Women's Basketball Outlasts Middlebury in Double Overtime to Advance to Semifinals
Regulation couldn't hold the Mules and Panthers in their regular season meeting two weeks ago (a Colby overtime win 75-72), and Saturday's quarterfinals matchup was even better. It took two overtimes as Colby took down Middlebury to advance to the NESCAC semifinals 100-97, becoming the first team to reach the century mark in conference playoff history.
In the highest scoring and first double-overtime game in NESCAC Women’s Basketball Championship history, Colby's starting five came to play. Kate Olenik led the Mules with 29 points including eight assists, three steals and a game winning block with five seconds remaining in the second overtime period. Ana Von Rumohr added a career-high 24 points, while shooting 5 of 7 from behind the arc with nine rebounds.
The remaining three Mules starters also managed to score in double-digits; Amelia Hanscom (20 points, 13 rebounds), Chelsea Ibenegbu (14 points) and Lydia Mordarski (13 points).
Despite a standout performance from the Panthers Alexa Mustafaj, who scored 34 points, Colby’s balanced offense and clutch shooting from Hanscom in extra time (going 4-for-6 in the two overtime periods), secured the win. The game featured seven lead changes and five ties, with the Mules outscoring Middlebury 10-7 in the second overtime. The final buzzer sent the home crowd into an uproar and the Mules into the next round for the first time since 2017.
Colby will now faceoff against Trinity College on Saturday in the semifinal round. The Bantams squeaked by Colby in their regular season matchup 67-60. Tip-off is slated for 4:30pm at Bowdoin.
Back-to-Back Shutouts Lead Women's Ice Hockey Past #1 Middlebury
Proven two weeks ago by a sweep of #3 Amherst, Colby's Women's Ice Hockey team steps up against the stiffest of competition. This weekend the Mules shut out #1 Middlebury not once, but twice, en route to a series sweep of the reigning NESCAC Champions. The Panthers had not been held scoreless all season until their meetings with the Mules.
In game one Friday night, Colby defeated Middlebury 3-0 in a dominant performance. The Mules took control early, with Lulu Gray opening the scoring just 2:48 into the first period, assisted by Breanna Studley and Molly Lefebvre. In the second period, Audrey Shirer extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:08, with Cailyn Murphy and Lizzy Hamel providing assists. Lefebvre then sealed the win with an unassisted goal at 8:36. The game ended with Colby’s defense holding strong, earning the shutout victory. Kate Pura finished with six blocked shots on the defensive side of the puck.
On Saturday the Mules earned another shutout win 2-0. The game remained scoreless in the first period, but Colby took control in the second. Anna Staton scored the first goal at 14:15, assisted by Lily Wisniewski and Megan Martodam. Just over one minute later, Anya Jiang (headline photo) extended the Mules lead to 2-0 with an assist from Beth Sinson and Courtney Schumacher. Despite some power play opportunities for both teams, neither could capitalize, as Mandy Busky recorded her fifth shutout of the season. The netminder totaled 55 saves in the two games combined.
Colby will host Trinity on Saturday at 1:00pm for the quarterfinal match of the NESCAC tournament. The Mules have defeated the Bantams in all three matchups this season.
Alpine Qualifies Five to NCAA Championships, Cassidy Takes SL Crown
As the dust settled from the grind of the 12-race EISA Carnival season, Carissa Cassidy was named All-East and headlines a group of four athletes who will represent Colby's Alpine Ski team at the NCAA Championships in two weeks. With her third Slalom victory in a row this weekend at UNH, the junior claimed the season title of Slalom Champion.
Harrison Digangi had the top finish for the men's team over the weekend placing 9th in the Giant Slalom. Hannah Soria was the top finisher for the women's team in the GS (25th), and her 12th place finish in the SL teamed with Cassidy (1st) and Charlotte Maurer (23rd) to guide the women to their sixth top-3 team finish of the season.
