Raiders Rally Past Rival Cornell, 41-20
Safety Mike Armiento had two interceptions, including an 85-yard return for a TD, to lead Colgate to a 41-20 win over in-state rival Cornell Saturday. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
By John Painter
(Ithaca, NY – Oct. 5, 2013) Welcome back, defense!
Shades of Colgate’s performance last season at Lehigh came pouring through here Saturday as the Raiders burst into the win column with a 41-20 triumph over rival Cornell.
Mike Armiento returned an interception 85 yards for a touchdown and freshman quarterback Jake Melville sprang off the bench to lead four second-half scoring drives. It was the first win of the season for the Raiders after four opening losses, and it came despite senior quarterback Gavin McCarney re-injuring his knee early in the third quarter with Colgate trailing 20-17.
Oddly enough, that play proved to be the spark. From that moment on, the Raiders turned in their most complete football of the season.
“It was a big win for us,” Colgate head coach Dick Biddle said. “Cornell is a great school and our natural rival, and our kids take it that way. It’s good to come over here with our alums and beat them. They are a good football team.”
Colgate’s defense pitched a second-half shutout, sacking Cornell All-America quarterback Jeff Mathews four times in the process and forcing a second Armiento interception midway in the fourth quarter.
The Raiders entered the game allowing more than 500 yards of total offense per game. Cornell gained 403 Saturday, but only 143 of those came after halftime when the Colgate defense put together back-to-back scoreless quarters for the first time since winning the 2012 Patriot League championship at Lehigh.
“Our defense really rallied around Gavin’s injury,” Biddle said. “They’ve been giving up a lot of points and a lot of yards, and today they stepped up with the score on defense, the sacks and the interceptions.
“Mathews is a great quarterback with a great arm, and he’s going to complete the passes. You just have to make sure they’re not the deep ones. And we were able to do that, particularly in the second half.”
Freshman Impact
Melville got the call at quarterback for Colgate when McCarney was tackled on the Raiders sideline with 11:30 remaining in the third quarter. The Sparta, N.J., native took the field and calmly marched the Raiders into the lead, doing the honors himself from 6 yards out on a fourth-down play that made it 23-20.
“Gavin went down and Coach called for me,” Melville said. “He just kept telling me to stay calm and they called a few simple plays that I knew we would be able to execute.”
The lone quarterback in Colgate’s very first scholarship recruiting class, Melville said he was receiving encouragement throughout the huddle. Tailback Jimmy DeCicco even described what was about to happen on that fourth-down TD run.
“Jimmy told me if they crash down to just take the ball and walk into the end zone,” Melville said. “And they crashed down, sure enough.”
Three more scoring drives followed of 80, 77 and 10 yards – the latter coming after Armiento’s second pick of Mathews and his zigzagging return that was one shoestring tackle away from a second touchdown.
Armiento’s 85-yard interception return to open the scoring tied for fifth longest in school history, and his combined 134 yards on the two picks is a Colgate record.
“I knew that first play was coming,” Armiento said of the pick-six on an out pattern. “I knew he had a strong arm and was going to try it. I just took my chance and I jumped it because I knew it was coming.”
It was Colgate’s first interception return for a touchdown since Vinnie Nicosia went 79 yards with a pick against Bucknell in 2011. It also marked Armiento’s first collegiate touchdown and Colgate’s first defensive score since Austin Dier rumbled home a fumble return last year at Stony Brook.
“I couldn’t do any of this without my defensive line and the linebackers getting underneath,” said Armiento, who has three interceptions this season and nine for his career. “Our defensive line played awesome today. On the second one, they were pressuring and he had to throw it up. I was just playing safety in the middle of the field and read his eyes.”
Sharp While It Lasted
McCarney in his two-plus quarters was 14-of-18 passing for 147 yards and a touchdown, along with another 74 rushing yards on nine carries. Melville completed 3-of-4 for 60 yards and a TD to go with 54 rushing yards and another score.
“You never know what kids are going to do when they are under the gun,” Biddle said. “(Melville) is a good football player, but the key is the whole team stepped up when Gavin got hurt and that’s what you expect.
“That took a lot of pressure off of him and he just had to operate the offense.”
Biddle in the locker room awarded honorary game balls to nine different Raiders – his men in the trenches.
“The key to the game was our offensive line and our defensive line,” he said. “We were able to run the ball because our offensive line did a great job. And our defensive line was able to put pressure on the quarterback. If you can do that with four people and blitz every now and then, you’ve got a chance to win.”
