for 9-16-01
You might notice that this is still the "Red" Raider Sports Report, but also that "Red" is no longer in our official nickname. The University dropped the controvertial to a few donzen people nickname over the summer. Mark Murphy justified the dropping of the name by saying people didn't seem to have strong opinions on it in either direction, and making the change would make the Students for Social Justice happy, as well as presenting a better image of the school. I would argue that the reason for the lack of strong opinions could be the fact that very few people even knew that the name was up for discussion, and that very few of the students opinions have actually been asked. The appeasment of certain interest groups on campus might seem like a good idea, but the appeasment route is usually not a good one in terms of where it will lead in the future. It is undeniable that certain people and groups will look more favorably upon the school when either considering admission or otherwise. But this is due to an ignorance of the true facts, and the Universities failure to present an accurate portrayal of the meaning behind our name. In a poll taken a few weeks ago, this website will continue to use the word "Red" freely, but will not go out of the way to use it just to annoy people. In short, the name change will be ignored in this unofficial context, and we will strive to educate people to the true meaning of the name and it's great history.
The feature, "Remember the Red Raiders" has begun, and will be covering the 1932 football season on a bi-weekly basis. This is the team that originally earned the nickname by going undefeated, untied, unscored upon, and uninvited. Their new colorful uniforms were the dominant factor in the new nickname. This weeks Maroon- News ran an article on this feature, which covers that football season as if it were happening currently. Hopefully the press coverage will result in more people coming to this website in the coming days and weeks.
Let's get to some of our fall teams, and start with the one I am the most nervous about. The Field Hockey team is out to a 2-4 start, winning an easy game against Siena, before dropping 4 in a row, then beating the 0-6 Lehigh team for our first league win. Last years team set an all time record for the lowest winning percentage. That team had the technical skills they needed to get more wins, but the team chemistry was poor, and they were unable to perform on game day. The freshman class looks good skill wise, but we are still waiting to see how they contribute to the team chemisty. Disaster struck early in the season, when senior co captain, Lauren DiCioccio fell victim to a torn ACL. The injury could be career ending. This midfielder had 7 points in last seasons campain, and was a team leader in the offseason. Her loss will be tough to handle, as the team fell into some of it's bad habits since the season opener. Senior Kristine Thomas is the player to watch, she is currently tied for 6th on Colgate's all time goals list. If this team does not break it's bad habits, this season could be as dismal as last. But there are many winable games if we stick with it. Colgate was picked to finish 7th in the preseason poll, but with the upset over the 6th place team, Lehigh, 6th place is Colgate's to hold onto. The 5 teams ahead of us have each recieved at least one first place vote, with the league newcomer, American University, picked to finish first. Holy Cross has gotten off to the best start, and is currently ranked 24th according to the Field Hockey Coaches Association. We meet the Crusaders this weekend. The next home game is the 27th, against Syracuse University.
To the casual observer, the Football Team might be a cause for worry. They are 0-2 this season, losing by an average score of 36-12. Both these losses coming against Atlantic Ten teams. While I think it is too early to predict complete failure, things are clearly not going our way. Two years ago we beat Maine in a wild season opener in the final minutes. Villanova doubled us in '97, but this time they completly outclassed us. Colgate had the toughest first two weekends of all the teams in the league. So, we have not had a chance to play equal competition yet. Holy Cross and Lehigh seem to be the top teams once again, with most people who have seen these two play saying both have improved over last year. However, all these two teams have done so far is beat up Georgetown, and Lehigh has some defensive questions to answer, while the Holy Cross offense hit a few snags in their season opener. After that, the league is pretty open. Bucknell should be strong again, but I don't figure them to be league contenders right now. Towson seems to have taken themselves out of the picture by losing to SUNY Albany, then needing overtime to beat Lafayette. They still have time to put something together though. Fordham should improve, but still be in the bottom half of the league. Lafayette will stay near the bottom, and Georgetown, the leagues newest member for football, was the preseason pick for last. The Georgetown offense is showing some potential, and the are aiming to pick up a win or two in their innaugural season. For Colgate, it is hard to identify our strengths and weaknesses as we have not been playing equal competition. Our defense has shown flashes of greatness. Holding a very strong Maine offense for half a game. Our offense is slowly moving the ball, but getting shut down in key situations. This weekend we face the Fordham Rams in the family weekend game and home opener after the Dartmouth game was cancelled due to this weeks terrorist attack on America. Flags have sprung up all over campus, as Colgate unites with the rest of America. refusing to be beat or submit to terrorism.
