#4 Women's Lacrosse Knocks out #25 Endicott, Set to Host Regional Rounds
With a 17-1 victory over Endicott in the second round of the Division III Tournament, the Colby's Women's Lacrosse team is set to host the Sweet-16 next Saturday followed by the Elite-8 Sunday.
In a regular season matchup with the Gulls, Colby downed the Conference of New England (CNE) champions 20-6, but it wasn't until after Endicott built up an early 3-1 lead. Saturday, the Gulls came out with the same early fire to collect the first score of the afternoon after four minutes of play. The Mules responded with two scores of their own in the first quarter and eight in the second to take a 10-1 lead at the break. Seven second-half goals made it 17 unanswered as Colby cruised into Regional Round action.
With a hat trick Julia Jardina set a new program record for goals in a season, tying and passing Annie Eddy's 60 goals in 2022. The senior added two assists for a total of five points. Ansley Dion was Colby's top scorer with four goals, and Gennie Littlejohn tallied a goal to go with her three assists. Gigi Peloso collected three saves in net for the Mules.
Colby will take their 15-3 record into the next round where they host #17 Stevens (17-4) Saturday at 11:30am. Stevens advanced to the round of 16 with wins over George Fox and TCNJ.
With a win, Colby would face the winner of #7 Wesleyan and #12 Rowan Sunday at 1:00pm, right on Mayflower Hill.
Topping Trinity and Falling to Williams, Baseball Finishes 3rd in NESCAC Tournament
Colby returned to the final weekend of the conference tournament for the fourth straight season with their sights set on taking home their first NESCAC title. The double-elimination tournament was hosted at nearby Bowdoin College.
In Friday's matchup with Williams, an early two-run lead didn't hold up as the Ephs pounced for five runs in the fourth and added insurance in the sixth, seventh, and eight innings en route to a trip to the winners bracket. Clint Flippo, Tony Silva, and Ethan Hillenberg provided firepower in the middle of the lineup, combining for six of Colby's 11 hits.
A short memory heading into Saturday's win-or-go-home battle with Trinity allowed the Mules to fire on all cylinders. Colby manufactured runs early to jump out to a 4-0 lead. A Ryan Grace home run extended their lead to 6-1 as Ryan Grecco held the Bantams at bay through the the first five innings.
Trinity pushed across runs in the sixth and seventh to close the gap, but RBI doubles by Myles Gythfeldt and Flippo gave the Mules enough cushion for the bullpen to close out the game 8-6.
Colby met up with Williams once again Sunday morning, with the winner advancing to the championship game. The Mules jumped out to a 6-1 lead after four innings, but the Ephs battled back and it was a brand new ballgame after seven when a Williams home run knotted the score at seven apiece. The go ahead run for the Ephs came in the eighth and paved the way for their return to the title game where Middlebury defeated Williams 10-6 to repeat as NESCAC champions.
The Mules finish the season with a 23-14 overall record.
Softball Advances to Semifinals, Falls to Champion Tufts
Riding a hot end to the regular season, the Colby Softball team carried their momentum through Saturday's opening quarterfinal matchup of the NESCAC tournament all the way to Sunday's semifinal matchup with Tufts.
Facing off against Middlebury on Saturday, the game came right down to the wire. KC DeSarno pitched a gem for the first six frames, allowing two earned runs and spotting Colby an 8-3 lead heading into the 7th. Middlebury refused to go easy, scoring two and loading the bases with the tying run at first. First-year Sophia Meade was called on for the final out, striking out the Panther threat to earn her sixth save of the season.
Ella Wilcox, Avery Lyman, and Erika MacLeod each collected two hits as the Mules out-hit the Panthers 8-7.
In Sunday's semifinal matchup with top-seeded Tufts, Colby struck first when Emma Burnham drove in two with a double in the third. The Jumbos responded in the bottom half of the frame with six runs to take a 6-2 lead. The Mules earned two back in the fifth with RBI's by Caroline DeSimone and Carissa Cassidy, but Tufts closed the game out to return to the championship game, eventually defeating Wesleyan 8-3 for the conference crown.