Top-30 Individual Results:
- Cassidy - 1st Women's SL
- Digangi - 9th Men's GS, 16th Men's SL
- Soria - 12th Women's SL, 25th Women's GS
- Topher Davenport - 19th Men's SL
- Maurer - 23rd Women's SL
- Patrick Coughlin (headline photo) - 23rd Men's GS
- Lydia Riddell - 29th Women's SL
- Marit Kaiser - 30th Women's SL
Soriah, Riddell, and Digangi will join Cassidy in Hanover, N.H. as Dartmouth College hosts the nation's best Division I, II, and III skiers for the 2025 NCAA Ski Championships. Nolan Sweeney also made the cut, but the sophomore will miss the event as he represents the US in Tarvisio, ITA for World Junior Ski Championships. The NCAA GS will take place on Wednesday, March 5. Competitors will kick out of the gate two days later for the SL.
Nordic Skiing to Send Three to NCAA Championships
With the EISA Carnival Season concluding this weekend in Jackson, N.H. for the UNH Carnival Classic and Freestyle races, Colby started claiming their postseason awards immediately. Despite missing three of the six carnivals for international competition, Jack Young finished the EISA slate ranked fourth to land him on the All-East First Team. Sophomores Andrew Defor and Maddie Hooker will join the senior at NCAA Championships in two weeks.
Top-30 Individual Performances:
- Defor - 14th Men's Classic, 24th Men's Freestyle
- Benjamin Lewis - 18th Men's Classic, 27th Men's Freestyle
- Lydia Kraker - 22nd Women's Classic
- Hooker - 25th Women's Classic
- Lola Villafranco (headline photo) - 25th Women's Freestyle
- Isak Nightingale - 28th Men's Freestyle
- Taiga Moore - 29th Men's Freestyle
- Ellis Slover - 30th Men's Freestyle
The best Division I, II, and III skiers will gather at Dartmouth College in two weeks for the 2025 NCAA Ski Championships. The Freestyle will take place on Thursday, March 6 and competitors return to the trails two days later for the Classic on Saturday, March 8.
Men's Ice Hockey Claims 3rd Seed in NESCAC Playoffs
With an overtime win over Tufts and a draw with Conn. College, Colby's Men's Ice Hockey team secured the third seed and a home game for the opening round of the NESCAC playoffs.
Friday night in Medford, Colby triumphed over Tufts 3-2 in a thrilling overtime game. Will Soloway scored the game-winner in the extra period, assisted by Jayden Grier and Alex Keskintepe. The Mules opened the scoring in the first period with a goal by Grier at 16:39, answered by the Jumbos on a power-play goal in the second period to tie it at 1-1. Colby regained the lead in the third period with a goal from Jake MacDonald at 11:52, but Tufts found the back of the net with less than two minutes left to send the game into overtime. Despite the Jumbo's late push, Soloway sealed the victory in the extra period for the Mules.
The following day in New London, Colby and Conn. College battled to a 2-2 draw following the overtime period in a tightly contested game. Soloway continued to shine, scoring both of the Mules’ goals, with the first coming at 5:08 in the third period, assisted by Grier and Connor Gallagher. The Camels responded just 39 seconds later to tie the game as they went on to tally the go ahead goal at 14:28. Soloway struck again at 18:35, assisted by Wyatt Schmidek, to level the score. Both teams failed to score in the overtime period as Conn. took the shootout win 1-0.
Colby will host Amherst Saturday at 4:30pm for NESCAC quarterfinals action. The Mules swept the series during the regular season with a 3-2 win in early January and a 4-2 victory in early February.
Xiong Earns All-NESCAC, Men's Swimming & Diving Compete at NESCAC Championships
The best men's swimmers and divers gathered at Middlebury this past week for the NESCAC Championships. The four-day event saw new school records for Carson Rehkopf (200yd Freestyle) and Ivan Knoepflmacher (1m Dive, six dive and 11 dive tally), and the senior diver claimed the NESCAC's Career High-Point Diver award. Brandon Xiong earned All-NESCAC with his bronze medal in the 50yd Backstroke. With 11 top-10 finishes, the Mules placed 9th.