The Mens Soccer team is 1-3 right now, but I see no reason to worry. In fact, our gritty performance so far could, and should result in a higher finish in the league this year. Last year, we were 1-4-1 in the league, but that lone win was over Lafayette, who won the league. American was tabbed for first in the league, with Colgate in 8th, but the Red Raiders have been playing well, beating Stetson in the season opener, with a very strong performance by the teams freshman. We then lost to the University of Central Florida, the host of the tournament. They are still undefeated, and ranked 10th in the south. We lost an overtime game to Syracuse, we evened the score with just 3 seconds left, and several key upperclassmen were forced to miss the game. We then lost 1-0 at Cornell, these two teams are both ranked in the top 5 in the state, and we played them well on the road. We lost to Cornell 3-1 last year at home. I feel like this is a season to look foward to, and with several experienced upperclassmen, and a very good freshman class, we should finish with a few more wins than predicted.
The Womens Soccer team is making me nervous though. Yes, we are 2-1-1, but we probally should be 3-1 right now. And we took two teams into overtime that we should have disposed of in regulation. New Mexico was a team that should have beat us, but we took them to a tie, it was a good start, but a few players were not up to form, and we were visably the more tired team, despite a long plane flight by New Mexico and a pretty cold, wet night on Van Doren Field. We did not get much offense in a loss to Fairfield. Our defense was very good, but one breakaway was all the Stags needed to defeat the Red Raiders. The following weekend, we allowed Vermont to get to overtime with us, following a very controvertial goal with 13 seconds left. In fact, the replay clearly shows Jenny Molina getting hit and tackled as UVM scored the tying goal. Mandy Palladino, who could win the most improved player award for every single season she's played here, netted the game winner with a great shot just out of the goalies reach. Palladino is a 4th year starter, and seems to learn something new every game. She would get the overtime winner again the next afternoon. When the Raiders managed to let Long Island University reach overtime. Colgate looked tired, but played the way you would want a tired team to play, it showed our experience, and desire to win. It took 5 minutes of overtime for Lauren Erickson to send a very good pass in Mandy's direction, and she made no mistake in tapping it into the goal. Offense is our big concern right now. We have good players at Forward, but our gameplan is pretty slow and steady on attack, and our forwards are typically facing a 2 on 6 situation. Angela Puliafico, the freshman sensation who has been unable to reproduce her offensive numbers since Colgate went to a more defensive gameplan, is still very technically sounds, but is still working around some rust as the result of a bad knee injury in the league championship last year. We're still looking for the right combo up front, but the odds are stacked against them. Katie Griffen has been given some time up front, after being a defensive reservist last year. I like her deceptive speed and agility, and I would like to see more of her in an offensive role. We're not getting great shots, as our plays seem a bit rushed, and a lot of shots are jsut way off the mark. We need more of the plays we saw against Long Island, when Puliafico used her ball handleing skills to work it in deep near the goal, then centered it back to Kate Barrett, who used the open space to nail the shot. We've been picked to finish first in the league, but I am not terribly comfortable with the way we are playing right now. As usual, several freshman have already earned a starting spot, and they will have the chance to be the backbone of the team someday. Allison Bernardini has been a steady starter, scoring Colgate's first goal this season against a tough New Mexico team. Kyle Koch is starting at defense. I like her speed, she's a pretty agressive player, and might be the most physical player on the team right now. She hasn't been called for too many penalties yet, so she's a very good compliment to an outstanding backfield, featuring the power of LAuren Kaufman, the agility and energy of Caitlin Cummer, and the experience and technical skill of Meghan Merriman. However, the team is on the road until mid October, so we're going to have to wait a bit to get our womens soccer fix.
