Field Hockey
Mount Holyoke Field Hockey defeated New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference rival Wheaton College 1-0 last Friday evening at home in their final game of the season.
Soccer
Mount Holyoke College Soccer finished their 2021 regular season in a 0-0 draw with Wellesley College after two overtimes, totaling 110 minutes of game play, at a NEWMAC game on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Cross Country
Mount Holyoke College Cross Country continued their season on Saturday, Oct. 30 in the New England Women and Men’s Athletic Conference Championships at the Nehoiden Golf Club in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Volleyball
Mount Holyoke College Volleyball finished off their season on Saturday, Oct. 30 with a 3-0 shutout loss to Emerson College at home. The set scores were 25-22, 25-16 and 25-19.
In a unanimous vote on Thursday, Oct. 14, the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Women’s Basketball Committee and Women’s Basketball Oversight Committee approved a proposal to expand the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship bracket by four teams. Beginning in 2022, the proposal would allow 68 teams to compete in the tournament instead of the previous 64. The same change was approved for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship in 2011.
Rowing
The Mount Holyoke rowing team made their way to Boston for the Head of the Charles Regatta last weekend. The Head of the Charles Regatta is one of the oldest head races in the country and has been running since 1965. The Regatta draws more than 11,000 competitors and thousands of spectators.
Volleyball
Mount Holyoke Volleyball traveled to Amherst College and Smith College on Saturday, Oct. 23, to compete against Westfield State University and Bates College in the Volleyball Hall of Fame Tournament.
On Sept. 20, over 500 current and former athletes and coaches submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. These amici, described as "current and former athletes who are, or were at some point, able to become pregnant — regardless of gender identity" urged the protection of abortion rights for the first time in history.
According to WBUR, the brief was filed in light of Mississippi’s recent efforts to overturn a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the state from imposing an abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The ban was in conflict with Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that ensured people the right to an abortion . On Dec. 1, 2021, the state will be heard by the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Tennis
Mount Holyoke’s tennis team traveled to Brunswick, Maine, where Bowdoin College hosted the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Championships this past weekend. It was the team’s first tournament since the pandemic halted sports in March 2020.
Riding
Mount Holyoke Riding tied for first place with University of Massachusetts Amherst for the High Point Title at last weekend’s Muddy Brook Farm Show, hosted by Smith College. The Lyons snagged 15 of the 20 classes and amassed 36 total points.
Last weekend, Mount Holyoke Volleyball hosted their third trimatch of the season against Bay Path University and nationally ranked Babson College. The Lyons were shut out in the first match with 3-0 sets by the Babson Beavers. Sarah Bishop ’22 had a team best of eight kills for Mount Holyoke. The Beavers then took on Bay Path and swept the court in 3-0 sets against the Wildcats.
The National Football League kicked off its regular season this September with a new “first” for women in sports. After starting out in the NFL’s Officiating Development Program, Maia Chaka recently became the first Black female NFL referee. Originally from Rochester, NY, Chaka was a line judge for the first Sunday Night Football game of the season on Sept. 12 between the Carolina Panthers and the New York Jets.
Tennis
Mount Holyoke Tennis opened their competition season at home against College of the Holy Cross on Sept. 16. Annissa Aamoum ’22 beat the competition in the No. 3 singles match with scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
The Lyons fell to Holy Cross in the rest of the singles and all of the doubles matches. The Lyons’ doubles pairings were Aamoum and Annika Chai ’25, Shweta Kiran Cavale ’23 and Vy Hoang ’24 and Hannah Middleton ’22 and Nikki Cheng ’22.
Over the summer, Amherst College received a wrongful termination lawsuit from former men’s lacrosse Head Coach Rashad Devoe. According to the Boston Globe, Devoe was fired one year into his three-year contract because he “verbally mistreated” the lacrosse athletes. The alleged verbal mistreatment occurred after athletes reportedly held a practice outside on an Amherst College green, in violation of the college’s COVID-19 rules. But Devoe, a Black man, felt there was more to the story.