Colgate outgained Cornell (1-2) 465 yards to 403, including a 258-52 edge on the ground.
DeCicco drew the starting assignment at tailback in place of the injured Demetrius Russell and carried 22 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Included was a 77-yard burst through the middle of the line that pushed Colgate in front 35-20 with 9:20to play.
It was Colgate’s longest offensive play of the season.
“Demetrius went down last Friday in practice and I had been getting reps all week; I was ready for it,” DeCicco said. “Our offense is a system, so you plug guys in.
“It could have been anybody they put back there and somebody would have stepped up for us. Today was a team effort, and it’s always nice when the defense puts up points for you.”
Dan Cason finished with eight receptions for 120 yards. Nat Bellamy and John Quazza added touchdown receptions, with Bellamy’s the second this season and Quazza’s the first of his career.
“It all starts in practice,” Cason said. “These last two weeks, we practiced harder than we had all season. We had a lot more energy, and that just translated to the game. We were going on all cylinders today.
“We finally executed today. One of the big things from the first four games is we weren’t executing and doing what we knew we were capable of doing. Today, it just all came together and you saw that on the field.”
First One’s the Hardest
Cason leads the Colgate receiving corps with 25 catches for 337 yards. The East Stroudsburg, Pa., senior knows that Saturday’s effort can be a sign of better days ahead.
“The first one’s always the hardest,” he said. “Things are going to go the wrong way, but we just kept at it and we didn’t punt one time today. That’s what we like to see.
“We only stopped ourselves, and that means we can get better.”
Colgate safety Demitri Diamond led all tacklers with 12 stops, while Armiento added 11 to increase his team lead in that category to 48. Bobby Stup, Victor Steffen had Charles Cairnie contributed solo sacks in the game, with Austin Dier and Andrew Nairin sharing another sack.
“It was an incredible second half,” Steffen said. “We came into the locker room at halftime and there was a lot of very intense emotion. We were tired of losing, basically.
“So we were relentless the entire second half. That was one of the key things – just being relentless. That all goes back to preparing for this game for the past two weeks.”
Cornell’s Mathews finished 33-of-44 passing for 351 yards and two touchdowns to go with his two interceptions. Mathews ended the day with 9,303 career passing yards to take over the Ivy League lead.
The injury to Colgate’s starting signal-caller, McCarney, is being called a sprain for the time being. Further evaluations are forthcoming.
The Raiders host Stony Brook (2-3) next Saturday in a 6 p.m. kickoff.
Raider Reels: Colgate’s win was its fifth in a row over Cornell and 15th in the last 17 meetings. The Big Red still lead the overall series 48-44-3 … Biddle improved to 14-2 against Cornell and 39-10 against Ivy League foes … Colgate’s 7-0 lead on the Armiento interception return was its first of any kind since 7-0 at Air Force more than a month ago … The Raiders also hadn’t held a team scoreless for any quarter since that same opening period in Colorado Springs … Melville is the third Raiders quarterback to see action this year. Dylan Finelli went the whole way against New Hampshire in place of an injured McCarney, but Finelli injured his shoulder in that game and is out indefinitely … Colgate scored on all five red-zone possessions, including four touchdowns. Cornell was just 2-of-4 … Saturday’s attendance was 4,973.
Men’s Hockey Drops Season Opener
Freshman Andrew Black scored his first collegiate goal in Colgate’s season opener against Ferris State Saturday night at Starr Rink. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
By Matt Faulkner
(Hamilton, NY – Oct. 5, 2013) The Colgate men’s hockey team kicked off its 2013-14 season against Ferris State and the Bulldogs came out on top with a 7-4 win after a wild third period on Saturday night.
Colgate (0-1) had an early lead in the game with two first-period goals from Mike Borkowski and Andrew Black. It was a great start for Black who scored his first collegiate goal. Tyson Spink and Tylor Spink also scored in the season opener. Charlie Finn made his first start in a Colgate uniform and made 25 saves between the pipes.
Ferris State (1-0) was led by Garrett Thompson and Justin Buzzeo on the top line as each had a goal and two assists in the win. Jason Brinkley added a goal and an assist for two points. CJ Motte got the start and pushed aside 28 shots from the Raiders.
The Raiders got the early 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the first 7:38 of the game. Borkowski put the first goal of the season on the board with assists to Darcy Murphy and Joe Wilson. Black then tallied his first of his career with 12:22 left in the period. John Lidgett and Mike McCann were given assists on the play.
