SPORTSBRIEFS

Author: ZAMIR AHMED, SPORTS EDITOR

Panthers honored by NESCAC

Last week, the NESCAC named the All-Conference teams for winter sports and, not surprisingly, a number of Panthers were selected for their impressive performances during the season.

The Middebury women's hockey team collected the most accolades, claiming division honors for five players on the team. Leading the way was Emily Quizon '06, who was named the NESCAC Player of the Year for the second straight season and earned a place on the All-Conference First Team for the third straight year. Quizon is currently second in the NESCAC in points, tallying 38 in 26 games so far this season. Quizon's 19 goals and 19 assists rank her third in the league in each category. She recorded a hat trick in the first period of the NESCAC Championship game on March 5 to lead the Panthers to their fourth conference crown and second in as many years. Her efforts in that game and a goal and an assist in the semifinal game on March 4, led to her be named Player of the Week on Monday. She now has 169 points in her career, fifth on the all-time list.

Quizon was joined on the list by first-year teammate Annmarie Cellino. Cellino notched a league-leading 24 goals on the season, adding 17 assists for 41 points on the year, top in the division. She keeps improving as the season goes on and tallied a hat trick in the NESCAC Championship game as well in the 8-2 victory. Cellino's impressive rookie campaign earned her recognition as Rookie of the Year in addition to a place on the All-Conference First Team.

Also making it to the First Team were Shannon Tarrant '07 and Kate Kogut '06, while teammate Emily McNamara '07 earned a spot on the Second Team. The three are part of the Panthers' stellar defensive unit. The team leads the division in scoring defense after having given up only 34 goals on the season. Kogut led the divsion with a goals-against-average of 1.61. Tarrant was second in the league for defenseman scoring after gathering 19 points while McNamara was fifth in the league in the same category with 18 points.

The Middlebury men's hockey team placed two players on the All-Conference First Team. Mickey Gilchrist '08 is the only player on the team who is not a senior, earning his place with a league-leading 23 goals and 47 points on the year. Gilchrist tied the NESCAC tournament record of five goals last weekend while setting a new mark of 10 points in the three games. Captain Jeff Smith '05.5 was also named to the First Team after heading a Panthers' defense that has given up a nation-low 1.55 goals per game. He was named the Player of the Week on Monday after the Panthers allowed only three goals in two games over the weekend as the team grabbed the conference title for the third straight season.

Middlebury men's basketball team's Ben Rudin '09 was the only Panther not playing on ice to earn a NESCAC award. Rudin was named the Rookie of the Year on March 1 after leading the team with 10.3 points per game. Rudin also tallied 4.7 assists a game and 2.03 steals.

Students embrace 'white-out'

Responding to an interview in the March 2 edition of The Campus, the Middlebury student section was out in force at the NESCAC men's and women's hockey tournament's semifinals and finals games decked out in white to support the teams. The desire for a "white-out" was expressed in The Campus by the captain of the men's team, Jeff Smith '05.5, who felt that the action would provide some extra motivation to the squads during the weekend. Athletic Director Russ Reilly sent out a student-wide e-mail during the week that urged fans to come to the games in white - the response was impressive.

The men's and women's hockey teams will be in action again this weekend, hosting the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, and a "white-out" is once again being called for. This time, the call is going out to the Addison County community in an effort to white-out the entire Kenyon Arena.

The women's squad, the nation's second-ranked team, will be hosting their quarterfinal game on Friday, March 10 at 7 p.m. against Manhattanville, who is currently ranked third in the country. The men's team, which moved into the top spot in the polls over the weekend, will host its game on Saturday, March 11 at 7 p.m. against the winner of the UMass-Dartmouth/Geneso game on March 8.