On April 6, 2021, filmmaker and former Mount Holyoke rower Mary Mazzio ’83 spoke at a panel to discuss her 2020 documentary “A Most Beautiful Thing” alongside Arshay Cooper, who wrote the memoir that inspired the film. The documentary is about the first African American high school rowing team from the west side of Chicago, which Cooper joined and eventually led. Facilitators of the panel included current Mount Holyoke rowers Jaya Nagarajan-Swenson ’22, Claire Gabel ’22 and Casey Roepke ’21. Former Mount Holyoke rower, Cynthia Thornton ’83, was another panelist.
Last week, the Mount Holyoke athletics department participated in the NCAA’s Division III Week with its own spirit week. According to the NCAA, the purpose of Division III Week is to “celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on the campus and surrounding community.” National Student-Athlete Day took place during Division III Week on April 6.
This edition’s team of the week is Mount Holyoke Lacrosse. The team is led by Head Coach Miriam Esber, now entering her 14th season in the position, and Assistant Coach Liz Kemp. Previously, Lacrosse ended after only four games in their 2019-2020 season. The final close was a fifth game at home against Smith College.
Less than a month after President Joe Biden signed over a dozen executive orders on his first day in office, a new piece of state-level legislation in Utah has been passed that defies one of Biden’s orders surrounding equality for transgender athletes in sports. On Feb. 17, 2021, the Utah House passed Bill 302 by a vote of 50-23, seeking to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
By Gigi Picard ‘22
Sports Editor
Women have yet again made history in sports, as three women broke a record in the NFL’s 2021 Super Bowl on Feb. 7, 2021. Down Judge (a referee position) Sarah Thomas, Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Assistant Defensive Line Coach Lori Locust and Tampa Bay’s Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach Maral Javadifar had on-field positions during the 2021 Super Bowl, making this another milestone year for women in the NFL.
Thomas has a history of being a monumental record-breaker in the NFL. In 2015, she earned the position of first full-time female referee. Her barrier-breaking journey began at the college football level, where she was the first woman to officiate a major college football game. Thomas was also the first woman to officiate an NFL playoff game, which took place in 2019 when the Los Angeles Chargers played against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
Just four days prior to this year’s Super Bowl, the sports world celebrated the 35th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, the day was signed as a proclamation on Feb. 3, 1987 by former President Ronald Reagan as a way of remembering Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman for her accomplishments as an athlete and an advocate for equality in women’s sports. Hyman passed away in 1986 as a result of Marfan syndrome.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WSF emphasized “the importance of staying mentally and physically healthy during challenging times.” Its website read, ”Whether virtual[ly] or other, we invite you to safely celebrate NGWSD in your community and to join the Women’s Sports Foundation as we Lead Her Forward in 2021.”
Before the 2021 Super Bowl, the Women’s Sports Foundation tweeted its excitement to watch the three women make sports history.
On Instagram, the NFL posted the following three quotes by Thomas, Javadifar and Locust to celebrate NGWSD:
“It’s just so meaningful. I never set out to be the first in any of this, but knowing the impact that I’m having on not just my daughter but young girls everywhere, women everywhere, when I get on that field, and I take it all in, I know that I’m probably gonna get a little teary eyed,” Thomas said on what it means to be part of the Super Bowl officiating crew.
“I’m grateful for my mom and dad coming here to give their kids an opportunity to flourish and live the American Dream,” Javadifar stated on being a first-generation Iranian American.
The NFL is taking more steps to involve women. Progress began in 1997 when Amy Trask was the first female CEO of an NFL team, the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders. Jen Welter became the first female coach for the NFL in 2015, representing the Arizona Cardinals. Last year, San Francisco 49ers Assistant Offensive Coach Katie Sowers was the first woman to coach during a Super Bowl. The three women who coached and officiated in this year’s Super Bowl set a higher precedent for representation in the NFL to be met and surpassed in the coming years.
Mount Holyoke Tennis is the first spring 2021 Team of the Week. While the team typically competes from September to April, their season got cut short in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the Lyons with a 2-3 record. During the fall of 2019, the team was able to compete in the Tennis Hall of Fame Invitational, ITA New England Regionals and the NEWITT Tournament.
Jan. 20, 2021, didn’t just welcome new U.S. President Joe Biden, but also a new executive order calling for the end of single-sex sports. Officially titled the Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, the new legislation is divided into four sections focused on policies that prohibit sex discrimination when it comes to sports, employment, housing and more.
