Colgate celebrates Jocelyn Simpson’s goal in the second period against Harvard Friday night at Starr Rink.
Raiders Surge Past Dartmouth
Men’s Hockey Stays Unbeaten in 2014; Improve to 6-3-1 in ECAC Hockey
By Matt Faulkner
(Hanover, NH – Jan. 17, 2014) The Colgate men’s hockey team scored two power play goals for the third-straight game and downed Dartmouth, 4-1, on Friday night.
Colgate (10-9-3, 6-3-1 ECAC) got goals from four different players in the win with Mike Borkowski and Spiro Goulakos scoring both power play tallies. Ryan Johnston and Andrew Black were the other two goal scorers for the Raiders. Tyson Spink, Tylor Spink and Joe Wilson all collected two points on the night with a pair of assists each.
Charlie Finn was once again solid in net and is now unbeaten in his last four starts. He was tested in the second period with 12 saves. The Raider netminder and the defense has not allowed more than two goals in six of their last seven games.
“We are playing well in front of Charlie,” said head coach Don Vaughan. “We are not giving up a lot of second and third chances and I think the guys are doing a good job around the net. We have had great puck support.”
The Raiders came to play on the power play for the third-straight game and it was a big part of the win. Vaughan has been very pleased with the power play units recently.
“We have had good possession and great entries into the zone,” Vaughan said. “We are finally getting pucks to the goaltender. The power play always seems to be, what have you done for me lately and I am really pleased with how our guys have stuck with it after a bit of a drought.”
Colgate is 6-for-15 on the power play in the last three contests and came into the new year with 10 goals on the man advantage in the first 18 games of the year.
The Big Green (3-13-2, 2-9-0 ECAC) got its lone goal from Brandon McNally with assists to Troy Crema and Geoff Ferguson. Charles Grant earned the start in net and made 20 saves.
Dartmouth got the scoring started with 11:51 left in the first period with McNally putting home a rebound on a 2-on-1 rush up ice. Ferguson found Crema streaking up ice and he was able to get behind the Colgate defense. He put a shot on net that Finn kicked away, but McNally finished off the rebound for the 1-0 lead.
Colgate answered quickly with Black scoring his fifth of the season and probably his most unlikely goal this season. Wilson created a turnover in the neutral zone and charged into the offensive zone. He put on a shot on Grant and the Big Green netminder pushed it to the boards. Black picked up the loose puck and fired a sharp-angle shot from the corner that somehow got past Grant to tie the game at 1-1. The goal came 27 seconds after Dartmouth took the first lead.
The Cornwall power play unit got its first chance of the game late in the first period and didn’t disappoint. Tyson Spink shifted the puck behind the net and found Borkowski all alone at the right face-off dot. Colgate’s leading point scorer then connected on a one-timer that went top shelf on Grant to give the Raiders their first lead of the game with 2:29 left in the opening frame.
The second period was scoreless, but the Raiders killed off a minute of 5-on-3 power play time thanks to three stops from Finn and a nice diving play from Jake Kulevich to clear the puck in the final second of the advantage. Finn was called upon a lot in the middle frame with 12 of his 24 stops.
The Raiders opened up the lead to two goals with Johnston scoring his second of the season with a wrister from the right side that made it through traffic to give Colgate a 3-1 lead.
The game was put out of reach by Goulakos with his third of the season and second on the power play for the Raiders. Tylor Spink slid the puck back to Goulakos at the point and he ripped a shot from the left side that made it through traffic. It beat Grant high and to the glove side for the final goal of the night.
Coach Vaughan was happy to see his team come out in the third period and extend the lead.
“Dartmouth did a really good job in the second period when it was 2-1,” Vaughan said. “They started to take it away on us, but I was really pleased with our response.”
The Raiders were outshot by a 25-24 margin, but went 2-for-4 on the man advantage and Johnston’s tally was a 4-on-4 goal.
“We had a great effort up and down our lineup tonight,” Vaughan said. “We were able to roll our lines well and Derek Freeman, John Lidgett and Mike McCann played well on the fourth line. So an all around good effort.”
