A Steely Resolve. As part of Colgate’s Diversity Week, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele spoke in the Chapel on Thursday, discussing his perseverance in the face of racism and the importance of diversity.

MEN’S HOCKEY FALLS TO UNION, BOUNCES BACK TO DEFEAT RENSSELAER: Junior forward François Brisebois scored at the 2:17 mark of the third period and senior co-captain David McIntyre added an insurance goal with two minutes left in the game to help the Colgate men’s hockey team down R.P.I. 5-3 in a Saturday afternoon ECAC Hockey matchup, earning a split on the weekend at the Capital District. The previous night, Union forward Mario Valery-Trabucco posted a multi-point effort and goaltender Keith Kincaid stopped 31 out of 32 shots to lead the Union Dutchmen past the Colgate Raiders.

UNION 3, COLGATE 1: Union drew first blood at the 7:58 mark of the first period when Valery-Trabucco scored a short-handed tally. Senior co-captain Ethan Cox tied the game for Colgate with 59 seconds remaining in the period, off assists by senior forward Jason Williams and first-year forward Kurtis Bartliff. Stephane Boileau scored the game-winning goal two minutes into the second and Jeremy Welsh would add an insurance goal in the third, helping Union to a 3-1 win over the Raiders. Colgate outshot the Dutchmen 32-26.

COLGATE 5, RPI 3: On Saturday night, Joel Malchuk opened the scoring at the 2:02 mark of the first frame, helping his Engineers take a momentary lead. From then on, the first period was all about the Raiders, whom outshot Rensselaer 16-5 in the twenty-minute span. Junior assistant captain Brian Day would shoot the puck past Engineer goaltender Allen York to knot the game at one a little over three minutes later on a power play opportunity. At the 7:01 mark, Colgate would take the lead when first-year Christian Long scored his third goal of the season, assisted by sophomore forwards Matt Firman and Austin Smith.

Early in the second period the Raiders would take a two-goal lead when Bartliff scored an unassisted tally at the 5:28 mark. The rest of the period belonged to R.P.I., who scored twice on the power play. Patrick Cullen scored the first power play goal at the 8:09 mark and would then be followed by Tyler Helfrich’s tally eight minutes later.

Colgate quickly regained its confidence in the third period after Brisebois’ goal, which was assisted by first-year forward Robbie Bourdon and sophomore forward Nick Prockow. The last 20 minutes were a back and forth affair, with each team getting good scoring chances but neither being able to capitalize until McIntyre’s goal sealed the deal late in the period after Smith found him open.

The Raiders will now go on a two-week break for final exams before visiting the Canisius College Griffins on December 20. The contest is slated for a 5:05 p.m. start.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY SPLITS ECAC HOME SERIES: Colgate women’s hockey hosted two Ivy League foes at Starr Rink this weekend, toppling Brown on Friday night, 4-2, and falling to Yale, 3-0. First-year forward Brittany Phillips and senior forward Katie Stewart both posted a goal and an assist in the win over Brown (1-10-3, 0-7-3 ECAC).

The Raiders jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period against the Bears, with all three goals coming in the final ten minutes of the period. First-year Jordan Brickner, Stewart, and Phillips propelled Colgate (4-12-3, 2-5-3 ECAC) to the early advantage. Hannah Milan added a power-play goal in the second period, giving the Raiders a 4-0 lead that was nearly impossible to relinquish. Brown scored late goals in both the second and third periods to cut Colgate’s lead to 4-2, but ran out of time to make up the whole deficit.

Yale (3-8-2, 2-7-1 ECAC) picked up its second win in ECAC play on Saturday with their 3-0 win over Colgate. Bray Ketchum opened the scoring for the Bulldogs two and a half minutes into the first period, and added her second of the night midway through the third period. Samantha MacLean’s goal was sandwiched in the middle, accounting for the full 3-0 advantage. Despite 43 Colgate shots, the Raiders could not beat Yale goalie Jackee Snikeris.

The 2009 portion of Colgate’s season is now complete, as the Raiders are off until January 2, 2010, when they play at Syracuse. ECAC play restarts for the Raiders on January 15, and they head into the winter break in ninth place in the ECAC.

MEN’S B-BALL FALLS TO 0-8 WITH LOSSES TO RUTGERS AND MAINE:

MAINE 76, COLGATE 66: Maine guard Terrance Mitchell scored 24 points in 20 minutes off the bench as the Black Bears came back from a nine-point second half deficit to defeat Colgate 76-66 Thursday night at Cotterell Court.

