11/19/00
The Football team finished out it's season with an impressive win over league rival, Bucknell this weekend. It was a very exciting game, and both teams deserve a lot of credit. Colgate battled through a lot of adversity this year with injuries and tough breaks. A 77 yard scoring drive in the last 5 minutes of the game put the Red Raiders in the lead, then we caused a Bison turnover on the kickoff return. The record might not have been to good, but Colgate football had another season to be proud of if you take into account eveything that went wrong.
This will be the first year since 96 that the Red Raider's aren't going to the NCAA tournament. Lehigh earns the right this year, and guess where they are going? They are heading out to the mid west to do battle with this years Gateway Conference Champions, the Western Illinois Bulldogs. Ordinarily I would be rooting for the Patriot League team, but with all the big talk coming out of a lot of Lehigh fans mouths, I think I might have to root for a humbling defeat like Colgate suffered in Illinois last year. Maybe that will help Lehigh fans realize that the Patriot League is an academic powerhouse, and our league champions are only just first round fodder in NCAA tournaments these days.
On the topic if NCAA championships, the Volleyball team failed in it's bid to defend the Patriot League title, falling to Bucknell in the finals. Colgate put together and very impressive game against Army in the semi finals, one that could be a game of the year candidate in the Golden Gate's this year. Colgate will lose it's number 2 and 3 players in the kills per game catergory in Lisa Breiner and Laura Rohrbacher, who rejoins the Womens Basketball team now that the volleyball season is over. Amanda Routman has established herself as a star player, and could be a dominant force in the Patriot League for the next two years.
Speaking of Womens Basketball, the Red Raider's took to the court to open thier season against Drexel this weekend. The results were very positive, considering that Drexel beat Colgate last year, and the 4 games before that, but Colgate was able to pull out an impressive and decisive win. The freshman and sophomore classes scored 50 of the teams 66 points and the team vets looked very strong as well.
The Mens Basketball team saw action as well, easily beating Hobart. Pat Campolieta continues to improve. He scored 18 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. He was also very impressive in his passing game and ability to draw other players to him and open up weakness somewhere else. Freshman Howard Blue did get the start. He looked pretty good, he's got a very good shot, he just needs some time to iron out some stuff, he could be one of the teams best players in a year or two. They key to Colgate's success this year? Good solid play and a lot of passing, not too much flash here, but a very hardworking team that could surprise a few people. Thier next three opponents are all very established teams, and Colgate should be in for a real test.
The Mens Hockey team had a solid weekend, but lost it's first home ECAC game since RPI beat us in overtime two years ago. The Red Raider's drop to 7th in the league with a win over Brown, and a loss to Harvard. The better team won both games, Harvard has been surprisingly solid this year, and has a top notch defense. For Colgate, it just never gets easier, Jason Lefevre got hit in Fridays game and was diagnoised with a mild concussion. Scooter Smith recorded his first career hat trick in Friday's game.
What does the Connecicut College Camels have in common with a winning hockey team? The answer, nothing. Our Womens Ice Hockey team beat the CC Camels 6-0 today. This was the sort of game where head coach Ted Wisner actually gets pissed at the team when they score. The team is going to need to develope a very solid passing game for when it goes D-1 next year. 7 of the teams 11 goals this weekend were scored by freshman! There's something really incredible about that. Of course all that could mean is that they didn't learn they are not supposed to shoot yet. Either way, it was a highly successful weekend, and Colgate will finish in the top 3 in the national polls again.
This weeks fanpoll is on which fall team had the most successful fall season.
We didn't get any league championships, but there were some good performances. To vote, go to the message board page, after that, please enter the message board itself and share your opinions.
In addition to Andy McDonald getting the call this week and playing his first few games in the NHL, former Colgate player, Steve Estes has been called up by the Cleveland Browns and is currently serving on thier practice squad. Thanks to the guy who's name I can't remember on the line at Frank dining hall for that informantion! Got any other information, regardless of how random it is, e-mail me at GBraham@mail.colgate.edu I can also be reached on AIM or AOL at "Page017". Thats it for this week. If I don't get to do a mid week report, have a happy thanksgiving!
Back to the Ramblings page,
or to the Message Board