Austin Tillotson tallied 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and had five assists to lead Colgate over Navy Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
Colgate Eases Past Navy For 1st League Win
Raiders Finish with Four in Double-Figures in 63-41 Victory
By Kat Castner
(Hamilton, NY – Jan. 18, 2014) The Colgate men’s basketball team needed a huge victory on Saturday afternoon and that’s exactly what it got as it posted a compelling 63-41 win over Navy for its first league win of the season.
The Raiders wasted no time jumping out to a quick start as they scored the game’s opening 14 points, keeping the Mids scoreless for the first six minutes and 30 seconds. From that point on, the Raider lead was never in jeopardy as they held a double-figure advantage for almost the entire game, to grab their first league win.
Colgate (7-10, 1-5 PL) led 33-15 at the break and the strong Raider defense during those first 20 minutes forced Navy into its second lowest scoring half of the year. The 15 points allowed was also Colgate’s best defensive half of the year. Prior to Saturday’s game the Raiders had held Big East foe Georgetown to 21 points in the opening 20 minutes of play on Dec. 7. The Raiders stayed strong throughout the remainder of the game only allowing 41 points for their best overall defensive game of the year.
“We just stuck together,” Colgate head coach Matt Langel said of his team’s strong defensive effort. “The guys have been working at it really hard. I credit them for continuing to work at that end of the floor. They know that that’s something that we can’t just hang our hat on, we can’t just be shooting shots. If we are going to win games in this league that’s something we are going to have to continue to do overtime.”
The Raiders’ ended a six-game losing skid with the commanding double-digit victory. Austin Tillotson led the way with 10 points, five boards and a game-high five assists. Murphy Burnatowski and Ethan Jacobs both chipped in 11 points while Damon Sherman-Newsome knocked down three of his seven shots for his 10 points. Junior Luke Roh had a huge day on the boards pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds to match his season-high. He also added five points and three helpers to the Raider total.
Colgate shot an impressive 61 percent from the floor in the first and an overall percentage of 53, making 25 of their 47 attempts. Colgate also drained nine of their 19 shots from downtown to finish with 47 percent shooting from long.
Navy (7-10, 2-4 PL) saw two players hit double-figures in Brandon Venturini (11 points) and Zach Fong (10 points). Venturini and Michael Brown both recorded five rebounds to lead the Mids on the boards.
Colgate slightly outrebounded Navy 34-33 but the Mids held the advantage on points in the paint, at 22-18.
Behind the supportive fans and students, who are now back from holiday break, the Raiders scored 14 straight points to take the early 14-0 lead in the opening five minutes of action. Sherman-Newsome registered six of those 14 points during that stretch.
Venturini hit a 3-pointer at the 13:30 mark to give the Mids their first bucket of the game but the Raiders answered going on a 12-5 run over the course of the next three minutes to increase their advantage to 18 points, at 26-8.
With less than four minutes to play before the break, Roh found Burnatowski for an easy jumper to create the half’s largest margin at 21-points.
Fong would hit a good trey at the 2:40 mark, but neither team recorded any more points in the final minutes of action, sending the two teams into halftime with an 18-point Colgate edge, at 33-15.
To go along with a scoreless final two minutes and 40 seconds, neither team attempted a free throw throughout the entire first half as well.
The Mids started the second 20 minutes, scoring four straight points to cut the deficit down to 14 at the 17:37 mark but a Jacob’s running one-hander ended the Raider drought of more than six minutes and 30 seconds, which spanned back to the end of the first half. Despite going scoreless, Colgate managed to hold Navy to just seven points during that stretch.
Following the scoring drought, Colgate quickly pushed its advantage back to a comfortable 20 points thanks to a made 3-pointer from Alex Ramon with 10 minutes remaining.
In the final four minutes of action the Raiders created their largest lead of the game at 25, twice, and stayed strong to ultimately secured their 22-point victory.
Colgate is back in action Wednesday when it hosts Army at 7 p.m. on Cotterell Court.
