Seniors Finish Careers With 6-4 Victory
Raiders Takes Series With Holy Cross 2-1 After Sunday Win
By Kat Castner
(Worcester, Mass – May 4, 2014) Four seniors ended their careers on a high note after helping Colgate to a 6-4 victory over Holy Cross on Sunday afternoon. The win also aided the Raiders in taking two of the three games with the Crusaders, after the two teams splitt in Saturday’s doubleheader.
Colgate ended the season with an overall record of 13-30 with a 5-13 mark in conference play. The Raiders also finished sixth in the league.
“It was a great team effort today and I was happy to see us end the season on a high note,” Colgate head coach Melissa Finley said.
The Raiders took the early 1-0 lead thanks to a Mariel Schlaefer home run in the top of the first. Unfortunately, the Crusaders answered in the bottom half to grab the edge at 3-1. Colgate would not go away, however, as it registered five runs over the course of the next four innings to take the advantage, at 6-3. Holy Cross would notch one run back in the bottom of the fifth, but strong defense and pitching in the final two innings from the Raiders secured them the win.
Colgate was led by Schlaefer, who posted two hits, two runs, two RBIs, and a walk in her three plate appearances. Rookie Alex Wilson also went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, while Haley Fleming, Gillian Murray, and Jennifer Martin all recorded hits in the game as well.
“Mariel (Schlaefer) and Alex (Wilson) had a great day for us at the plate. Alex has had a tough season battling a hip injury but has always found a way to make things happen. She would have also had a home run on the day if the wind wasn’t blowing in so strongly.
“Overall we did a great job of putting bunts down when we needed to today and had some great defensive plays to close out the game.”
Sophomore Megan Carnase pitched a complete game, allowing eight hits and four runs, two of which were earned. She also tallied five strikeouts, to finish the season fanning 45 batters.
Holy Cross (12-26, 7-11 PL) saw Emily Jarvis go 2-for-4 on the day with two runs. Six other Crusader players registered hits in the game, while Emma Keough reeled in two RBIs.
Gennifer Durham pitched 4.1 innings for the Crusaders, giving up five hits and four runs, before Julia Barrett came in for relief, allowing two hits and two runs during her 2.2 innings of work.
The Raiders notched the game’s opening run in the top of the first thanks to a two-out solo home run by Schlaefer over the left field fence.
Holy Cross quickly answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs to take over the lead at 3-1.
Colgate pulled within one in the top of the third after Schlaefer brought home another Raider run with a double to center field. Her hit scored Fleming from first, who had singled on the previous at bat.
The Raiders took back their lead with four big runs in the top of the fifth. Alex Gadiano earned a leadoff walk to get a baserunner on. Katie Bushee advanced her to second with a sacrifice bunt before Fleming reached base thanks to an error, which allowed Gadiano to touch home to knot the score. Fleming made it all the way to third on the error as well.
Schlaefer then notched a walk and shifted to second to get two runners in scoring position. The Crusaders registered their second out of the inning but a Wilson double to left field scored two more Raider runs. Murray followed that up singling to center field, which allowed Wilson to score, giving Colgate the 6-3 edge.
Holy Cross earned one run back in the bottom half but couldn’t close the gap, as the Raiders recorded the final few outs to secure the victory.
The Colgate Softball Class of 2014, compiled of Fleming, Martin, Eileen Ornousky and Tera Vaughn, has accumulated a total of 75 overall victories while also notching an overall Patriot League record of 42-35.
Kinnealey, Walsh Named All-Tournament
Colgate Duo Helped Raiders to Patriot League Semifinals
By John Painter
(Hamilton, NY – April 28, 2014) Outstanding performances in two big games last week propelled Colgate’s Alex Kinnealey and Ryan Walsh to inclusion on the Patriot League All-Tournament Team.
The Raiders defeated Bucknell 10-9 in double-overtime to advance to the conference semifinals, where they lost 12-6 to No. 1-ranked and eventual tournament champion Loyola on the Greyhounds’ home field. Kinnealey and Walsh were exceptional in both contests.
Kinnealey finished his week winning a combined 33 of 44 faceoff attempts and picked up 23 ground balls. In the thriller against Bucknell, the junior posted career highs with 19 faceoff wins (in 23 attempts) and 17 ground balls.
A native of Cohasset, Massachusetts, Kinnealey continues to lead the Patriot League in both of those categories with a .628 faceoff winning percentage and 7.13 ground-ball average. Nationally, Kinnealey is up to eighth in faceoffs and 16th in ground balls.
Walsh combined for four goals and two assists in the two games and posted his sixth hat trick of the season Friday against Loyola. That’s 19 hat tricks for his career, and the Wantagh, New York, junior also reached the 30-goal mark for the third straight season. He now has 105 goals and 151 points for his Colgate career.
Walsh stands fifth in the Patriot League in goals per game at 2.00, and seventh in points at 2.87.
