Women's Lacrosse Turns Away Bantams, Advances to Semifinals
After taking care of business against Bates Wednesday for their regular season finally (Mules defeated the Bobcats 17-7), Colby hosted Trinity for the first round of the conference playoffs.
The #12 Mules and #13 Bantams last saw each other one week ago, when Colby turned away a potential game-tying goal with seconds remaining to defeat Trinity 12-11. In the rematch on Saturday, Trinity came out firing, taking a 6-2 advantage after the first period.
The Colby defense stiffened up for the remaining 45 minutes, allowing Trinity to net only four more scores the rest of the way. The offense not only closed the gap but took the lead for good before halftime. Gianna Bruno and Annie Eddy collected five and four points respectively, while Paige Saudek led the Mules with three goals, as Colby advanced to the semifinals by a score of 12-10.
With four assists against Bates and four more against Trinity, Bruno moves into first place as Colby's all-time assist leader. Her 114 career assists surpasses Ally King '03 and Kate Sheridan '09, who each had 113. Bruno currently leads the NESCAC in assists and points.
Colby is currently 12-4 and will travel to Middlebury to take on the #1 Panthers in the NESCAC Semifinals.
Softball Collects Three Wins on the Week
With two more NESCAC pairings remaining in the regular season (Amherst and Wesleyan this coming weekend), the Colby Softball team swept Husson and split with Bowdoin as the Mules close in on another playoff berth.
Both games with the Husson Eagles were tight, as Colby's neighbors from Bangor have been performing at an incredibly high level. Defeating the Eagles 3-2 and 9-8, Colby snapped Husson's 18-game winning streak. The Mules came from behind in both games, with Jackie Hill tying Game 1 in the bottom of the 7th with her fourth home run of the year.
Facing off against Bowdoin on Saturday, Colby scored the most runs since their spring break trip to take the first game 10-5. Courtney Schumacher and Carissa Cassidy led the way with three hits apiece. In Game 2, the Polar Bears jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning, extended their lead to 4-1 in the fifth, and held off a late charge by the Mules to steal one from Colby 4-2.
Logan Luebbe had six hits, five RBI, and scored five runs on the week. She is currently hitting .409 on the season. Pitcher Sam Ahlhom toed the circle in three of the four games, collecting two decisions. Her eight wins on the year smashes her previous high of four from a year ago.
Colby is currently 20-12 and will host doubleheaders with Amherst (Saturday) and Wesleyan (Sunday) before preparing for the conference tournament the following weekend.
Baseball Issues Tufts First NESCAC Loss of Season, Secures Home Field
Colby entered the three-game set against top-ranked Tufts University in search of one victory to claim home field for the playoffs. Falling in a nail biter in the opener 2-1, the Mules earned their win in Saturday's first game 4-3. With the win, Colby secured the second seed in the NESCAC East and will remain in Waterville for the remainder of the NESCAC tournament.
Nicholas Thompson pitched incredibly in Friday's nine-inning affair. He went 7.2 innings while allowing no earned runs. Tufts plated two unearned runs to sneak past the Mules 2-1.
In Saturday's opener, Tufts took the lead in the top of the seventh inning, only to have Colby score two runs in the bottom of the frame for a walk-off win 4-3. Clint Flippo went 3-3 at the plate, scoring three runs.
Tufts bounced back to take the rubber match to pull two of three away from Colby, once again by a score of 2-1. With all three games between the Mules and the Jumbos decided by a single run, this will be a matchup to watch in the coming weeks.
The Mules celebrated ten seniors before the games Saturday for Senior Day.
Colby is now 22-10 and will host Hamilton for a best-of-three series this coming weekend in NESCAC Quarterfinal play.
Men's Lacrosse Defeats Bates to Close out 2023
Colby faced off against Bates in Lewiston for the final match of the 2023 season. With consecutive wins against the Bobcats dating back to the 2019 season, Colby took care of business defeating Bates 15-11.
Falling behind 4-2 after the first frame, Colby made runs of five unanswered goals in the second period and another string of four unanswered in the third. Senior Jack Goller and brother Bennett combined for seven goals and one assist in the match. In their final collegiate game as teammates, Jack led the Mules with five goals while Bennett contributed two goals and one assist.
Colby ends its season with a 4-10 record.
