Month / November 2018

by maribelcbermudez

Ithaca Men’s Rugby Team Return to Nationals

By Maribel Bermudez

Nov. 22, 2018

LET’S GO ITHACA! RUN!

These words, along with rugby related chants and cheering on of specific players could be heard from the Higgins field bleachers of Ithaca College on November 10th when the men’s rugby team played against SUNY Maritime. It was windy and the warmest it would get that day was in the low 40s but that didn’t stop fans of Ithaca and Maritime from coming to see their teams compete in NSCRO nationals. For the Ithaca Bombers making it to nationals was important. It had been two years since they made it this far. The Bombers would go on to beat Maritime 44 to 17, an improvement from their 60 to 26 loss to Tufts college in their first round of the 2016 NSCRO Nationals.

“This playoff tournament started with just our division,” said Mark Hasset, president of the men’s club rugby team. Hasset explained that as the tournament progressed the Bombers have gone from facing the teams they usually would during the regular season to playing teams from the entire north east region.

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Ithaca and Maritime form a scrum to win possession of the ball.

“It’s very similar to playoff college basketball,” said Andrew Mele, the forward captain of the team. He said the top 16 teams play within their area and the top four teams from there would then compete against each other in Florida.

Both Hasset and Mele were proud of the size of the men’s rugby team this season and the retention of many new players. The Bombers have around 60 players. Mele said that it was good to see that newer players were ready to step in whenever more experienced players suffered an injury. Their ability to do so meant injuries were not as much of a set back for the team as they could have been and has helped the team make it farther than they did the past two seasons.

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Ithaca and Maritime form a scrum.

The National Small College Rugby Organization, known as NSCRO, is a fairly new organization. It was created in 2007 with the aim of helping develop and organize the rugby teams of division 3 and 4 colleges. Over 200 men’s teams compete for the NSCRO Small College National Championship.  Ithaca was one of eight teams that competed in the northeast region qualifier games and their win over Maritime got them into the Region Championship where they faced Salve Regina college and Monroe college. Ithaca lost to Salve Regina 31 to 42 and beat Monroe college 43 to 25, landing the Bombers in third place.

Despite not making it all the way through, the Bombers have certainly showed improvement in their return to nationals.

 

by maribelcbermudez

Students Vote for Dracula

On October 27th Ithaca College’s Macabre Theatre Ensemble held a benefit concert to raise money for the Andrew Goodman Foundation. The Andrew Goodman Foundation encourages young citizens to vote and be heard. They also help with voter accessibility. Being both the artistic director for Macabre Theater Ensemble and a campus ambassador for the Andrew Goodman Foundation, Alexandria Paul decided to combine the two in one event.

“Vote for Dracula is part of our benefit concert series in which we pick a charity and throw a concert with all students bands”, said Paul. She said that Macabre Theatre Ensemble have been throwing benefit concerts for two years. “We’ve done seven or eight concerts, all for different charities.” Paul explained that since the Andrew Goodman Foundation stresses that young people get out and vote and the midterm elections are coming up soon, Macabre Theatre Ensemble should have a benefit concert for the foundation.

The concert took place at the IC square and featured three bands. Tungsten Lungs performed first and was followed by Leonardo Decapitated and Nick Wayne and the Bat Seeds. The music leaned more towards the sound of punk and at one point the bands were asked to turn the music down but that didn’t stop the event or discourage the bands from performing. Students could donate money, buy Macabre themed stickers, and ask Alexandria Paul voting related questions.

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“I don’t think voting is the end all be all of your civic duty,” Jake Sullivan explained. As concert chair for Macabre Theatre Ensemble, Sullivan has been a part of their benefit concerts both behind the scenes and on the stage. For this concert, Sullivan was the guitarist in Nick Wayne and the Bat Seeds and although their lead singer jokingly shouted, “Don’t bloody vote,” during their set, Sullivan said that voting is important but continuing to fight for the causes you believe in no matter the outcome of the election is what’s most important.