"I was very happy with the way we played," Carty said. "It was more or less our first full-contact game of the year."
"I'm feeling very positive about the season," Co-captain Brendan Woods '02 said. "We graduated at most five seniors last year; we have a very strong senior class."
Woods and Co-captain John Orraca-Tetteh '02 will try to lead the Jeffs on the field this season. Other key returning players include Seth Birnbaum '02, Dario Borghesan '02, James Orraca-Tetteh '02 and David Stasiak '03.
In addition, the team has added two new seniors, Geoffrey McCarrell '02 and David Straub '02, whom Woods expects to contribute "right away."
"For the first time in a while, we've got a team with a lot of depth and a lot of experience at every position," Carty said.
The team's schedule is heavily front-loaded, with the Jeffs currently scheduled to play their conference's two dominant powerhouses, Dartmouth College and Army, in the first two weeks.
"We're starting off with the two toughest teams," Woods said. "We'll see where we match up from there."
"We're favored to win our league, depending on what happens in the next few weeks," Carty said.
After Army, the Jeffs face Harvard University, University of New Hampshire, Boston University, UMass, Boston College and finally Williams College.
"We've got a very good shot of making the playoffs," Carty added.
"We've been pretty successful with the way we've played in the past," said Woods. "We're a fast team. Size-wise, we're not the biggest team, but we play smart."
The women's team's prospects are largely a matter of conjecture at this stage, since the team has yet to hold practice this season. Their first practice had been scheduled for yesterday, but was cancelled, along with all athletic practices, in response to yesterday's events.
"We haven't had a chance to see the new players," Regina Scribner '04 said. "If we had a high turnout, it would be great."
The team graduated a number of players last spring, which may hinder the women's ability to compete this season. The Jeffs will surely feel the losses of Katherine McMullin '01, Jess Garcia '01 and Marina Reti '01 as they look to take on a bevy of opponents this year.
"We lost a lot of key players, especially from the scrum, a lot of size, but we've returned a lot of great players too." Scribner said.
She added that the team was reworking its strategy and changing some players' positions to compensate for the loss."We've moved some people around to fill the gaps," she said.
Despite the challenges of rebuilding, Scribner remains confident that the team will continue to be successful this fall. "I think we're going to do really well this season," she said.