The Seawanhaka Sports Rundown is a weekly roundup of five stories that examine developments in sports news at the local, state, national, and international levels.
By: OSCAR FOCK / NEWS EDITOR
Historic Day for LIU Fencing
In its inaugural season, the LIU men’s fencing team is already making history. On Sunday, freshman — and one of the world’s best fencers — Mohammed Elsayed took home the gold medal in épée in the team’s first competition. Elsayed, who competed for Egypt in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics finished eighth in épée, which is the largest and heaviest sword used in fencing. "I'm proud to be a part of the first men's fencing team at LIU. I'm looking forward to competing with the guys the rest of the regular season,” Elsayed told liuathletics.com.
LIU Football Wins First Game of the Season
After starting the season 0-7, the LIU football team has its first win. It took overtime for the Sharks, but a two-point conversion by quarterback Luca Stanzani sealed the 50-48 win over Duquesne. Stanzani, a true freshman making his first collegiate start, impressed, throwing four touchdown passes and rushing for another. After a poor start, the Sharks rallied back to a 35-21 lead in the fourth quarter. But Duquesne answered with a pair of touchdowns to force overtime, where the teams traded scores twice before Stanzani put it away. This was the most points LIU has scored since the team joined Division I.
Pollard, Cowboys Put 40-burger on the Bears
On a wild NFL Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys showed the league that they will be a contender come January after a 29-49 romp of the Chicago Bears at home in Arlington, Texas. It was quarterback Dak Prescott’s second game back since returning from the thumb injury he suffered in week one, and after a sluggish game against Detroit last week, Prescott was back in form versus the Bears. He threw two touchdown passes and ran for one, dropping dimes all over the field to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and tight end Dalton Schultz. Yet, the star of the show was running back Tony Pollard, who wreaked havoc on the Chicago defense with three touchdowns and 146 yards from scrimmage on only 15 touches. The performance of the offense allowed the Cowboys defense, which has been on fire all season, to take a backseat in this game. They still made their plays, however, including a scoop-and-score from Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Micah Parsons. If the offense is humming like it did against Chicago, this will be a very hard team to beat.
Irving Doubles Down on Support for Antisemitic Documentary
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving is making headlines, and for all the wrong reasons. After posting about an antisemitic documentary and a “New World Order” conspiracy on social media this past week, Irving defended his posts at a press conference on Saturday night. “I’m not going to stand down on anything I believe in,” Irving said when asked about the content of the documentary. The comments at the press conference came after Joe Tsai, owner of the Nets, made his feelings on the matter clear. “I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion,” Tsai wrote on Twitter. Irving’s latest comments are not his first to receive backlash. In 2018, he suggested that the Earth may be flat, and after refusing to get vaccinated for Covid-19, he didn’t play for much of the 2021-22 season.
FC Barcelona Exits Champions League
The Spanish soccer giant FC Barcelona will not be playing in the knockout stages of this year’s Champions League, after only finishing third in their group. With two games to play in the group stages, “Barça” had to beat group leader Bayern Munich on Wednesday, Oct. 26, while second-placed Inter Milan also had to lose to winless FC Viktoria Plzeň. Neither happened. Inter Milan beat down on Viktora Plzeň and Barcelona had no chance against Bayern Munich, losing 0-3. Barcelona, who had started the season strong and has a squad that should compete in the Champions League, will now play a meaningless final game in the group stages before looking forward to the Europa League.