Colgate (9-6) plays Saturday at third-ranked Syracuse (10-4) inside the Carrier Dome. Start time is 4 p.m.
Patriot League All-Tournament Team
Jack Runkel, Loyola (MVP)
Justin Ward, Loyola
Brian Schultz, Loyola
Joe Fletcher, Loyola
Matt Poillon, Lehigh
Dan Taylor, Lehigh
Ty Souders, Lehigh
Ryan Walsh, COLGATE
Alex Kinnealey, COLGATE
John Glesener, Army
Jimbo Moore, Army
Raiders Relive 2013-14 Season
Seniors Eric Mihalik & Mike McCann Honored at Team Banquet
(Hamilton, NY – April 28, 2014) The Raiders took a look back at a great season and handed out team awards at the annual team banquet on April 4.
Head coach Don Vaughan and the coaching staff announced team captains for the 2014-15 season, but there was no surprise as Spiro Goulakos will return as captain and Joe Wilson is remaining as an assistant captain.
The team voted on six of the eight awards with the exception being the Best Offensive Player and Coaches Award. The Best Offensive Player is given to the player with the most points on the team.
One of the big awards of the night was the Terry Slater Trophy and that went to senior Eric Mihalik. The trophy is awarded by the Silver Puck Club and goes to the senior whose performance, leadership, and dedication on and off the ice during his career had the greatest impact on Colgate hockey. Slater, who presided over the Raider hockey program for 15 years, passed away due to a stroke at the midway point of the 1991-92 season.
Mihalik appeared in 11 games during the season and went 4-5-1 overall. He was honored for his leadership and attitude all year when mentoring rookie Charlie Finn and other players on the team. Mihalik finished his career with 83 games played, which is fifth all-time and became the sixth goalie in Colgate history to record 2,000 saves in his career. He is also in the top-10 in wins with 32 in his career.
The Dan Coley “Barrel” Award, which is given to the best defenseman, was received by junior captain Spiro Goulakos. The Montreal native was honored with the award for the second-straight year and joins six other skaters that have won the award in back-to-back seasons. Rob Brown ’04 is the only player to win it three years in a row. Goulakos was back at full strength this season and played in all 39 games, scoring a career-high nine goals. He added five power play goals and his 20 points were tied for sixth on the team.
Finn was voted by his teammates as The Best Defensive Player. The rookie netminder was incredible in his first season with the Raiders after posting a 16-8-4 record between the pipes. He won the most games since Mark Dekanich ’08 had 18 in the 2007-08 season. Finn’s 11 conference victories were only second to Union’s Colin Stevens for league wins and his save percentage (.918) and goals against average (2.35) was among the top netminders in ECAC Hockey.
The Steve Riggs Award, which is given to the player who is most known for gentlemanly play and possesses a high standard of ability, went to Mike Borkowski. The sophomore centerman enjoyed a breakout season with career highs in all three offensive categories with eight goals and 20 assists for 28 points. He ranked fourth on the team in scoring and he had four gamewinners for the most on the squad. The Kanata, Ont., native was known as one of the best penalty killers on the Raiders and was second on the team among forwards in blocked shots with 23.
Junior assistant captain Joe Wilson took home the Rob Ries Award for his inspiration and leadership on the team. Wilson played most of the season on a line with two rookies and the three became a formidable third line on the Raiders. He finished with at least 20 points for the third-straight season and has 66 career points in 113 games. Twelve of his 20 points came in league play and he had three power play goals and a gamewinner. Wilson is one of Colgate’s most energetic players and causes a lot of problems in the offensive zone for opposing offenses.
Two Raiders split the Whit Williams Award, which was handed out by Whit’s widow Linda, went to Mike McCann and Jake Kulevich. The award is given to the most improved player throughout the season.
McCann had his best season as a Raider in 2013-14 with a career-high 11 points on seven goals and four helpers. McCann’s most memorable game came against Cornell in early February when he scored two goals in a 6-1 drubbing of the Big Red at home. Kulevich finished the year with nine assists, which was third on the team among defensemen. He improved the most throughout the season and became a very reliable skater on the backend. He had assists in both games at Lake Placid.
The Best Offensive Player went to Tyson Spink as the top point-getter for the Raiders. He finished with 33 points on 10 goals and 23 helpers. He was among the top assists guys in the league and he also tallied three power play goals and three gamewinners. He tallied his first career hat trick against Princeton in a 6-1 win late in the regular season. Spink also sent the Raiders to their first ECAC Hockey final in 24 years with the double-overtime winner against Quinnipiac at Lake Placid.
The Coaches Award was given to Kyle Baun. The sophomore worked extremely hard this season for Colgate and scored 26 points on 11 goals and 15 assists. He was second on the team in power play goals with six and he has 50 career points on 25 goals and 25 helpers. Baun was a big body in front for the Raiders all season and combined with the Spink Twins to score 89 points on the top line of the Raiders.