Harris Leads All Scorers at Navy
Goes for Game-High 19 Points in 71-40 Colgate Loss
By John Painter
(Annapolis, Md. – Jan. 18, 2014) Navy put on an early shooting clinic and then withstood a second-half Colgate charge to post a 71-40 Patriot League decision here Saturday night.
The first-place Mids improved to 14-3 overall and 6-0 in conference thanks to their scorching start. Navy began the game 7-of-7 from the field – four of those from downtown! – to build an 18-4 lead by the first timeout.
Navy entered as the Patriot League leaders in 3-point shooting percentage and 3-pointers made per game, and the Mids only added to those figures in this contest.
“They are very efficient on offense and they have four shooters on the floor at all times,” Raiders head coach Nicci Hays Fort said. “We really talked about not letting them get open threes, and then we start the game leaving them with open threes.”
Navy’s Audrey Bauer (4-of-6), Kara Pollinger (4-of-6) and Chloe Stapleton (3-of-8) combined in the game to make 11 treys in 18 tries, and all three players had a hand in that early onslaught.
Colgate basically held its own for the remainder of the half, drawing as close as 23-12 after a Carole Harris 3-pointer. Harris scored 10 of her game-high 19 before intermission to keep the Raiders within 35-17 at the break.
Limiting the Colgate cause on both ends was foul trouble plaguing Kelly Reid and Mariah Jones.
Reid scored Colgate’s first basket of the game but then picked up three personals in just four minutes of game action. She finished with four points and four rebounds in only 15 minutes. Jones played 16 minutes and fouled out with just seven points.
“It’s not the start you want to have and it made a big hole that we had to try and dig ourselves out of – especially when we got into foul trouble,” Hays Fort said. “But we were able to at least keep it manageable by the half.”
Back Within Nine
Colgate made a game of things over the first eight minutes of the second period, outscoring Navy 15-6 to draw within 41-32 when Harris rattled home a jumper with 12:51 remaining. Harris to that point had scored eight of Colgate’s 15 second-half points.
“We were taking good shots and getting the ball in Carole’s hands,” Hays Fort said. “She was playing with a lot of confidence and her shots were falling.
“We also one-and-outed them more than a few times, forcing them to take tougher shots, and we were able to get rebounds. That’s how we made the run.”
But Navy returned to its reliable long-range accuracy. Bauer once and Pollinger twice connected for 3-pointers over the next1:16, and Navy regained its cushion at 50-32.
It was the start of a 21-1 stretch for the Mids that put the game out of reach and dropped Colgate’s won-lost records to 5-12 and 1-5.
“We got tired and it was hard for us to fight through the fatigue,” Hays Fort said. “That’s when they hit the three straight threes.”
Harris reached the 19-point mark exactly for the third time this season, converting 8-of-18 from the field. She was the only Raider to make more than one shot from the field. Harris also added eight rebounds to pace the Maroons, who claimed a 43-42 team edge in that department.
Behind the seven points from Jones and four from Reid, Paige Kriftcher and Josie Stockill scored three apiece, while Lauryn Kobiela and Randyll Butler each added two. Stockill grabbed seven rebounds and Butler five, and Kobiela was the assist leader with three.
Padding the 3-Point Stats
Pollinger’s 16 points topped Navy, and Alix Membreno led the rebounders with 13 and the assisters with six.
Colgate finished 14-of-59 from the field for 23.7 percent, including 2-of-16 from 3-point distance. The Raiders made 10-of-16 at the free-throw line and had eight assists to go with 10 turnovers.
Navy was 26-of-56 from the floor for 46.4 percent, including 11-of-26 from 3-point distance. The Mids improved to 38.3 percent for the season from beyond the arc and are averaging 9.6 made threes per game – both league-high figures.
Navy also made 8-of-12 from the free-throw line and had 19 assists against 10 turnovers.
Next for Colgate is the second half of an Academy road swing when the Raiders visit Army for a Wednesday 7 p.m. matchup.
Early Lead Propels Raiders
Three First Period Goals Lift Colgate Past Crimson; Raiders Unbeaten in Last Five
By Matt Faulkner
(Cambridge, Mass. – Jan. 18, 2014) Three first period goals proved to be the difference at Harvard on Saturday night as the Raiders defeated the Crimson, 4-2, for their fourth-straight win.