Lastly, it's our Volleyball team. Lynn Hall is our new coach, playing in the newly renovated Cotterell Court, and we're bringing a lot more of the West Coast into Hamilton NY. There's a lot of excitment surrounding the new program. The Volleyball team saw the largest increase in fan attendance last year, and is continuing to draw well. Coach Hall seems to be a firm, but optimistic coach. And she seems very enthusiastic about coaching the Raiders. The team is 3-6 right now, but compare that to being 1-11 at this time last year. We've had our ups and downs, with a few tough performances, and a few games that just seemed to pass us by. The team seems to be responding to the leadership of the upperclassmen, and they are trying to help Amanda Routman climb the Colgate record ladder of career kills. There's a lot of experience on the team, and a lot of the teams success will ride on the back of Amy Rawson, the teams only setter. Michelle Mahaney is leading the team in attack percentage right now. Routman is still someone I would not want to be on the court against when she's attacking, and the freshman Elizabeth Aron is tearing it up offensively. She's leading the team in kills right now! She's already taken home one Patriot League rookie of the week award, and should get many more awards in her time at Colgate. This is going to be a fun team to follow this season. They open up the league season at home this Thursday at 7 pm. We were picked to finish 5th in the league this year. Last season we got off to a very slow start, but puilled through to make the league finals. With the addition of American University, the finals might be hard to reach this year, but it is a good goal to aim for. I've seen a few up and downs so far, but there is potential, and there is a lot of skill and experience. I'm looking foward to more Volleyball action, as we are hosting our second Invitational of the year this coming weekend. It wasn't the fastest growing spectator sport at Colgate for no reason.
So, American is here, and they are good. So good in fact, they are expected to win the Presidents Cup with a lot of league titles. Is this good for the league? Probally not. It's not even good for American, as there was a large outcry against joining the league as a full member. They are a step above us in a lot of sports, and students and coaches at American worry this is a sign the University is trying to downplay athletics. The competition is a step down for them, and it's no fun for anyone if they win all the time. The league was so desparate for another member, we allowed them in under their demand that they be able to give as many scholarships as they want. Going against the original Patriot League purpose. This does not bode well for the stability of the league. We do pick up some more territory geographically, as we move into D.C., but keep in mind Davidson, one of the founding memebers, left the league because we were all too far away. The jury is still out, we will have to see if American was actually planning on taking their athletics down a notch, and how this plays out.
Holy Cross is a team on the rise. Over the past few years, they have gotten a lot more competitive in the tiered sports. While some of their teams finish at the bottom of the league. Sports like lacrosse, soccer, softball, all the other sports in the catergory, are getting much better. The big named sports, football and basketball, are all pushing the upper limits of the league, and making other's unhappy. And most Holy Cross fans want out of the league, at least in basketball. What is the secret to this athletic awakening? Is it more attention to recruiting? More money in the budget, better facilities? A lowering of admission standards? Something is being done differently. Given Holy Crosses schizophrenic nature, this could just be another coming and going of the tide, or is one of the leagues two builders once again pushing the league to the brink of failure? This is something I intend to take a closer look at in the future.
And, on a closing note, I'm one of the most annoying people at the University! At least according to a recent Maroon News Story. On a list of "33 reasons students return to Colgate every semester", a reference to me is listed right there between our campuses fetish with acapella groups, and the COOP's inability to serve turkey clubs anymore because they don't want to use the extra slice of bread. Oddly enough, the COOP also doesn't sell sarcastic thank you cards. While the reference is not direct, most people were able to pick up on it, and even desired my autograph on their copy. And people wonder why I tend to gear this website more towards alumni and parents then to students. That's it for this lengthy addition of the Red Raider Sports Report. I'll try to get into my pattern again and will take a look at some upcoming games this Wednesday or Thursday. Till then, take care.
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E-mail me at RedRaider013@yahoo.com