Defending Yale's pride: from the Bowl to Sydney

Yalies will always remember Sat., Nov. 20, 1999 as perhaps the single best day in Yale sports history.

It was the day of The Game. Yale-Harvard football. For Yale, it was the Ivy League title game. The Yale Bowl was damp and windy, and Yale's quarterback Joe Walland, TD '00, had a 102 degree fever at game time. A win, and Yale would capture a share of its first Ivy title since 1989. A loss, and all the season's accomplishments meant nothing. Momentum had gone up and down all day.

With a minute to go, Yale trailed Harvard 21-17. Walland, leading the last drive of his career, pushed the Bulldogs within the Harvard 20 yard-line. With 30 seconds left, Walland connected on a quick pass to his left to Eric Johnson, JE '01, who shook a few defenders before being tackled at the four-yard line.

With 29 seconds left, Walland took the next snap. He looked left, right, then saw Johnson open. He let fly a perfect spiral, but the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Harvard LT Chris Nowinski. The ball looked like it was about to die but Johnson stopped, pivoted, and dove forward to grab the ball centimeters off the ground. Harvard protested that Johnson didn't catch it, and Harvard's coach still claims that Johnson trapped the ball, but the ref signaled a touchdown, and the Bulldogs won.

Walland finished the day completing 42 passes in 67 attempts, compiling 437 yards of total offense. Johnson, a GTE All-American, caught 21 of those passes, annhiliating the school single-game record of 13.

"It could have gone either way," Johnson commented in the New Haven Register about "The Catch," "But the ref was right there...I still think I caught it." Football Head Coach Jack Siedlecki agreed, "If the NFL reviewed it, they would have let it stand," Siedlecki told the Register. "There was no movement of the ball that would say he didn't catch it."

That same day, a few hours later and some 75 miles to the south of the Yale Bowl, the Yale soccer team was playing Rutgers in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Yale, who finished the season ranked 18th in the country, had played remarkably well all season long and had earned its first tournament birth since 1991 by notching impressive wins against top 25 teams George-town, St. John's and the defending national champion, Indiana.

Yet Rutgers was a heavy favorite and had home field advantage. The game was a defensive battle from the get-go. Rutgers thought it had scored with a few minutes left in the first half, but the ref waived off the goal due to a handball infraction seconds before. Yale goalie Danny Moss, MC '01, made a number of remarkable saves to close out the half, and the Bulldogs went into halftime tied 0-0.

In the second half, Yale outshot Rutgers 8-0 but could not find the back of the net. The game went to overtime, still tied 0-0. Tension mounted, and both teams remained scoreless in the first overtime period. In the second overtime, Midfielder Chung-Ming Ip, CC '00, sent a beautiful pass to John Walker, SM '03, who was dragged down in the box. The ref raised his hands and pointed at the penalty stripe. Jac Gould, CC '00, took the penalty kick and rifled a shot past Rutgers' goalie, into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Yale stormed the field—it was on to the second round. Yale would go on to fall to UConn 0-3, but the team's accomplishment remained undiminished.

—Geoff Chepiga

Going for the Gold

What young athlete hasn't watched the Olympics on television and dreamed that he or she would compete one day? This fall in Sydney, Australia, three Yalies—two undergraduates and one coach—will live out their childhood fantasies and compete in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Swimmers Stephen Fahy, MC '01, and George Gleason, TC '01, and women's track and field coach Mark Young, ES '68, will travel Down Under in late summer to prepare for the big competition.

As unique an accomplishment as qualifying for the Olympics is, Yalies are no strangers to world-class competition. Fahy, Gleason and Young follow in a lofty line of Eli Oympians: 152 Yalies have taken part in the modern (post-1896) Olympics either as players or coaches, which is more than many countries have sent to the games during this time. Yalies have won 88 medals, including 49 golds. Is there something about Yale that is particularly conducive to producing Olympians? Perhaps, but numbers can be deceiving. A mere fraction of Yale's Olympians have competed in the past 25 years.

These days, with the increasing number of professionals in the Olympics, Yale coaches, not players, are much more likely to be selected to join Olympic teams. If this trend continues, Eli athletes might not be participating in the oldest sports competition in the world for much longer.

Young will be serving as assistant women's track and field coach for the U.S. team. He will be primarily responsible for supervising women's middle distance events.