The second period was a different story with Ferris State scoring three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 into the second intermission. Cory Lane started the comeback with the first Bulldog goal coming 3:53 into the frame. Scott Czarnowczan knotted the game at 2-2 with 6:31 left in the period with a power play goal with assists to Buzzeo and Thompson and then Jason Binkley gave the Bulldogs their first lead at 3-2 with 3:18 remaining in the period.
It didn’t take long for the Raiders to get back in the game to start a wild third period that featured six goals. Tyson Spink tied the game at 3-3 with a sniper shot from the right side after nice passing from line mates Kyle Baun and Tylor Spink. The goal came 58 seconds into the frame. Raiders regained the advantage with a power play goal from Tylor Spink, which came a minute later with another assist from Baun and also one from Borkowski.
The Bulldogs were not fazed, however, as they responded with another run. They scored four goals in the final 17 minutes to earn the 7-4 win. Thompson scored the game winner with 14:31left in the game and the goal came on the power play.
The teams were even in the shot department with 32 apiece. Ferris State was 2-for-4 with the extra man, while the Raiders had one goal in three chances with the man advantage.
These two teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. in the final game of the two-game series at Starr Rink.
Colgate, Navy Battle in 1st Place Showdown
By Kat Castner
(Annapolis, Md. – Oct. 5, 2013) Colgate traveled back to the site of the 2012 Patriot League Tournamenton Saturday night when the Raiders faced Navy in a matchup of Patriot League perennial leaders. The Mids took the victory, 1-0.
“Our second half was a vast improvement over the first, but at the end of the day it’s going to take at least 90 solid minutes to succeed in this league,” Colgate head coach Kathy Brawn said. “We learned valuable lessons tonight and we will put our efforts into preparing for Army.”
Colgate (6-4, 2-1 PL) saw Catherine Williams register three shots in the contest to lead the Raiders. Taryn Tomczyk, Caroline Brawner and Chelsea Roche all added shots throughout the game. Rookie Brenna Mason earned the start in goal pushing aside seven shots, tying her career high.
Navy (10-2, 3-0 PL) received its lone goal and game-winner from Cat Macklin in the 33rd minute. Courtney Hook was awarded the assist on the play.
The Mids controlled much of the opening 20 minutes, grabbing two good scoring chances. Morgan Dankanich fired a shot on net but Mason was there to make the stop. Ashlynn Soellner followed that up 20 seconds later trying her luck on goal, but again Mason stayed strong coming up with a big save.
Colgate had its first good chance on net in the 29th minute following a corner kick. Brawner sent a dangerous ball into the box, hoping to find a Colgate player. After the ball bounced around inside the box, Roche collected the lose ball and fired a shot on net, skimming the top crossbar.
Four minutes later the Mids converted a 2-on-1 opportunity for the game’s only goal. Rachel Hunter sent the ball to Hook, who was making a run toward goal. Hook then teamed up with Macklin to shoot just past Mason for the 1-0 advantage.
A minute later Macklin fired another shot on net but this time Mason came up with a stellar save to deny the freshman.
Early in the second half, Colgate notched two quick shots on goal from Williams and Brawner, but both just missed the back of the net.
The Raiders kept trying to equalize but Navy finished out the remainder of the game without conceding the tying goal to hand Colgate its first loss in conference play.
Colgate has a quick turnaround as the Raides travel to West Point on Wednesday for a midweek game against the Army Black Knights.
Raiders Draw With Loyola, 1-1
By Kat Castner
(Hamilton, NY – Oct. 5, 2013) Colgate men’s soccer welcomed newly joined Patriot League member Loyola on Saturday night and played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie to stay unbeaten in conference play.
Colgate (2-7-1, 1-0-1 PL) registered its lone goal in the 23rd minute when sophomore Tyler Forbes netted his first of the year. Rookie Ricky Brown made his seventh start in net for the Raiders and pushed aside four saves in the match.
Loyola (5-3-2, 0-1-1 PL) saw Larry Ndjock tally its only goal right before halftime. Stephen Dooley was awarded the assist on the play. Zach Zane recorded seven saves on the night.
Following a scoreless first 20 minutes of play, Forbes broke the 0-0 tie when he had a brilliant solo performance. He started dribbling toward goal from left field before finding an opening 25 yards out. He riffled a shot into the side netting freezing Kane in his tracks.
