Women's Crew Rallies to Defeat Northeastern
April 29, 2000 | Women's Rowing
The Terrier women's varsity crew, down by two seats with just a couple of hundred meters to go in the 2000 meter race, rallied to nip Northeastern on The Charles River on Saturday (April 29th) to win the B.U. Women's Council Cup.
B.U., which entered the race ranked 10th in the nation and tied for third in the Region, was timed in 6:31.65, while the Huskies, ranked 13th in the country, were just two-tenths of a second behind in 6:31.85.
"This is what racing is all about," said Terrier head coach Holly Hatton, whose varsity boat improved its regatta record this year to 8-2. "The problem is that it gives coaches heart attacks.
"This was an unbelievable race," beamed Hatton, as her team won its first B.U. Women's Council Cup after losing the first three. Overall, the Terriers, who have not defeated Northeastern since 1994, now have a 14-6 all-time mark against their cross-town rivals.
Through the first 500 meters of Saturday's race, each crew matched stroke for stroke as they settled in at 36.5 strokes a minute. Then, over the next 250 meters, Northeastern made a move to take a one-seat lead.
The Huskies increased it to two seats at the halfway mark of the race, and the margin remained until the MIT boathouse.
B.U. tried to make a move at approximately 1500 meters prompting Hatton to extol "keep the momentum going; keep the momentum going."
Northeastern managed to keep pace with the Terriers, though.
"Not enough room," said Hatton, figuring her boat didn't have enough time or distance to make up the two-seat differential.
Then, from the Terrier boat, came an order from Amy Lawless, who was sitting in the number five seat.
"Let's go!" she yelled.
Her teammates responded and put on a finishing sprint that caught the Huskies in the final meters of the race.
"Amy's shout put us in contention to make the move," said Hatton. "I didn't think we had enough of a surge to make up the difference. We really pulled it out of the bag today."
Actually, Hatton felt her team's winning effort came as a result of its performance against Brown last Saturday (April 22nd). The top-rated crew in the country, Brown beat the Terriers but by less than five seconds, 6:07.64 to 6:12.14.
"That race gave us confidence," said Hatton. "If we had rowed against Northeastern two weeks ago, and had a race like we had today, we might not have won. The Brown race showed that we could take it up another level which we did today."
In other races against the Huskies, the two second varsity boats were locked in a race that was even tighter than the varsity race. At the end, though, Northeastern prevailed by just a bow ball. The winning time was 6:59.54, while B.U. was clocked in 6:59.64.
In the First Novice race, the Terriers continued to show they have one of the strongest boats in the East. Ranked number two behind Brown in the Region entering the race, the Terriers rolled to a comfortable win over the Huskies, 6:56.49 to 7:12.57.
