Lake Taylor High School was packed for the Marlins game against Hampden-Sydney College and consisted of many VWC students showing their school spirit. VWC had a contest to see who could show the most school spirit the night of the game. A prize of $50 was awarded to a group of freshman girls, the men’s soccer team, the women’s soccer team and the fraternity Phi Kappa Tau. The boy’s soccer team with "Marlins" painted on their chests’ and Phi Kappa Tau with their homemade drums kept the crowd pumped up throughout the second half of the game. The Marlins had a very exciting two weeks, playing all but one of their last home games at Lake Taylor. The Marlins won two and lost two of the four games played. On Jan. 17 the Marlins battled it out with the Hampden-Sydney "Tigers." The Tigers dominated the first half of the game and left the score 36-34 at the half. The Marlins came back after the half and dominated the game until three minutes remaining when the score was tied at 71. Two foul shots made by senior Ron Yuhasz made the score 73-71 with 2:46 left on the clock. The Tigers quickly scored tying the score once again at 73. With one minute left on the clock Yuhasz fouled out of the game. The Marlins gave up foul shots and then struggled to make a shot in the final seconds of the game. The final score was 73-77. Sophomore Frankie Cabrera led the team in points scoring 21.

After the disappointing loss to Hampden-Sydney the Marlins took on Washington and Lee. On Jan. 20, the Marlins beat W&L 70-57. Junior James Wallace scored the high that night with 14 points. The following day the Marlins played Roanoke, this being their third conference game in a row. The Marlins lost 66-73; Yuhasz scored 22 points in that game. "Our team has the most talent in the league, we just have to learn to play together as a team, then we will be unstoppable," sophomore Brett Davis stated. On the 24th the Marlins played a non-conference game against Newport News Apprentice and won 71-57. Yuhasz led the team in points that game also scoring 17. The Marlins are now 6-5 in their conference. Their overall record is 11-6. "The team is progressing," said head coach David Macedo. "Once we become a little more disciplined, we are right there on the verge of something special." The Marlins play their last home game at Lake Taylor on Saturday, Feb. 10th against Bridgewater College at 3 pm.

The men’s lacrosse team has adopted a new motto this season as Michael Pounds assumes the position of head coach. After clearing the air of any bad attitudes, the team has decided that they are not looking back anymore. What happened in the past is in the past. The team feels that this new outlook has not only helped them gain respect for each other despite what may have happened in year’s prior, but has also instilled a tradition in the freshman who joined the team this year."There’s hope that the freshman will learn a good tradition," said team captain, senior Ben Stinson.

"They’re learning what it means to be a follower and to be a leader, and hopefully when their time comes they’ll step up." The arrival of a new coach created mixed feelings among the team members at first, however upon meeting Coach Pounds many of their opinions changed. "He is a good guy and he really gets down to business," said freshman John Gibson. A good mix of newcomers as well as experienced players make up this years team, giving it wisdom as well as raw talent. Coach Pounds also brings experience from his past coaching jobs with him and the team hopes he will bring success to VWC. "We’ll be able to start some young players as well as some experienced players at key positions," said Pounds. Their season starts Feb. 27 when they play Mary Washington at home. "It is going to be a tough season since we have such a hard schedule," said freshman Corey Mahony. "But we are really optimistic."

An ODAC championship would be nice, but is not enough. A bid to the South Region Tournament may be a team highlight, but it will not suffice. Only a trip to the NCAA Division III national championship could raise the eyebrows of 15 year head coach Nick Boothe and the 2001 Virginia Wesleyan baseball team. But how do you improve on a record setting 2000 season, which the Marlins compiled a 32-10 record, an ODAC championship and a number one seed in the South Region Tournament, with the loss of three key seniors? Easy. First you pour in your top four hitters, junior Josh Kreiser (.372) and seniors Josh Longe (.367), Mike Weatherly (.363) and Scott James (.342). Then you add in your top four starting pitchers with seniors Brian Corbo (9-2) and Joey Cavallo (4-1) and juniors Myron Trunick (6-2) and Jacob Bridges (3-0). Once they begin to meld together you mix in a proven bullpen with juniors Heath Cataulin (10 saves) and Casey Ireland (1.17 ERA) and their workhorse; senior catcher Jeb Weisman. Once you have blended these ingredients, add in an off season pickup in transfer Jeff Butler, three promising sophomores Tye Raugh, Brandon Elliott and Danny Rosendale and conglomeration of freshman and transfer talent.

Now that you have made what Boothe labels "a force to be reckoned with" you can put it on a newly sodded infield and have your way with any nationally ranked or non-ranked team. That is what Boothe plans to do. The ODAC pre-season favorite and 26th nationally ranked Marlins will have their hands full with other talented programs. The 2001 schedule has the Marlins playing ten games against seven different nationally ranked teams including #1 Montclair State, #4 Allegheny, #15 Salisbury State, #19 Ithaca, #20 North Carolina Wesleyan, #24 William Paterson and #29 Ferrum. The Marlins are also scheduled to play tough teams such as Shenandoah University, Tufts University and ODAC rival Bridgewater College. When asked of the teams comparison and promise compared to the 2000 team, Boothe acknowledged that the Marlins have a tougher schedule to play through but added that this years team is "a lot stronger depth wise and pitching wise" than last years. His only comment pertaining to the teams ranking was that "the only rankings that matter are the last." Boothe and his players begin their season on Feb. 20 at home against Chowan College and look to conclude their season with a National Championship celebration.