Track & Field Notch Two Conference Titles at NESCAC Championships
The Colby Track & Field team traveled to Conn. College for the 2023 NESCAC Championships. The Men placed 8th overall with 32 points and the Women took 10th place overall with 20.5 points. Despite the tough competition among the NESCAC schools, the Mules came away with some great finishes, including two NESCAC titles.
The men’s 4x400 relay team consisting of Jackson Coelho, Peter Martel, Raghav Kadambi, and Ren Zanze became NESCAC champions finishing with a time of 3:20.79. Martel also grabbed silver in the pole vault event. On the women’s side, Fiona Mejico took the NESCAC title in the 400m Hurdles with a time of 1:03.33.
Women’s Top-10 Finishers:
- 400m Hurdles - Fiona Mejico 1st, Haley Wims 6th
- 4x400m Relay - 4th (Olivia Tomlin, Kristina Pizzi, Wims, Tally Zeller)
- High Jump - Isabel Llach, 6th
- Pole Vault - Mary Calvert, 8th
- 100m Hurdles - Erin Daugherty, 10th
Men’s Top-10 Finishers:
- 4x400 Relay - 1st (Jackson Coelho, Peter Martel, Raghav Kadambi, Ren Zanze)
- Pole Vault - Martel 2nd, Logan Lehnert 5th, Myles Thorton-Sherman 8th
- 400m - Zanze, 4th
- 4x100 Relay - 6th (Markus Christie, Zanze, Martel, Kadambi)
- 4x800 Relay - 8th (Hayden Bailey, TJ Collins, Matt DeAngelis, Gordon Doore)
- Triple Jump - Kevin Yan, 8th
The Mules will now prepare for the New England DIII Outdoor Championships starting this Thursday May 4th.
Women's Tennis Battles the Panthers in NESCAC Quarterfinals Action
Friday morning, the Mules faced top seeded Middlebury for a NESCAC Women's Tennis Quarterfinals matchup.
The #4 nationally ranked hosts took down Colby 5-0 leading them to the finals where they placed runners up to NESCAC champion Wesleyan. The Mules duo of Amelie Gal and Ellie Gershaw played the best for Colby as they came up just short 7-8.
This concludes the regular season for Women's Tennis with a 6-11 overall record, 3-7 conference record. The field for NCAA team and individual competitors will be announced later this week.
Men's Tennis Faces Middlebury in NESCAC Quarterfinals
Friday evening, the Mules took on the No. 4 seeded secondary hosts Middlebury College in a NESCAC Men's Tennis Quarterfinals matchup.
#20 Colby ended up falling to the #4 nationally ranked Panthers 5-0 despite putting up strong doubles performances. Each duo pairing lost to their opponents by only three points or less. On April 30th, Middlebury went on to be crowned NESCAC Champions for the second straight year.
This concludes the regular season for Men's Tennis with a 9-8 overall record, 6-4 conference record. The field for NCAA team and individual competitors will be announced later this week.
Crew Takes on Bates and Bowdoin for 25th Annual President’s Cup Regatta
The Colby Crew team traveled to Greene, Maine Saturday to take on Maine State rivals Bates and Bowdoin for the annual President's Cup regatta. Despite strong tail crosswinds and last minute lineup changes the crews battled hard throughout the day.
The #6 ranked Men’s V8 boat topped Bowdoin but fell to #3 ranked Bates for a second place finish. The Men also raced with two boats in the V4, finishing third and fifth.
On the Women’s side, both the V8 and 2nd V8 boats tallied third place challenging #4 ranked Bates the whole length of the race. The Women’s V4 boat kept the pattern going with a third place finish as the Novice 8 boat did the same.
Next weekend, the team will head to Worcester, Mass. for the New England Rowing Championships.
Golf Battles Fellow Conference Schools in NESCAC Championships
Over the weekend, the Colby Golf team headed to the Martindale Country Club in Auburn, Maine for the 2023 NESCAC Championships hosted by Bates.
Over the course of the two day 27-hole event (shortened due to weather), the Mules tallied a 10th place finish after shooting 524 as a team. Johnny Kinsley shot the best for Colby with a score of 120.
This concludes the spring season for Colby Golf.
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Cole Burkhart '24, Steve Cheney P25, Stephen R. Clouthier, Ashley Conti, Nancy Dauphinais '25, Paula Dauphinais '25, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Michael Garrett P23, Andrew Hearns P24, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Joshua McKee, Dustin Satloff '15, Ellie Sawyer P25, Carlisle Stockton, Isadora Wells '26, Ansley White '26