The 2002-03 women's basketball team became a member of an elite club on Tuesday night (February 18) when Union defeated Williams, 80-60. The victory was the 20th of the year for the Dutchwomen, who became just the 18th team in Union's long and proud athletic history to win 20 or more games in a season.
It was sweetly ironic that the Dutchwomen's 20th victory came against the Ephs. Historically, Williams has dominated Union teams in just about every sport. In fact, the Garnet's win on Tuesday night was just the fifth in the 25 game series. The 20-point margin, however, was the largest ever enjoyed by the Dutchwomen.
“I can still very vividly remember the blowouts they (Williams) had over us in my early years, said eight-year head coach Mary Ellen Burt. “The games we have played over the last four years have been competitive and that's been a feather in our cap. Winning two years ago made the point that we were ready to compete at that level.
“I have always held Williams basketball in the highest regards,” Burt continued. They are a winning program, a great academic school, and I know the coaching staff very well. I hold the Williams game as a benchmark for our program.”
The 2002-03 Dutchwomen are an extremely young club. Only senior guard Jill Ring has been around long enough to experience a year in which the Dutchwomen did not have a winning record. The Garnet posted a 13-13 record in Ring's freshman campaign of 1999-2000. That year was a highlight in Union's record books as it was the Dutchwomen's first non-losing season since 1991-92 and tied the team record for the most wins in the history of the program. Since then Ring and juniors Taryn Scinto, Kelly Baker and Vicky Kuzman have enjoyed an 18-9 season (in 2000-01) before teaming with sophomores Katlyn Cunningham, Melissa Marra, Eileen Lowry, Emily Scott and Nicola Rizzo for
last year's 15-11 record.
This year's freshman class of Nicole Cerniglia, Erika Eisenhut, Courtney Shepard, Jen Pangburn, and Kate DeSorrento want nothing to do with a past that produced just four winning seasons from the team's initial campaign of 1975-76 through the 1991-92 season.
“I think this team has a real sense of the history of our program,” Burt explained. “With so many freshmen, they are always asking questions about our opponents. Mostly the answer has been – they usually beat us but, we won last year or two years ago.
“This team wants to make its own history, and it doesn't matter to them if a team beat Union in the past. They want to know what the scouting report says and what the game plan is for beating them this year.”
The Dutchwomen have repaid some old debts on their way to their 20-2 record. William Smith, which had won the first 17 meetings between the two teams, fell victim to a 64-45 and 63-58 sweep at the hands of the Garnet. Union goes into next season on the strong end of a three-game winning streak against the Herons.
On January 17 of this year the Dutchwomen traveled across the river to take on the Rensselaer Red Hawks. Union dominated from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer and came away with its first victory in Troy since 1996, 79-72, while at the same time snapping a 14-game losing streak at the hands of the Red Hawks.
And then there is Williams, a team that had beaten Union 82-54 and 82-50 during the 1996-97 season and then came back to win the first
meeting of the following campaign, 100-54.
The 2000-01 Dutchwomen snapped an 11-game losing streak with their 74-58 victory, but there was something extra special about winning Tuesday night's game by the nice round record-setting margin of 20 points.
“This year with a victory over Williams for our 20th win put an exclamation point on the season,” explained Burt. “Twenty wins is another benchmark for our program, and believe me, I am thrilled!”
This season's success has also set a standard for future teams to follow as it will mark the first time in the program's 28-year history that the Dutchwomen will complete three consecutive winning seasons.
“My biggest fear is that this team will be looking too far ahead, like thinking about next year, and not taking care of the little things we need to do to keep improving on today,” said Burt. “We still have two more league games coming up this weekend and then the UCAA tournament. The team has done a great job with keeping on-task so far, and it is mine and Jamie's job (assistant coach Jamie Seward) to continue to keep them focused.”
The Dutchwomen will play their regular-season finale this weekend in Memorial Field House against UCAA rivals St. Lawrence (Friday at 8 p.m.) and Clarkson (Saturday at 4 p.m.). Not only is the team assured of the best season in its history, the Dutchwomen, who are 10-2 and in second place in the UCAA, have an opportunity to surpass the 2000-01 team's 10-4 league record, which earned the Dutchwomen third place.
20-Win Seasons by Union's Varsity Teams
| 2002-03 | Women's Basketball—20-2 |
| 2002 | Volleyball—23-11 |
| 2002 | Baseball—20-1 |
| 2001-02 | Men's Basketball–21-8 |
| 2001 | Softball—22-11 |
| 2000 | Softball—20-13 |
| 2001 | Volleyball—25-13 |
| 1999 | Softball—26-11 |
| 1998 | Volleyball—20-14 |
| 1994 | Volleyball—24-8 |
| 1991 | Volleyball—20-19 |
| 1989 | Volleyball—23-14 |
| 1984-85 | Men's Hockey—21-9-1 |
| 1982-83 | Men's Basketball—21-5 |
| 1976-77 | Men's Hockey—22-3-1 |
| 1975-76 | Men's Hockey—21-2 |
| 1974-75 | Men's Basketball—20-4 |
| 1973-74 | Men's Basketball—20-4 |