape” or “I want to shed a few pounds before summer.” We all know that at Mount Holyoke time is precious.

The recent scandal of sexual abuse at Penn State rocked the sports community on the regional and national level. Now, with a similar incident occurring at Syracuse University, speculations have been posed that the sports culture is one that considers itself above the law. The allegations against Syracuse Assistant Coach Bernie Fine have been found true; however, the physical evidence has surfaced past the statute of limitations, making the case too old to prosecute.

The Mount Holyoke Swimming & Diving team has splashed into its season with a strong start, winning three of its first four scoring meets. After returning from Thanksgiving break, the Lyons sprang back into action on Dec. 3, hosting Wellesley and Smith at their home invitational. In this non-scoring meet, events were timed but no points awarded.

Interview with Claire Dunnigan ’14.

At the age of 15, Ellaha Sharifi ’14 started a basketball team at her high school in Kabul, Afghanistan equipped with “just a ring” in the center of a court and one basketball. Sharifi was first introduced to the sport during a year in Missouri as a high school foreign exchange student. Although she had always been interested in sports, she explained that she was never given an opportunity to play because she was “just a female.”

The Mount Holyoke Field Hockey team put an emphatic exclamation point on an outstanding season with a 4-2 victory over Plymouth State University last Sunday in the ECAC Division III New England Tournament championship. Mount Holyoke last won the ECAC tournament in 2002.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, the Mount Holyoke College Ice Hockey team put up a good fight on the rink against Westfield State University. Although the final score was 0-11, the team gained serious momentum by the third period. The first period ended in a score of 0-5, and the second ended in 0-9. Although up against a more experienced team, goalies Lilia Sanzolone from Hampshire College and Cade Fridenbach ’13, struggled to make an impressive number of saves.