Meade had another strong performance in relief, throwing 3.2 innings with four strikeouts. Burnham led the charge with the bats, adding a single to her third-inning double, and MacLeod scored scored two of Colby's four runs.
Colby ends its season with a 17-20 overall record.
Crew Races in National Invitational Rowing Championships
After competing on Lake Quinsigamond last weekend, the Mules headed right back this Sunday for the National Invitational Rowing Championship which also acts as the NESCAC Championship. Following the day's results, the Colby Men took 6th place out of the eight conference teams while the Women placed 8th out of the eight teams.
As for the National Invitational results, the Men’s V8 placed 8th overall out of the 18 V8 boats with a time of 5:54.881 topping fellow NESCAC schools Hamilton and Conn. College. The Women’s V8 crew took 14th place out of 18 total V8 boats, marking a time of 6:56.846 resulting in great improvement from their 2024 placement.
The Men’s 2V8 and 3V8 both finished in 8th against their competition as the Men’s V4 also took 8th place. To close out the competition for the Mules the Women’s V4 had an impressive third place finish out of 10 competing crews.
Colby will now await the announcement of the official qualifiers list for the NCAA Rowing Championships starting on May 30th in hopes for an at-large selection.
Mules Gather Strong Performances at F.I.R.E. Meet
In between the D3 NE Championships from last weekend and the AARTFC Championships taking place this week, Colby Track & Field competed in the Farley Inter Regional hosted by Williams. Despite no team scores, the Mules tallied impressive results including four victories and four school records broken. Fiona Mejico and Levi Biery in the 400m hurdles events as well as the women’s 4x100m relay and the men’s 4x400m relay.
TOP-10 WOMEN'S RESULTS:
- 400m Hurdles - Mejico, 1st (59.48)
- 100m - Simone Waheed, 2nd (11.97)
- 200m - Kaitlyn Ewald, 10th (25.37)
- 400m - Olivia Doherty 4th (57.04), Ewald 8th (57.81)
- 10,000m - Claire Beebe, 7th (36:55.16)
- 4x100m Relay, 1st (46.33) - Tally Zeller, Mejico, Waheed, Charlotte Brake-Hoffman
TOP-10 MEN’S RESULTS:
- 400m Hurdles - Biery, 1st (51.79)
- 100m - Ian Irwin, 3rd (10.74)
- 400m - Sam Graubart, 10th (49.81)
- 1500m - Henry Reichle, 10th (3:53.34
- 3000m Steeplechase - Brady Clegg, 4th (9:21.82)
- Pole Vault - Peter Martel 4th (4.69m), Lexington Lehnert 5th (4.69m), Logan Lehnert 6th (4.54m), Wyatt Patterson 9th (4.39m)
- 4x400m Relay, 1st (3:12.15) - Jackson Coelho, Martel, Biery, Ren Zanze
The Mules will have a quick turnaround heading right back to Williams for the AARTFC Championships May 14th-15th.
10 Conference Awards Roll in for Women's Lacrosse, Men's Tennis, and Women's Tennis
From first and second team accolades to Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors, Colby cleaned up this week.
- Jake Cohen (Men's Tennis) - Clarence Chaffee Sportsmanship Award, First Team Singles, Second Team Doubles
- Jason Daly (Men's Tennis) - Rookie of the Year, Second Team Singles, Second Team Doubles
- Ainsley Dion (Women's Lacrosse) - Second Team
- Jade Finestone (Women's Tennis) - Second Team
- Julia Jardina (Women's Lacrosse) - First Team
- Kat Munter (Women's Lacrosse) - Defensive Player of the Year, First Team
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Bonnie Baker Photography, Steve Cheney P'25, Stephen R. Clouthier, Traigh DeMasi '28, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Reese Robinson '27, Junan Shimizu '25, Daryn Slover P'28, Marty Thornton Photos, Ansley White '26, and the Colby Communications team.