Colgate (11-9-3, 7-3-1 ECAC) was led by Ryan Johnston with a goal and an assist. His goal ended the night as it came on an empty net with 13 seconds left. His assist was the primary on the eventual gamewinner.
“We were able to get off to a hot start and that really set the tone for the night,” head coach Don Vaughan said. “We have had excellent starts to games in the last three weeks. It is tough to play from behind and we did too much of that earlier on in the year.
“We were able to jump on Harvard early and hang on, but I am really proud of our guys tonight and it’s great to get a win on the road.”
Charlie Finn improved his record to 7-4-2 with 23 saves and is unbeaten in his last five starts. He was tested in the third with nine saves and has not given up more than two goals during his unbeaten streak.
He continues to come up big for Colgate and he did down the stretch with the Crimson putting the pressure on late in the game.
“Huge,” said Vaughan when asked about his two saves in the final minutes. “I tell our goalies that they don’t have to make all the saves, but you have to make the right saves and he did that tonight as they were coming hard late in the game.”
Harvard (5-10-3, 3-7-3 ECAC) got its two goals on the power play from Kyle Criscuolo. Peter Traber got the start in net and lasted only the first period before being relieved by Steve Michalek. Traber made 12 stops in the first, while Michalek didn’t allow a goal on 23 shots.
The Raiders took the early 1-0 lead just 2:54 into the game with Mike McCann scoring on a one-timer from the slot. John Lidgett muscled the puck behind the net and found McCann all alone in front. The lone senior skater beat Traber on the glove side with traffic around the crease. Derek Freeman was given the secondary assist on the goal.
Colgate kept coming and Tylor Spink took advantage of a bad play in front of the Harvard net. Traber made a stop and looked for his defenseman to clear the puck, but he didn’t. Tylor Spink swooped in and shot it past Traber to make it 2-0 with 10:50 left in the first.
The Raider advantage increased to 3-0 with 3:53 left in the first period with a great tip-in from Daniel Gentzler off a pass from Johnston. The sophomore defensemen saw Gentzler streaking in from the opposite side and put the puck in front. Gentzler redirected it into the open net for his second of the season.
It was the third time this season that Colgate had scored three goals in a period with the last coming against Clarkson in a 4-3 win on Nov. 16.
Harvard brought the pressure in the second period and played a better 20 minutes than the first frame. Criscuolo was able to get the Crimson on the board early in the second period with a power play goal coming on a setup play. Luke Esposito fed Criscuolo from the below the goal line after Alexander Kerfoot dropped it down to Esposito from the point.
The Crimson were able to get to within one goal with 1:52 left in the game with Criscuolo scoring on the power play again. It was a 6-on-4 man advantage score and Criscuolo was in the slot and redirected a Jimmy Vesey shot from the point.
Harvard pulled the goalie again after getting possession of the puck and Darcy Murphy looked to have iced the game, but the puck rang off the post from about 120 feet.
That almost turned out to be a big unlucky bounce in the game, but Finn stepped up huge in the final minute. The rookie netminder made two big stops on the Crimson down the stretch and he thanked his defense for a great effort all night.
“The defense did a fantastic job for me tonight,” Finn said. “They allowed me to see the puck and be honest. They were solid, along with the forwards on their back checks and made my job a lot easier.”
Johnston sealed the deal with 13 seconds left in the game with an empty net goal from center ice. The defenseman made a really nice play to get free from the Harvard attackers and fired it into the net for the 4-2 win.
“Johnston made an unbelievable read inside the blueline on the empty net goal,” Vaughan said. “He looked to see the guys eyes and stepped in front of the pass.”
The Raiders swept their second league road weekend of the season and are 7-2-3 away from Starr Rink. With the two wins this weekend, Colgate has earned league points in five of the last six games of the conference campaign.
Colgate had a 39-25 shot advantage in the game. It was the first time in three games, the Raiders did not scored on the power play. Harvard had two power play goals on five chances.
Next up for Colgate is a visit from Clarkson and St. Lawrence next weekend at Starr Rink.