Re: Colgate and Starr's last season
Cut and pasted from the lengthy preview on the women's page (where Colgate has had the last 2 pics on the front page!)
Candace: Might as well start in the ECAC with Colgate and St. Lawrence. I confess I didn’t see the Raiders beating Harvard; the Crimson had swept both games from Colgate over the season, and while I thought Colgate would take it to three, I figured Harvard’s experience would win out. With the loss, Harvard’s season is over; it is impossible for the Crimson to make the NCAA tournament, quite a fall from last year’s runner-up finish. Harvard just could never get untracked this year. I remember you and I talking when Harvard lost to BC in the Beanpot about how it seemed the defense wasn’t quite there, and goalie Emerance Maschmeyer seemed off. Colgate scoring four on Friday and three on Sunday was certainly a surprise.
Colgate however, is young and seems to have a lot of promise. The Raiders will now play Clarkson, a team they beat in the regular season. I’m beginning to believe, and I’m sure they are too. Colgate trailed going into the third Sunday, 2-1, but Megan Sullivan tied it at 2:36 with a quick strike, and then Shae Labbe won it at 14:45 of OT. Goalie Ashlynne Rando made an impressive 40 stops.
The ECAC is tricky. One can say that an upset winner could emerge because neither Quinnipiac nor Clarkson has any history of success in winning the tourney, but then, neither does Colgate, and St. Lawrence won so long ago that I think only Boulier was around to experience it. The Saints were 0-5-1 combined against the two top seeds during the regular season, so I don’t see them being likely to knock off both, particularly coming off three tough games with more bus miles than the other teams had to travel. I watched the final game of Colgate’s win over Harvard, and the Raiders are a dangerous team, especially now that Ashlynne Rando is playing well in goal. They have so much young talent on that squad that in any week they might suddenly find another gear and jump to a new level, but the problem is that both Clarkson and Quinnipiac are built to win now. It’s going to be hard for an up-and-coming team to get through both of them.
As for the other question, the Raiders match up well with Clarkson. They split a pair of one-goal games; Colgate won in December on the road. What worked in their favor was scoring early, as the Raiders took a 2-0 lead on goals within 45 seconds at 6:57 and 7:42 of the first. While Clarkson tied it in the second period, Colgate answered with a power-play goal in the third, forcing Clarkson to score an extra-attacker goal at 18:33 to tie it again, but Labbe scored the game-winner just 12 seconds into OT.
In the other game, Colgate again had a two-goal lead, up 2-0 after just 48 seconds of the second, but Clarkson answered at 5:47, and then made the big push. Colgate needs to get that early lead and then play solid defense. If they can then advance to a likely meeting against Quinnipiac in the tournament final, I think given that Quinnipiac plays defensive hockey first, Colgate needs to prevent Quinnipiac from jumping out to a big lead early. As such, the play of Rando will be critical. When Colgate tied Quinnipiac back in November, Rando made 44 stops. If she is on and the Raiders can stay tied after one or two periods, anything can happen, and their youth might work in their favor, and there’s your upset.
I am full of emotion for the women's team. Have followed them since club status and Title IX and struggles in the early D-I years. While the Raiders are the underdogs, hope they can keep pushing forward one win at a time!
go 'Gate!
