for 5/11/02
Now back to business. At an April 27th meeting, the board of trustees at Bucknell University voted to allow merit aid scholarships at that institution. What they actually agreed to, was that they supported the idea of merit aid. In order for any aid to actually be given, a plan must be approved by that board. What this past vote did, was give the green light for the school to forumlate a plan that would be acceptable both in terms of benifiting the school, and being financially feasable. If such a plan is approved, merit aid could be used as early as fall of 2003. The plan will most likely extend beyond just athletics. This decision will most likely set the wheels in motion at Lafayette College. Lafayette allready offers merit aid based on academics. These limited scholarships often end up in the hands of athletes however, accoring to a recent article in that schools newpaper. Should Bucknell adopt a scholarship plan, you can safely assume that Lafayette will broaden theirs as well.
Colgate's spring season's are wrapping up. The mens lacrosse team finished 4th this season. They impressed many with their new found enthusiasm under the direction of first year head coach Jim Nagle. We achieved a 7-7 record, but did it with a schedule that ranked 44th out of 55 division 1 mens lacrosse programs. The league champion Hobart Statesmen will meet Duke later this weekend. Perhaps Colgate's greatest victory of the season wasn't even a win. We battled Cornell University earlier this season, and lost by just 1 goal. Cornell was admitted to the tournament on an at large bid, and could be making a run at the title this year. Greg Walby, a senior defenseman was named to the all league team, as was former football standout, Joe Parker. Parker is currently listed as a junior, which means he might don the Raider uniform one more time as he fullfills his graduation requirements.
The womens lacrosse team had high expectations in the fall, but fell apart before the season could even start. Heather Smith, our leading returning scorer left the team because she "didn't want to run anymore". Other players also left the team for various reasons. The season started mired in a slump, and the players and coaches were very unhappy. Players slowly adjusted to their new roles, Jane Murray picked up some extra slack with her netminding, and Jane Manning emerged as an offensive superstar. By virtue of an amazing win over Lafayette late in the season, Colgate would sneak into the Patriot League tournament, hosted by the top seeded Leopards. Officiating would come into play in this game, and the Leopards were careful not to make the same mistakes twice, beating Colgate by one goal, before breezing past American for the win. They recently fell to top seeded Georgetown in the NCAA tournament. Senior captain Lauren Moll was named to the all league second team. While Manning and freshman Rebecca Sandler were on the first team. Sandler was also named rookie of the year.
The softball team finished the season at 28-20, but the season still ended in a dissapointing fashion. Elena Issac set a school record, winning 20 games this year, and she is just a sophmore! She was the leagues pitcher of the week four times, and made the leagues first team. Freshman powerhouse Dorothy Donaldson also made all league first team, along with Melissa Rawson, Amanda Brickell, and the get on base guru, Caitlin Thistle. Donaldson was the leagues rookie of the year. Amanda Paolucci was named to the second team, as was the younger Rawson, Natalie, who led the league in home runs this season. With all of these all league choices, it's hard to believe we were the first team eliminated from this years tournament!
The tennis teams also had a good spring. Colgate finished 3rd in the league this season in the womens division. Marissa Alikpala took rookie of the year, being named to the all league team as well. The men finished second this year, losing to eventual champions, American. Reed Hagmann was on the all league team, earning rookie of the year honors. He also was on the all league team for doubles, along with partner, Eric Saccullo. The teams had a lot of adversity as well, their assistant coach was arrested, and was removed from his post. Scott Wiley, an assistant coach for the womens hockey team stepped in to fill his role. Then head coach Robert Dallis announced he had taken a job at Dartmouth, and will resign his post here. Dallis always had the goal of coaching at an Ivy League school, but some feel his dispute with Colgate was what led to his departure. Dallis was upset at what he saw as a lack of respect by Colgate atheltics. He had been pushing for a separate mens and womens coaching staff for some time, but was unsuccessful at achieving this. There is no other program at Colgate where the mens and womens team share a single head coach and assistant coach. His players are all sorry to see him go, and even had meetings with Jane Pinchin and Mark Murphy about the circumstances leading to his departure.
It's time for a little crime and punishment. Let's start with Syracuse University.
Star basketball star, DeShaun Williams, was recently arrested for instigating a bar room brawl, during that fight, Williams slugged Nicole Willcox, who plays "Otto the Orange" the schools popular mascot. Nicole required 4 stiches over her left eye. Williams reportedly slugged Ms. Willcox, because she called him "corny". Williams did not play in the game against Colgate this year, as he was serving a 3 game suspension for an earlier DUAI conviction. Williams has allready been suspended by the University, and will return for trial June 4th. However, he was reportedly seen at a University function since that time. Most Syracuse fans have said they hope to never see him again.
This is not the only issue that currently has Syracuse University in the state of near uprising. This weekend's commencment will be protested by a number of students, outraged by this years choice for a commencement speaker, Rudy Guliani. Further racial tension was caused when one student, as part of a fraternity golf party, dressed up as Tiger woods. He was not the only fraternity member to wear a costume, but he did use black make up to make himself the skin color of Mr. Woods. That student faces serious consequences, and the fraternity has allready been placed on suspension. All things considered, it is not a good time to be at Syracuse University.
The other school in the news recently is Holy Cross. Mens basketball player Jave Meade was arrested for disorderly behavior and disrupting the peace during Holy Crosses spring weekend. This however, is more a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, as local police officers rounded up some of the partiers. Last weekend, a former Holy Cross soccer player and current sophmore, got into a fist fight with a freshman at an off campus apartment. That freshman, Jonathan R. Duchatellier, would recieve severe injuries to the head, and would later sucumb to these injuries, passing away monday afternoon. This incident could have happened anywhere, and was allegedly started when Mr. Duchatellier arrived at a party, and was unhappy about the way his assaliant was treated a lady. These events should never have to occur, and it is important that we heed these examples, and remember them in the future. At Colgate, we are all too familiar with the aftermath of these events, and Holy Cross officials are allready talking about taking a look at campus culture. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Holy Cross community.
This concludes todays addition of the Red Raider Sports report. I will be back next week to take a look at some more issues affecting our school and the league. I aim to explore the American issue a little bit more, as well as the recent scholarship developments. I will also be filling you in on the future of this website. Also, we have a new fanpoll up today. Someone mentioned on the message board, switching over to Voy.com. I am open to this idea, but I personally don't see any significant advantaged to switching. You can check out the Patriot League Voy.com message board and get a feel for what it would look like. Also, browse some of the other league boards to get a feel for what they look like. We would be connected to the Voy.com network, which would increase the amount of traffic we get, and it could mean a lot more visitors from other schools, if you think that is a good thing or not. This webpage is allready linked to all of those websites, and it has increased traffic slightly. Voy.com message boards are shut down much more frequently for repairs, but are not offline for as long as our current message board provider when a problem does occur for the most part. Check it out, then vote in our webpoll. That's it for today, enjoy the weekend.
Go to the Message Board Page
E-mail me at RedRaider013@yahoo.com