The Geneseo men’s lacrosse team traveled to Nazareth College to face the Golden Flyers on Saturday, Feb. 25, and brought home a win in their season opener. Their game was a close one as the Knights fought tooth and nail to ground out the victory with a final score of 13-11. 

SUNY Geneseo’s men’s and women’s swim and dive teams have each been powerhouses within their respective State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) divisions over the past decade. This year was no different, with both teams winning the SUNY title on Saturday, Feb. 18. This was the women’s fifteenth-straight season doing so, while the men’s team has come out victorious in the previous nine. 

Geneseo’s hopes for a fifth straight SUNYAC Championship in ice hockey came to an end Saturday night with a 5-1 semifinal loss on the road to Plattsburgh. Going into the playoffs, Plattsburgh was the number two seed, with Geneseo ranked third. In their two regular-season meetings this year, the teams tied the first game 2-2 on Nov. 12, with Plattsburgh winning the second 3-2 on Jan. 28.  

The Geneseo women’s basketball team was unable to emerge victorious against New Paltz on Friday, Feb. 24 in the SUNYAC semifinals. Advancing upon their first-round victory over Brockport, the Knights traveled downstate to face the top-seeded New Paltz Hawks. This game marked their third competition of the year. In the teams’ regular season series, the Hawks swept the Knights, defeating them in both games. In their first matchup on Jan. 14, Geneseo was outplayed by New Paltz, losing 64-46. The Knights then traveled to New Paltz on Feb. 10 and were trounced by the Hawks, losing 67-37.

The Ice Knights battled it out with the Buffalo State Bengals this past Friday (Feb. 10) with a large and exciting win of 6-0, which raises their record to 10-3-1 in SUNYAC play and 15-5-2 in the regular season! Right off the bat, the Ice Knights forced through the line of defense within the first 5 minutes with an impressive unassisted score by junior forward Jared Thomas. The Knights did not stop there; instead, they scored three more times to finish off the first period with a score of 4-0 holding off the Bengals.

Geneseo’s basketball program had a tough weekend, with the men’s team losing their away games at New Paltz and Oneonta. The women’s team fell to New Paltz 67-37 on Friday night (Feb. 10) before providing the program's lone bright spot, defeating Oneonta 46-37 on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 11). 

Coach Alan Heverly is one of the freshest faces at SUNY Geneseo—this academic year marks the beginning of Heverly’s time as the women’s tennis coach, a role that he is more than qualified for; he has served as the coach of Lehigh University, an NCAA Division I program, and Moravian University, a Division III program. With countless accolades and many years of experience, Heverly will prove to be an asset to the program. He has told himself that he will remain to coach for at least five seasons, but the Geneseo community would love to see him stay for longer.

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona. The much-anticipated matchup ultimately became a back-and-forth offensive bout with both teams giving it their all on America’s biggest stage. Despite the Eagles being favored and continuously praised for having the best overall roster in the NFL this season, the Chiefs were able to defy expectations and overcome the odds pulling out the upset. 

Tom Brady, the winningest quarterback of all time, has officially retired. The upcoming 2023 season will mark the first season that Brady will not play since the turn of the century. The seven-time Super Bowl champion, three-time MVP, and 15-time Pro Bowl selection has immortalized himself in greatness. He proved to be an idol for many fans and aspiring athletes, all the while creating a football dynasty.

This past winter break, Caitlin Schirmer, a sophomore biology major here at SUNY Geneseo and one of our very own women’s club rugby players, had the chance to play with an  all-star collegiate rugby team for Upstate 7s. Schirmer got to compete with this team in the Collegiate Rugby All Stars National Cup. The Upstate 7s team that Schirmer had the pleasure of joining were the Upstate 7s Snow Leopards; they achieved third place last year in the same competition that they traveled to this year. The Snow Leopards were voted “most spirited team” for many years prior to this one, which is why Schirmer made a perfect fit. The entire Geneseo rugby team is immensely proud of her, her hard work, and training to get this opportunity. 

The men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams took on back-to-back visiting teams from Plattsburgh on Friday Feb. 3 and Potsdam on Saturday, Feb. 4. Women’s basketball was able to defeat the Plattsburgh Cardinals in dominant fashion, with a final score of 72-48. The Knights swept the Cardinals in all meetings this season, much like the previous season. With this win they also clinched a spot in the SUNYAC Playoffs. The men’s team unfortunately fell to the Cardinals in a nail-biting game, going all the way to overtime and wrapping up at 76-72. This was the Knights’ second loss to Plattsburgh this season.

What a weekend the Ice Knights had, winning both their Friday night game against Oswego and their Saturday night game against Cortland, with Saturday’s game on home ice. 

Coach Mark Howlett has been at the helm of SUNY Geneseo’s men’s soccer program since 2018, and is coming off his second-straight winning season this year. The Knights finished the 2022 season with a 9-6-3 record while earning themselves a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs. Coach Howlett attributes the success of the team to multiple outside factors, but his lifelong commitment to the game has played a major role in his team’s on-field performance as well. 

On this Sunday, Feb. 11, over 130 nations will tune in for the biggest event in American sports: the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will be squaring off in Super Bowl LVII for a highly anticipated matchup. State Farm Stadium in Arizona will be the home for this battle, and where the new NFL champions will be named.

For our readers who have been following the intense weekly football picks between myself and assistant sports editor Dylan Dariano, I am happy to report the conclusion of the bitter rivalry. As I’m sure everyone could have predicted from the start, I emerged victorious, as Dariano would inevitably drop the ball at the end. Going into Monday night, Dariano and I had identical records, both at 64-49.

The Major League Baseball offseason is fully underway as some major free agent signings have been made by teams all around the country. Huge names in the sport, including former MVPs such as Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander and Chicago Cubs first baseman Cody Bellinger, have signed massive contracts worth millions upon millions of dollars in the past few weeks. However, there is a trend in baseball that we have seen take shape over the last decades that only seems to get worse each year. That issue has to do with teams giving big-name players huge contracts for extended periods of time that almost never pan out. There has been no shortage of those types of signings this offseason, and they each come with their share of issues. 

Former Women’s National Basketball Association champion Brittney Griner is safe and sound on United States soil after ten months in Russian custody. The eight-time all-star has been held in Russia since February of this year, following a drug-related arrest. She had been detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport on her way to compete in the Russian Premier League where she has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) offseason since 2014. Griner was detained for possessing vaporizer cartridges containing hash oil, an illegal substance in Russia, for which she has a prescription in Arizona.

The Buffalo Bills finally look like they are back on track as one of the top teams in the National Football League after their fourth straight win and second in a row against a divisional opponent after their week fourteen victory over the New York Jets. New York won the first game of this series in week nine, as they defeated a struggling Bills team, albeit with a different starting quarterback. These are not the Jets of old, as they came into the game sitting at 7-5 fighting for their first playoff spot since 2010. Buffalo had to fight through a plethora of unfortunate weather conditions but found a way to scrape together the victory, taking down the Jets 20-12. 

The Geneseo men’s basketball team was back in action at home in Geneseo after a tough loss last Tuesday, where they faced the Keuka Wolves and lost 76-55 in a hard-fought game. The Knights had a lot of frustration after the tough loss and were looking to take out the Saints of St. Lawrence last Saturday, Dec. 10.

Throughout the 90s, former National Football League player Deion Sanders was a quarterback's worst nightmare. As a constant threat in the secondary, offenses had to make their game plan with him in mind. He was voted into a whopping eight Pro Bowls in his 14-year career, and has etched his name among the best as he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Despite an already illustrious football career, he has since taken up coaching at the collegiate level, a journey that just may tarnish his legacy.