Few Eli track and field athletes, however, have joined the Olympic ranks in recent years. Young feels that this trend is due to the increased number of professionals who stay involved in track and field after their collegiate years. "In the old days, as soon as runners had fulfilled their Olympic dreams they had to go to work," he said. "Now you can win $50,000 for winning one race. So, many of our athletes are competing into their late 20s and 30s."

Head fencing coach Harry Harutunian coached the Olympic fencing team in 1984, but he noted that it is increasingly difficult for Yale undergraduates to qualify. "Olympic fencing is almost coming to the professional level," he said. "You need almost six or eight hours every day in practice." One of Harutunian's best did make the grade, qualifying for the 1996 Atlanta games: Peter Devine, MC '99, was one of three American qualifiers. Devine took a year off from school to prepare for his Olympic experience. "It was a really intense process," he said. Devine feels that it is possible for another Eli to follow in his footsteps as an Olympian fencer. "Certainly Yale has the ability to generate Olympians," he said. "Qualifying is extremely hard, but I believe that we have one incoming freshman who has a good chance to go to the 2004 Games."

Yale's varsity athletes are not the only Elis going to Sydney. J.J. Isler, BK '85, competed on the sailing team while at Yale, won a bronze medal in the Barcelona Olympics, and is headed Down Under this year. In the past two decades, Yalies have won three medals in Olympic sailing. "I think the rest of the Yale community doesn't realize what a powerhouse Yale is in Olympic sailing because we're not a varsity sport," Isler said. Louise van Voorhis, BR '91, an alternate in Barcelona, felt that her sailing experience at Yale prepared her well for international competition. "I got experience organizing events with team logistics, fund raising, high level training, and ever-present team politics," she said. "I used every ounce of these to get me to the Olympics."

Although sports are becoming increasingly professional and the Elis no longer send dozens of athletes to the Games, Yalies just might be able to turn on their televisions in September and see one of their own.

—Nola Breglio

People Replacing People

Following the past few years, many Yale sports programs have seen coaching changes. Athletic director Tom Beckett has shaken up the leadership of Yale sports—and it has paid off in a big way for many Eli teams.

Jack Siedlecki, who replaced the legendary football Coach Carm Cozza, was the first of Beckett's new hires. In Siedlecki's first season, the squad went 1-9 and lost all of its Ivy League contests. Last year, in Siedlecki's third season, the team went 9-1 and earned a share of the Ivy championship.

Both basketball programs displayed immediate improvement following coaching changes. James Jones was hired to replace long time leader Dick Kuchen following a disastrous 4-22 1998-99 campaign. Jones was an assistant coach at Ohio University but had recruited many current Bulldogs during his tenure as Kuchen's assistant in the mid-'90s. Under his leadership, the team improved its record to 7-20 and finished a respectable 5-9 in Ivy League play. Jones' recruiting class for next year is strong, and some of the excitement that pervaded the John J. Lee Amphitheater in the early '90s in beginning to return.

Amy Backus took over the women's hoops program last season following the departure of Cecelia DeMarco. Like Jones, Backus lifted her squad out of the Ivy cellar. In her first season, women's basketball went 7-7 in Ivy play.

The women's crew team has also enjoyed a resurgence under the leadership of first-year coach Will Porter. The squad has pulled some major upsets this season and is back in the national rankings for the first time in three years.

There also will be two first-time head coaches on the sidelines next fall. Ainslee Lamb, a former assistant, will take over the field hockey program. "I am very excited about this opportunity," Lamb said. "There is no other group of young women or athletic department staff that I would want to take this exciting step in my career with. I am looking forward to working hard for Yale to allow this program to continue on the path of success that [former coach] Marisa Didio has put in motion."

Beckett agrees that under Lamb's guidance, field hockey's future at Yale is bright. "Her experience at Yale in helping to build a competitive and respected program as an assistant coach gives us great confidence in her ability to take the program to the next level," he said. Assistant David Shoehalter replaces retiring Steve Bartold as coach of the men's track and cross country teams.

—Aaron Lichtig

Photos of men's soccer team member Phil Harris, SM '00 and football players Colin Ayers, SM '03, and Ryan Hutchinson, TC '03, by Julia Tiernan.

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