Colgate looked to increase its advantage when Tanner Schilling broke free down the center of the field. He sent the ball over to Kutler, who one-timed it on net. The ball sailed just high over the goal but gave the Raiders a great chance.
With less than three minutes before halftime, Loyola equalized off a free kick. After a quick restart the Greyhounds played the ball into Ndjock, who took one touch before striking on net. Brown came up with the initial save but wasn’t able to grab the rebound as Ndjock finished the ball over Brown’s right shoulder, knotting the score at 1-1.
Early in the second half, Zach Pagani was fouled to earn Colgate a free kick. Ethan Kutler took a beautiful kick toward the top left corner of the net but Kane came up with a stellar save to push it aside.
A few minutes later, Pagani again started a Raiders’ attack when he won the ball at midfield. He dribbled a few feet before sending the ball over to fellow teammate Kutler, who was running down the wing. The freshman fired a hard shot on goal but it sailed just over the crossbar.
The Raiders stayed on the attack with 27 minutes remaining in the regulation. Senior captain Barrett Metzger took a big throw deep in Loyola’s half. His corner kick like throw made it all the way to the head of Tamen, whose flick toward goal forced Kane to make a diving save.
Loyola answered with a good chance of its own after Dooley hit a shot from the top of the box, but Brown made a great stop to keep the game tied.
Both teams had chances in the final minute of play but neither were able to convert, sending the game into overtime.
In the first overtime period, the Greyhounds tallied two quick shots on net. Dooley dribbled down the sideline before finding an opening on goal and shooting hard and low, but Brown was there to push it aside and out for a corner kick. On the next play, Dooley’s corner found the head of Ryan Tuck, who redirected it on net. His flick hit the right post and ricocheted back into play.
Colgate had one last chance before the first overtime ended when Kutler was fouled 30 yards out. He stepped up to take the free kick, sending a good cross into Colin O’Neill, who took one touch before shooting on net. Kane made the initial stop before the ball bounced around in the box and Loyola finally cleared it away.
After a scoreless second overtime, the Raiders earned their first draw of the season. Colgate outshot Loyola 20-14, but the Greyhounds held the advantage on corner kicks 5-3.
The Raiders have a short week as they travel to West Point on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Army Black Knights.
Colgate’s Comeback Falls Short Against Eagles
By Matt Faulkner
(Hamilton, NY – Oct. 5, 2013) The Colgate field hockey team erased a 2-0 deficit in the opening half, but American scored with 1:21 remaining in the game to squeak by the Raiders by a 3-2 decision on Saturday afternoon.
Colgate (2-9, 0-3 PL) got goals from Olivia Nabhan and Whitney Jones. Both goals came off of rebounds in front of the net. Amanda DiDomizio made nine saves in net in the loss.
American (7-3, 3-0 PL) remained perfect in Patriot League play thanks to Victoria DeKepper, who tallied two goals, including the game winner late in the second half. Shelly Montgomery had the other score for the Eagles. Ashley Dalisera got the win in goal with four stops.
The Eagles wasted no time getting on the board as DeKepper scored the first of her two on the day just five minutes into the contest. She got a nice pass from Natalie Marsh along the goal line and she finished it for the 1-0 lead. Eight minutes later, American increased the lead to two goals with Montgomery putting home a rebound. The Eagles took a shot that was deflected by a Raider defender and Montgomery was there for the clean up at the side of the net.
Nabhan got one back and it only took 34 seconds after Montgomery’s tally. Eliana Brown fired a shot off the post that deflected to the opposite post and Nabhan settled it down and beat Dalisera for her second goal of the season.
Colgate then tied the game with under two minutes to go in the first half as Jones scored her fourth goal in the last five games with a shot off of a rebound. Kelsey Jensen put a shot on net that was stopped, but Jones continued with the play and ended up finding a way around Dalisera.
American had the advantage in the second half with a 10-2 shot advantage and six penalty corners to Colgate’s two, but the Raiders were hanging into the match.
Colgate hurt itself down the stretch with three yellow cards in the final 12 minutes, which allowed American to have a big advantage on the field. The Raiders were able to escape on the first two cards, but couldn’t survive the third. DeKepper rushed to the top of the circle and made a move around a Colgate defender and hit a backhanded shot. DiDomizio went down with the pads, but it snuck by her and into the back of the net with 1:21 left to give American the 3-2 win.
Colgate is back in action on Oct. 8 with a visit to Cornell for a 4 p.m. start.