Top-10 Performers:
- 3rd - 50yd Backstroke: Xiong
- 4th - 1m Diving: Knoepflmacher
- 6th - 3m Diving: Knoepflmacher
- 6th - 100yd Freestyle: Rehkopf
- 6th - 50yd Freestyle: Xiong
- 6th - 200yd Backstroke: Spencer Cohen
- 7th - 200yd Freestyle Relay: Xiong, Rehkopf, Ethan Chang, Michael Fiechter
- 8th - 400yd Freestyle Relay: Rehkopf, Xiong, Chang, Fiechter
- 8th - 800yd Freestyle Relay: Alex MacLennan, Rehkopf, Cohen, Brandon Morrison
- 9th - 200yd Medley Relay: Xiong, Noam Reinhorn, Chang, Fiechter
- 9th - 400yd Medley Relay: Xiong, MacLennan, Morrison, Rehkopf
The Mules will await the announcement of NCAA qualifiers this coming Thursday. The NCAA Division III Championships will be held in Indianapolis March 19-22.
Squash Concludes Regular Season Against Dartmouth and Bowdoin
In the final two contests of the season the Mules headed to Hanover, New Hampshire to face the Big Green Saturday before returning home for a senior day celebration Sunday against the Polar Bears.
After falling to their Ivy opponent to open the weekend (men 7-2, women 9-0), Colby's return to campus Sunday was met with celebration as Colby honored nine seniors. In competition with their rivals from Brunswick, the Men’s team picked up a commanding 8-1 victory to win the CBB for the second straight year. Both Inwoo Lee and Timo Radionov went 2-0 on the week, securing Colby's lone victories against the Big Green the previous day.
The Women’s team battled hard but came up short to Bowdoin 6-3. In the top three positions Laavanya Kugan, Abhisheka David and Nathalie Sim all picked up victories.
The Men (10-7 overall record) and the Women (5-8) will now await their assignments for the CSA Team Championships taking place February 28 - March 2.
Men's Basketball Falls to 6th-ranked Trinity in NESCAC Playoffs
Facing Trinity twice in the span of eight days, Colby's Men's Basketball team found themselves once again pitted against one of the hottest teams in Division III. With a swarming defense that only allowed 52 points per game on a six-game win streak, Trinity made it seven in a row against the Mules 77-56.
Colby was led in scoring by Sam Hinman with 13 points, followed by Ben Kaczmarek who added eight. The Mules kept the game competitive with a solid second-half performance, shooting 42.3% from the field after halftime. Colby also managed to contribute 28 points off the bench, but Trinity’s dominance on the boards (49 rebounds to Colby’s 26) and overall depth proved too much to overcome.
The Mules finish their season with a 13-12 mark. While Colby loses Kaczmarek and 1000-point scorer Jack Lawson to graduation, the Mules return an inspiring combination of youth and experience for their 25-26 squad.
Track & Field Takes Home Multiple Event Winners at Bobcat Tune Up
In the final meet before the Division III New England Championships, the Mules competed at Bates bringing home multiple first place finishes.
Simone Waheed’s time of 7.74 seconds in the 60m highlighted the day as she broke her own school record. Charlotte Brake-Hoffman, Tally Zeller and Ellie Wang stacked up behind Waheed in the same event as the Mules claimed the top four spots. In the men’s pole vault, Colby swept the top four spots with Lexington Lehnert, Logan Lehnert, Myles Thorton-Sherman, and Wyatt Patterson in that order.
Women’s Event Winners:
- 60m - Simone Waheed
- 200m - Kristina Pizzi
- 4x400m Relay - Jordan Roskiewicz, Quinn Cushing, Mia Sullivan, Charlotte Brake-Hoffman
Men’s Event Winners:
- 60m - Ian Irwin
- 200m - Jackson Coelho
- 400m - Peter Martel
- 600m - Reeve Derby
- Pole Vault - Lexington Lehnert
- 4x400m Relay - Derby, Mark Graubart, Patrick Kuprewicz, Ivan Yan
The Division III New England Championships will take place in Boston at The Track at New Balance starting on February 28th.
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.