Mitchell, who scored 18 points in the second half, made 6-of-8 three-pointers and 6-of-7 free throws on the night. Forward Sean McNally scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Black Bears, who are now 3-3 this season.

Senior forward Ben Jonson and sophomore forward Yaw Gyawu each had 17 points and five rebounds for the Raiders. Senior shooting guard Kyle Roemer scored 13 points and led the Raiders with six rebounds.

Roughly midway through the first half, Colgate led 26-16 after a Jonson field goal, but Maine went on a 15-6 run to close within one at halftime.

In the second half, Colgate responded to a layup from Maine guard Gerald McLemore by going on a 10-0 run, giving the Raiders a 42-33 lead with 14:37 remaining. The Black Bears then went on a 12-3 run to tie the game at 45 after two Mitchell free throws. Colgate retook the lead after a Gyawu jumper and had a 51-47 advantage with 9:47 remaining, but Mitchell and McNally combined to score the next 15 Black Bear points that propelled Maine to a 62-57 lead with 5:07 left. Colgate would cut Maine’s deficit to no more than five points for the remainder of the game.

Maine went 7-of-16 from beyond the arc, while Colgate connected on just 3-of-20 three-pointers.

RUTGERS 76, COLGATE 67: Senior shooting guard Kyle Roemer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double this season, but Rutgers University (5-2) overcame a 35-30 halftime deficit to defeat Colgate 76-67 in a non-conference match-up at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon.

Roemer had 16 points and eight rebounds in the first half, propelling Colgate to the halftime lead. He opened the second half with a jumper to give Colgate its largest lead of the game at seven points, but Rutgers responded with an 8-0 run on two consecutive three-pointers and two free throws that gave the Scarlet Knights the lead. Colgate would rebound to tie the game at 40, though a three-pointer from James Beatty started a 12-2 Rutgers run to give the Scarlet Knights a 52-42 lead. Colgate came within six points with 3:45 remaining after two free throws from freshman point guard Mitch Rolls, but Rutgers made its free throws and got some key points in the paint down the stretch to seal the win.

Rutgers center Gregory Echenique had 19 points and 8 rebounds, making 5-of-6 field goals and 9-of-10 free throws. Dane Miller posted 15 points and 8 rebounds while playing tough defense in the second half, in particular on Roemer. Mike Rosario scored 14 points off the bench. Rutgers made 29-of-38 free throws for a 76 percent clip.

For Colgate, Gyawu scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished four assists. Jonson was Colgate’s third double-digit scorer with 11 points. Hill scored eight and led Colgate with five assists. Freshman forward Brandon James grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in just 13 minutes.

The Raiders (0-8) will now enter a two-game homestand against Stony Brook University and the University of Texas-San Antonio. Colgate will play Stony Brook on Saturday at 2 p.m. before facing UTSA on Sunday, December 20 at 7 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL NOW ON FOUR-GAME LOSING STREAK

CORNELL 74, COLGATE 64: Cornell’s Allie Fedorowicz led the Big Red with a game-high 22 points in a 74-64 win over Colgate on Thursday.

Colgate was down early in the game. At 8:28, the Raiders were down by 11, but then went on an 18-7 run where they evened the score at 27. Junior Krista Moser, Colgate’s high scorer with 12 points in the game, scored seven of her points during this span. The first half ended with the score tied at 31.

The Raiders had one short-lived lead in the game, around the 17-minute mark, as a lay-up from sophomore Holly Havenstein put Colgate up by one. Cornell responded with a basket from behind the three-point line, and they kept the lead up to the buzzer.

Moser added 10 rebounds to her 12 points, junior Sami Kozlowski tallied 10 points and four assists and first-year Jhazmine Lynch contributed nine points and two steals on the night. Senior Katie Garman added six boards for the Raiders.

Colgate is now 5-3, while Cornell moved to 4-3 overall.

NJIT 52, COLGATE 41: Jessica Gerald scored 13 points and Kehinde Ovelola grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as NJIT handed Colgate its fourth-straight loss by defeating the Raiders 52-41. For Colgate, the team-high 12 points came from sophomore Tricia Oakes, and Patriot League Rookie of the Week Jhazmine Lynch added nine points. Junior Sami Kozlowski grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for the Raiders. Colgate dropped to 5-4 overall while the NJIT Highlanders moved to 3-5. The score was neck0in-neck for the entire first half of the game, as neither team gained any significant leads. The second half began in a similar competitive fashion, but ended with a scoring run from the Highlanders resulting in their win. Colgate will continue their season on Saturday when they travel to Brooklyn, NY and face the St. Francis (NY) Terriers.