Offensive player of the year
By Mike Alifanz 4-17-2000
Ok, so this weeks Golden Gate's award is for Colgates best offensive player. I woke up this morning, and in my bleary eyed stupor, clicked on the obvious choice, Andy McDonald. I decided that I would run some numbers to see how the candidates matched up. The results were rather interesting to say the least. Here's what I found out.
I'll start with Angela Puliofico of the womens soccer team. She netted 4 of the teams 32 goals, good for 12.5%. But 14 of the 87 points (counting assists) for 16.1% of the total points. How does this compare?
Pat Capoleita scored 416 points this season, the team had 1848. That puts Pat at 22.5% of the Mens Basketball teams total offense, not too bad!
On to the football players, Ryan Vena and Randel Joseph. I started to look at total yardage as my deciding factor, but that doesn't take the nature of football into account. Joseph, with 1446 of the 5043 total yards for 28.6%. Venas 2458 yards accounted for an awesome 48.7%. Some of it due to his great rushing ability, some due to the nature of the quarterback position. Moving on to total points, the numbers tell a different story. Josephs 14 TD's were good for 90 of the teams 417 points, or 21.6%. Vena accounted for 64 points and 15.3% Looking at the nature of the sport and the nature of the two positions, I would give the edge to Joseph, but it could go either way.
On to hockey, and the "no brainer" choice, Andy McDonald. Andy put in 25 of the teams 132 goals for 18.9% and 58 of the teams 351 points for 16.5%. Not quite as dominating as I thought. Next on to womens hockey and Heather Murphy. 26 of 95 goals for 27.4% and 52 of 225 points for 23.1%. WOW! This is really good for hockey where your not even playing a lot. She has one more goal than Andy, 6 fewer points, in 9 fewer games. Thats simply amazing when you think about it.
In summary, here's how I ranked the candidates based on the numbers
Angela Puliofico- 12.5%
Ryan Vena- 15.3%
Andy McDonald- 18.9%
Randall Joseph- 21.6%
Pat Campolieta- 22.5%
Heather Murphy- 27.4%
For this reason, I changed my vote to Heather Murphy. Her numbers rival Jospehs, but for a running back it is a lot easier to get those numbers. I know this won't change the outcome of the voting, and I certainly don't mean to dimminish the accomplisments of Andy McDonald. I know he was awesome and the best player in the ECAC, but when you look at his numbers next to Heather's and some of the other candidates, it is no longer a "no brainer".