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Date: September 10, 2004
Contact: Bill Sodoma
Colby fall teams to start seasons this weekend
WATERVILLE, Maine --- Most of the Colby College fall sports teams will be in action for the first time this weekend. The volleyball team will host the Colby Invitational starting Friday night and finishing Saturday. Men's soccer, women's soccer and field hockey will begin with games at Tufts University on Saturday. The golf team is at the two-day Bowdoin Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, while men's tennis begins the year at the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday.
Here's a look at each team:
Field hockey: The Mules will be led by interim head coach Amy Bernatchez, who will have a veteran team on the field after a 9-6 season in 2003. Senior Wendy Bonner has earned national All-America honors the past two years. With 34 goals and eight assists for 76 career points, Bonner has a chance of becoming Colby's all-time leading scorer. Bonner had more than half of Colby's goals last year with her 15 goals and three assists for 33 points.
Colby and Tufts will start the season at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Senior Michaelyn Bortolotti was second in scoring (13 points) and led the team in assists (9). Seniors Adrienne LeClair had three goals last year and classmate Sari Gilbert had one goal and three assists.
Colby returns one of the top defenses in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). All-Region selection Kristin Putnam had 10 defensive saves last year at sweeper and has 24 in her career. Putnam is joined on defense by fellow seniors Lauren Smith (2 goals, 4 assists) and Melissa Mullen (3 goals). Sophomore goalie Molly Rice was third in the NESCAC last year in goals-against average (1.13) and saves per game (8.50).
Men's soccer: With just one senior on last year's roster and some promising newcomers on board, the Colby men's soccer team will try to improve on last year's 6-6-2 record. The Mules and Tufts start up at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Senior midfielder Ryan Boccuzzi led the Mules with nine goals and three assists for 21 points. Head coach Mark Serdjenian, back for his 29th year at Colby, will need offensive production as well from sophomore forwards Chris MacFadyen (5 goals, 2 assists) and Daniel Kiernan (3 goals, 4 assists).
The Mules will have a veteran defense led by seniors Brian Venti, Brian Kelly (1 goal, 5 asssists), Aaron Poplack, and junior Russell Gullette. Senior Brian Davidson started 13 of the 14 games in goal last year and had three shutouts. Sophomore keeper Josh Kahane showed promise with a 2-0 record in four games.
Colby got an early chance to play together by going 4-0-1 in exhibition games during a summer trip to Scotland and England.
Women's soccer: Head coach Jennifer Holsten had no seniors on last year's roster and her young squad went 8-5-1.
Sophomore Laura Williamson was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year after leading the conference in points per game (2.5) and goals per game (1.0) with her 14 goals and seven assists for 35 points. The Mules had the top scoring offense in league play at 2.88 goals per game.
Sophomores Libba Cox (7 goals, 1 assist), who earned All-NESCAC second-team honors, and Liz Morbeck (5 goals, 3 assists) showed scoring potential in their first seasons at Colby. Junior Kaitlin Herlihy (2 goals, 5 assists), senior Christina Andaya (2 goals, 4 assists), sophomore Meg Cordner (2 goals, 1 assist), and seniors Amanda Walsh (1 goal, 1 assist) and Scarlett Slenker (3 assists) will all either start or see quality time upfront or in the midfield.
Senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Riley and sophomore Liza Benson both played more than 500 minutes in the nets. Benson had a 0.93 goals-against average and .842 save percentage, while Riley played in most of the NESCAC contests and also had a .842 save percentage and finished with a 1.55 goals-against average.
Senior Katie Austgen, juniors Kara McCabe (3 goals, 3 assists), and sophomores Jessie Kaplan and Meg Davis all saw significant time on defense last season.
Holsten also has eight first-year players on the roster who will contribute right away.
Volleyball: The loss of four seniors will hurt, but head coach Candice Parent does return New England All-Region selection Cait Cleaver. The junior outside hitter led the Mules in kills (417) and was second on the team in defensive digs (351) and service aces (55) in 2003.
Colby opens the season today against St. Joseph's at 4 p.m. in a non-league game. The Mules then play Southern Maine at 6 p.m. in the first day of the Colby Invitational.
Junior outside hitter Megan Devlin came on strong last year with 241 kills and 269 digs after seeing limited playing time in her first year. Junior middle blocker Kaitlin Adams added 133 kills and 22 blocks and will see much more court time this season. Sophomore Julie Hike (72 kills) and junior Mariah Daly will see time on the front line.
Junior Jennifer Radcliffe led the Mules in digs with 451 from the libero position. She will see some minutes at setter along with first-year player Cassie Sancartier.
The volleyball team has been one of the more successful teams at Colby in the past few years. The Mules went 23-9 last year and have 46 victories over the last two years.
Men's tennis: The men's tennis team will open the season at the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday.
Senior John Fallon and junior Ben Crane will be co-captains of the squad. Crane had the best record of any Colby player last year at 17-12 while mainly playing single positions three, four, and five. Fallon had the next best record at 14-12 while playing mostly at the fourth and fifth singles spots.
Senior Marc Kassin finished last year as the number one singles player and had nine total victories.
Golf: The Colby coed golf team begins play at the Bowdoin Invitational at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Mules return four of their top six golfers from most meets last year in Dave Salmon, Eric Legere, Matt Wahl, and Matt Aschaffenburg.
Jackie Page was a top finisher among the Colby women in a few meets last year.
The Mules will play three tourneys at Waterville Country Club this fall. Colby will try to defend its championship in the Colby Classic on October 9.
