Although basketball is undeniably the most popular sport at GW, there are a myriad of other sporting events going on around Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon throughout the year.
Fall
Soccer
The Mount Vernon Athletic Complex, which is located on Foxhall Road and can be accessed by a short shuttle ride, is home to five sports, including men’s and women’s soccer. The men’s squad, which finished with a 5-9-3 record, graduated just two seniors and will add four recruits to nine returning starters.
The women also lose two seniors but will return two of last year’s three captains in addition to five recruits. GW began its 2006 campaign with a 7-3 record, the strongest start in program history, but a 2-7 in-conference mark left GW out of the A-10 Championship. Eleven of the 19 opponents from the 2006 season return to the Colonials’ schedule, against whom GW earned a 5-6 mark last year.
Volleyball
The volleyball season begins in late-August and runs until mid-November. Games are played at Smith Center on the corner of 22nd and G streets, the same venue used for basketball games. Almost every match is either in the evening or on weekends and includes fast-paced, exciting action. The Colonials also host a tournament at Smith Center the second weekend in September. Last season, GW posted a 14-12, 6-7 A-10 record and did not qualify for the A-10 tournament.
Cross country
Both cross country teams run through Bull Run Park in Centreville, Va., so catching them in action is difficult. The women’s squad took a first place finish at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational in Pittsburgh last season, while the men were fourth. At the A-10 tournament, both squads finished 10th while the women were 21st and the men 23rd at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Winter
Swimming & Diving/Water Polo
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams practice and compete together, with competition beginning in mid-fall and lasting through February. Both squads struggled as a whole last season but sophomore David Zenk had a bright season for the men’s squad, breaking A-10 conference records in the 200 and 400 individual medleys. The pool, which is also home for the water polo team, can be found in the basement of Smith Center.
Water polo is a fall sport for the men and women and a spring sport for the women as well. The men’s team brings in some of the nation’s top competition every year, including the likes of the Naval Academy and Princeton, while also traveling as far as California for tournaments.
Squash
You may see the squash team practicing or playing matches as you walk around the Lerner Health and Wellness Center. Despite being one of the lesser-known teams at GW, the Colonials still attract a decent showing to the few matches that they host during the season. A highlight of the men’s season came when the Colonials won the Vassar Team Challenge in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in February.
Gymnastics
The Colonials usually open its season with the GW Invitational, also at Smith Center, in January and then runs until April. Last season, senior Jess Guilbert qualified for the NCAA Southeast Regional in Morgantown, W. Va.
Spring
Crew
While men’s crew is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport at GW, the University still boats both men’s and women’s teams. The men compete as a part of the IRA, an independently run national racing committee, while the women are Division I members. Both squads are invited to prestigious races every year and also host the GW Invitational, held on the Potomac River, in April.
Softball
The softball team made great strides as a program last season. The squad qualified for the A-10 tournament for the first time in the program’s five-year history after a 26-31, 11-8 A-10 record but fell in the first round. The Colonials also play at the Vern and every competition is a double-header so there’s plenty of softball to catch.
Lacrosse
The 2007 season also brought a first for the women’s lacrosse team, as the team defeated in-conference foe Temple for the first time in program history. In the A-10 tournament, the second-seeded Colonials, who also shared the regular season championship with Richmond, lost to the Spiders in the final. Head coach Chrissy Lombard-Adair was named the conference’s Coach of the Year after GW’s 6-1 in-conference record.
Baseball
Because the team plays at Barcroft Park in Arlington, Va., games are tricky to attend. The site can be reached by taking the Metro to the Ballston, Va., stop on the orange line followed by a quick cab ride. The Colonials (23-31-1, 14-13 A-10) didn’t qualify for the conference tournament but did take one game from nationally-ranked Charlotte in April.
Tennis
Both teams play on the 12 courts at the Mount Vernon Athletic Complex and are coming off A-10 tournament appearances. The men’s squad (7-10, 4-3 A-10) finished third at conference tournament after falling in a marathon contest to Xavier 4-2 in the semifinals. The women finished ninth at the A-10 tourney after a 5-8 record.
Golf
A season after the squad qualified for the NCAA Championship for the first time in 60 years, the Colonials struggled to stay on pace. GW finished fifth at the A-10 tournament while junior Conor McMahon was the team’s low scorer, finished 13th in a field of 60.
