Colby College Sports Recaps

Field Hockey

The Colby College field hockey team has had problems the past few years winning road games and capturing overtime contests.

Not this past week.

The Mules followed up a road win over Husson College on Tuesday with a big 3-2 overtime victory at Wesleyan University on Saturday in New England Small College Athletic Conference play.

“The team chemistry this year is so much better than what it has been in the past,” Colby head coach Amy Bernatchez said. “We came back from two goals down in our opener against Trinity to tie the game, than we won the road game the other day against Husson. Things are happening for us that haven’t happened in the past. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the way they are playing.”

Colby improves to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the NESCAC heading into Wednesday’s 6 p.m. non-conference home game with St. Joseph’s College. Wesleyan dropped to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Heather Quadir scored 2:45 into the overtime session off an assist from Hannah O’Brien to set off a wild Colby celebration. O’Brien had the ball near the baseline and quickly centered it to Quadir, who ripped it in the net.

Wesleyan nearly had the celebration about a minute into overtime, but Colby goaltender Liz Fontaine made a fine save to keep the game going. Fontaine had eight of her 11 saves in the opening half, while Wesleyan keeper Tori Redding had just six saves in the game.

“That was the biggest save of her life,” Bernatchez said. “The goal was open and it seemed like she came out of nowhere to get a foot on it. It was one of those where Wesleyan’s bench had already taken a step on the field to celebrate and had to come back.”

Wesleyan had a 10-1 shot advantage in the first half, but Colby’s lone shot resulted in a goal. The Cardinals had gone ahead 1-0 on the first of two unassisted goals by Alex Bean at 13:23 of the opening half. Courtney Erskine got her first collegiate goal with 6:47 left to halftime off a pass from Quadir. The play was similar to the overtime goal, but this time Quadir made the feed to Erskine.

Hannah O’Brien got her second goal of the season for Colby about nine minutes into the second half when she smacked in a shot off a pass from Kelly Roth. The play started with sweeper Megan Saccone finding Roth, who got her pass off to O’Brien on the far right side of the goal for the score.

Bean got her second goal with 9:48 left in regulation. However, the Mules buckled down and kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Bernatchez singled out Hali Castleman for her strong defensive play.

“She might get overlooked because we had so many great performances today, but I thought she was the player of the game,” Bernatchez said. “She came up huge for us today.”

Besides the shot advantage in the opening half, the Cardinals also had a 5-1 edge in penalty corners. The Mules bounced back in the second half and led in shots (10-5) and corners (5-1).

Colby 3, Wesleyan 2, OT

Colby 1#1#1---3

Wesleyan 1#1#0---2

1st half

W: Alex Bean, 13:23

C: Courtney Erskine (Heather Quadir), 28:13

2nd half

C: Hannah O’Brien (Kelly Roth), 44:07

W: Alex Bean, 60:12

OT

C: Heather Quadir (Hannah O’Brien), 72:45

Shots: Colby 12, Wesleyan 17. Penalty corners: Colby 7, Wesleyan 9. Goalies: Liz Fontaine (Colby, 72:45, 2 GA, 11 saves); Tori Redding (Wesleyan, 72:45, 3 GA, 6 saves).

Men's Soccer

Colby College’s Nate Seiberling scored to forge a 1-1 tie at halftime only to see Wesleyan University score three unanswered goals in the second half for a 4-1 win in New England Small College Athletic Conference men’s soccer Saturday.

The Cardinals (2-0-1 overall, 1-0-1 NESCAC) had gone up 1-0 just 5:25 into the game when Keisuke Yamashita tallied after receiving a pass from Nick Whipple over Colby’s defense.

Seiberling got the equalizer at 17:52 when his long shot from outside left curled just inside the far post. The Mules had an 8-6 advantage in shots and corner kicks were tied at 1-1 in the opening half.

The Cardinals scored three goals in a span of about 13 minutes to put the game away. Jory Kahan had a diving header at 58:14 for the game-winning goal. Whipple made it 3-1 on a play that started off a corner kick, while Mark Murphy got the final goal at 71:49.

Colby (0-2-1, 0-2) will play host to Husson College on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

Wesleyan 4, Colby 1

Colby 1#0----1

Wesleyan 1#3----4

1st half

W: Keisuke Yamashita (Nick Whipple), 5:25

C: Nate Seiberling, 17:52

2nd half

W: Jory Kahan (Asante Brooks), 58:14

W: Nick Whipple (Jory Kahan, Mark Murphy), 60:52

W: Mark Murphy (Rory O’Neill), 71:49

Shots: Colby 12, Wesleyan 18. Corner kicks: Colby 2, Wesleyan 7. Goalies: Dan Marden (Colby, 90:00, 4 GA, 7 saves); Adam Purdy (Wesleyan, 80:00, 1 GA, 4 saves) and Nigel Stacey (Wesleyan, 10:00, 0 GA, 1 save).

Women's Cross Country

The 16th-ranked Colby College women’s cross country team placed sixth at one of the biggest meets of the year, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday.

Katrina Gravel placed 20th in 18:52 over the 5-kilometer course to help the Mules finish with a team score of 206. MIT was first with a 60, Brandeis took second at 75, and Keene State had a 115 for third place in the 42-team field. Stonehill (158) and Adelphi (168) also finished ahead of the Mules, who were running without Cassi Knight.

Mandy Ivey placed 37th with a 19:18 for Colby and teammate Emma Linhard was 42nd in 19:21. Greta Wells was 54th in 19:40, Berol Dewdney took 55th in 19:42, Layne Schwab was 56th with the same clocking as Dewdney, and Nora McCall took 63rd among the 301 finishers with a 19:47.

In the second varsity race, Colby’s Morgan Lingar had a 20:13 to lead the way as the Mules were sixth out of 21 teams. Jessica Mullaney took 27th place out of 208 finishers at 20:43 and Aneth Laban placed 32nd in 20:50.

Colby will race at the Williams College Invitational next Saturday at 11 a.m.

UMass-Dartmouth Invitational

Women’s varsity

Colby results (301 finishers): 20. Katrina Gravel, 18:52; 37. Mandy Ivey, 19:18; 42. Emma Linhard, 19:21; 54. Greta Wells, 19:40; 55. Berol Dewdney, 19:42; 56. Layne Schwab, 19:42; 63. Nora McCall, 19:47

Women’s second varsity

Colby results (208 finishers): 13. Morgan Lingar, 20:13; 27. Jessica Mullaney, 20:43; 32. Aneth Laban, 20:50; 44. Sylvia Doyle, 21:09; 59. Virginia Keesler, 21:47; 78. Rachel Frenkil, 22:16; 96. Debra Merzbach, 22:47