While most Colgate University students leave campus for winter break and take a pause, Colgate Athletics continued as strong as ever. Over the break, Colgate women’s basketball played a variety of Patriot League competitors. Colgate men’s hockey played a split series against the University of New Hampshire and two ECAC conference games. Men’s and women’s track and field continued their indoor season with meets at Cornell University and Suffolk University.
After a Dec. 20 nonconference loss to Binghamton, the Colgate women’s basketball team bounced back with a 63-57 victory over fellow Patriot League member Lafayette College on Dec. 31. Junior Ella Meabon contributed a team-leading 27 points, while fellow junior Amarah Streiff returned from injury and scored 16 points. Colgate made almost 90% of their free throw shots, which proved to be a crucial margin in this close game.
Senior Abbey Ferguson credited teammate Grace Klag with strong play throughout the winter break, including the Lafayette game.
“She has been grabbing rebounds, making strong moves, and playing as a real force on the floor,” Ferguson said.
After the victory against Lafayette, the women’s basketball team fell in the next five games over the winter break, including three games decided by less than four points. Ferguson referred to these games as crucial learning experiences.
“We have learned how important it is to stay poised and execute under pressure,” Ferguson said in reference to the team’s performance.
Against American University on Jan. 7, Colgate forced overtime with a game-tying three-point shot in the final seconds of regulation by sophomore Taye Matthews (three of her 17 total points in the game). This shot helped to overcome the previous 16-point deficit. Ella Meabon posted another strong performance with 20 points. However, the last-minute heroics were ultimately not enough, as an 8-0 overtime scoring run by American led to a 59-56 American victory.
Another close matchup was the 49-47 home loss to Loyola University on Jan. 14. Again, Colgate rallied from behind to overcome a 15-point deficit, but the game ended without Colgate managing to tie the game or take the lead. Madison Schiller scored 11 points, and Meabon contributed 10 points. After another close loss to Bucknell University and two close losses after the end of the winter break, Colgate women’s basketball sits in last place in the Patriot League.
However, with another ten games left before the Patriot League tournament, Colgate has time left to score major conference victories. Ferguson expects these games to be equally competitive.
“Every game up to this point has been a battle, and we expect nothing different as we continue moving forward,” Ferguson said.
Colgate men’s hockey began its winter break action with a nonconference 3-2 victory over New Hampshire on Jan. 3. Colgate had three separate goal scorers within the game: Simon Labelle, Ryan Sullivan and Jake Schneider. Schneider’s shot to take the lead came with 1:13 left in the third period, breaking the stalemate at 2 goals each. Goalie Reid Dyck made 24 saves throughout the game, leading to his seventh win of the season.
On Jan. 16, Colgate was defeated 5-1 by seventh-ranked Quinnipiac University. Colgate struggled with early penalties and connecting on shots throughout the game. The only goal came in the third period by Isaiah Norlin. The final men’s hockey game of the break was a 2-0 home victory over Princeton University on Jan. 17. Labelle and Sullivan both scored, and Andrew Takacs had 28 saves in the shutout win.
Colgate’s defense was especially impressive, preventing Princeton from scoring off of two power plays in the second period. After a loss against Harvard and a victory against Dartmouth, Colgate men’s hockey sits at 9-13-2 overall and 6-5-1 in the ECAC conference. They are currently ranked seventh in the ECAC with a competitive series of upcoming conference games in the next few weeks, including the famous rivalry against Cornell University.
Colgate track and field had three meets over the break: the Cornell Southern Tier Invitational, the Cornell Upstate Challenge and the Suffolk Ice Breaker Challenge. At the Southern Tier Invitational on Jan. 10, Colgate women’s track junior Kiran George won first place in the high jump with an impressive 1.67-meter jump. Senior Samuel Epstein described this performance as very “promising for the later season.” First-year Claire Story finished fifth in the 3,000 meters and junior Frances Munger finished in seventh place. In men’s track, junior Nicholas Larson placed second overall in the 3,000 meters and Jack Gabrielle placed fourth in the 800 meters.
The Colgate track and field teams also sent a contingent of athletes to the Suffolk Ice Breaker Challenge on Jan. 18, where senior Samuel Epstein broke the school record in the pole vault with a height of 4.75 meters and a first-place finish. Epstein credits the “high-level communication from coaches and staff” for much of the early-season success the team has had.
At Suffolk, Joshua Myers finished first in the 800 meters, with teammate Henry Gaylord behind him in second place. Joel Douzanis placed second in the shot put with a throw of 14.17 meters. On the women’s side, Clare Gillis placed second in the invitational section of the 200-meter dash at 25.13 seconds.
After a strong start to the season, the men’s and women’s track and field teams are set for a variety of competitive meets over the next month before the Patriot League championship and the NCAA indoor championships in March. Epstein emphasized the importance of following the “natural flow of the season” and “focusing up as the season progresses.” Additionally, he noted that the Colgate track and field program is a “young group with a large sophomore class,” which is promising as the team continues to learn and develop.
First-year Aidan Prucher was equally optimistic.
“We have all worked together to push each other to improve every day and be consistent even through the brutal weather and conditions. Throughout the rest of the season, we expect the hard work to produce results and carry on later into the year to the end of winter and even into the spring,” Prucher said.
As with women’s basketball and men’s hockey, the next month will be crucial for the high hopes of the Colgate track and field program.
