Crimson Sports Provide Reading Period Distractions

Happy Reading Period! Now that you don’t need to scurry around to lectures, sections and labs all day, what are you going to do with all your free time this week? Read? Yeah, right. Here are three Harvard athletic diversions to fill a lazy Reading Period day.

December 5: Men’s and women’s squash vs. Williams

Williams has nationally-ranked sports programs? What the Eph? The Williams men and women sit No. 12 and No. 10, respectively, in the College Squash Association’s national rankings. Amanda Sobhy, Ali Farag and the gang are nevertheless expected to make short work of their bovine opponents. The No. 3 Harvard men’s team shut out the Ephs 9-0 last year. The No. 1 Crimson women, meanwhile, have not yielded a match point to Williams since 2007.

December 7: Men’s basketball at UConn

Make a day trip out of your time off and hitch-hike your way to Storrs-Mansfield, Conn. While Tommy Amaker’s boys have their work cut out for them against the three-time NCAA Tournament champion program, the two teams share some interesting recent history. In the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament last season, Harvard indirectly defeated the Huskies, who lost to Central Florida in the semifinal game the day before the Crimson clinched the conch shell trophy. Two weeks later, UConn handed Harvard its first loss of the season after an 8-0 start.

In 2009, Jeremy Lin dropped a career-high 30 points on the Huskies in a 79-73 loss. The performance prompted a surprisingly foreboding comment on The Crimson’s game summary.

December 10: Men’s hockey vs. UMass-Lowell

The No. 20 Harvard men’s hockey team will meet a dangerous UMass-Lowell team Monday night at the Bright Hockey Center. The unranked River Hawks came within one win of a 2012 Frozen Four appearance and opened this year as the preseason No. 6. The nonconference opponents have not met since December 2001, back when “Family Affair” by Mary J. Blige topped the charts and Mario Lemieux graced the cover of NHL 2002.