First of all I do not blame Vick for his decision to turn pro early. It is clearly understandable for a twenty-year-old college student to see the limelights and riches that await a player with his reputation. I do feel strongly that he is not mentally or physically ready for this step. During Vick’s two year tenure as starting quarterback at Virginia Tech, the Hokies played teams such as, Akron, Rutgers, Temple and James Madison all of which are not perennial powerhouse football programs. Vick became a first round draft pick after one game, the National Title Game against Florida State, in which they lost 34 to 17. Which brings me to my point, Michael Vick is a good athlete by himself, but becomes a great one with his teammates at Virginia Tech. In his two seasons, Tech’s defense and special teams were second to none in the nation. In his back field were All American running backs Shyrone Stith and Lee Suggs. Throw in a solid kicking game and a good coach and you have the Hokies winning combination. We learn when we are young athletes that one player alone cannot win championships, just ask the great Dan Mario. Yes Vick’s presence was a large factor in their winning but they were a championship team without him, so there is still hope for Hokie fans next year. I feel that being so popular and possibly being number one pick will only bring more pressure on him.

After a few changes and improvements to the intramural program, the number of participants in the activities is at an all-time high. Intramurals are different events and activities, organized by Residence Life, in which any student or staff member at Virginia Wesleyan can participate. Last semester 1,100 students and staff participated in the campus’ Intramural events. "That is the highest recorded number of participants as far as I know," said Ryan Brown, Director of Intramurals. Some of the events that Brown feels are most successful are the mud games, casino night, ultimate frisbee, flag football, and open gym. Open gym is an ongoing activity that is held every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 p.m. According to Brown, open gym has been the most successful, having a turn out of 20 to 40 people every night. "Considering there are only 500 students living on campus, that is a pretty good amount of students," said Brown. While Brown is excited about the number of students and staff participating, he also realizes that most of those students that were involved were repeat participants. This means that while 1,100 people participated in intramurals, some of those participants may have been counted twice. In reality about 15 to 20 percent of the overall student population came out for intramurals, or one out of four or five students.

"The biggest problem intramurals has to face is that we can brag now about the number of participants for the semester, but again it is the same types of students that participate over and over again," said Brown. Brown has found that intramurals seems to be most popular amongst the male fraternities on campus. Time after time he sees the same faces at intramural events. He has started to target different groups to get them to come out, such as commuters and women. "What I am trying to do is not exclude the male Greeks that have been participating, but also include other students and encourage them to participate," said Brown. This semester he has started to slip flyers under students’ doors instead of posting information on walls, where they might get ripped down. Another first for the office is that as of this year they are 100 percent online at www.vwc.edu/student_life/intramurals/index.htm. This means that students can find information about intramurals, and a schedule of events; students can even sign up online, which saves the trouble of having to go to the Residence Life office to fill out an application. The office of intramurals is trying to make it as easy as possible for students to be aware of intramural events and to sign up for them. Brown has even gone so far as to propose a challenge to students to get them to participate. He calls it the "Dirty Dozen Challenge."

"My standing offer to the entire campus is to just provide a list of 12 people to me, hence the name dirty dozen, and any event that they want to do, anytime, I will do it and will also provide the equipment," said Brown. For instance, that means if a student provides the list of twelve names to Brown and says that they want to play volleyball in the Bubble at one o’clock in the morning, Brown will be there and will also provide the equipment. Some students have already begun to take advantage of this challenge. "So far I am slated to do a couple of rush events for Phi-Tau, such as opening up the Bubble to have a basketball game one night," said Brown.

Assistant baseball coach Robert W.R. "Bobby" Hoeft has been charged by the Virginia Beach police with four counts of carnal knowledge of a 14-year-old girl. According to Betsy Hnath, the Virginia Wesleyan College Director of Communications, Hoeft has denied all charges. Hoeft was not available for further comment. However, the college has suspended Hoeft without pay. His next hearing will be held early this month. "Based on our human resources policy, we had to suspend him without pay," said Hnath. "We are following the lead of the police department." Police say that Hoeft met the girl through a Hampton Roads sports program, but police spokesman Don Rimer, in a report to The Virginian-Pilot, said he could not be more specific. On Feb. 26, 2000, Hoeft allegedly picked up the girl at Lynnhaven Mall and took her to the college campus, where the alleged sex crimes took place, according to Rimer.

Further allegations are that Hoeft picked the girl up and drove her to the parking lot of a Target store located near S. Independence Blvd., police said. Investigators would not say how they learned about the allegations. "The way we heard about it is part of the evidence of the case, so it’s not something we can reveal at this time," Rimer said. Hoeft was hired as a strength and conditioning coach for the girls’ fast-pitch softball team Orion Hunter last year. According to head coach John Schropp, his contract was not renewed and ended in May 2000. "here’s not a chance he will be affiliated with the team again," said Schropp. Schropp did not say why Hoeft’s contract was not renewed. Orion Hunter team members range in age from 8 to 18 years old. Schropp would not comment on the recent allegations against Hoeft nor his affiliation with the underage females at the time of the allegations that resulted in his arrest. "I think it’s fair that Bobby was suspended because people don’t want to bring their kids to a campus where there is someone with that kind of reputation," said senior Serena Vegessi. "Those kinds of accusations bring forth a bad reputation."

"I think the college should have waited to suspend him," said VWC baseball player T.J. Adams. "Just because he was accused doesn’t mean he is guilty." Hnath explained that college officials are supposed to conduct themselves irreproachably on and off campus. "Hoeft will be eligible for back pay if found innocent," said Hnath. "We are disturbed by this," Virginia Wesleyan President Billy Greer wrote in a press release. "The campus community extends its sincere compassion to both the families of the alleged victim as well as Mr. Hoeft and his family," Greer wrote.