It looked like anything but a great men’s soccer matchup on paper. Colby was 0-3-0 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference and hadn’t scored a goal in conference play. Middlebury was 2-0-1 in the NESCAC, and had allowed just one goal in six games on the season.
And, of course, it didn’t go down to the wire. Colby won Saturday’s game in Waterville, 3-0. Even Colby’s press release about the game called the result “stunning.”
“I thought we played really hard and played for each other,” Colby coach Ewan Seabrook said. “I thought there was a great intensity and focus about the group, particularly defensively, because Middlebury has such a great deal of attacking firepower. So I was particularly impressed with how we defended as a unit. We showed that we can compete at this level and earn points in a tremendously difficult league.”
The Mules return to action Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at city rival Thomas College. The Mules return to NESCAC play when its hosts Wesleyan at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We’re 1-3 in the league so I guess we are where we are,” Seabrook said. “Wesleyan will offer a very different problem than Middlebury did. The intensity, and the speed and the tempo of the game, how physical and tough it will be, will be the same. That’s a constant. I know it was a big relief for the guys to get their first league win, but it was just three points, and we’re trying to get enough points to earn another game throughout the season.”
Yinka Onayemi scored two goals against Middlebury and leads Colby with three on the season — on only four shots. Peter Quayle and Cody Funkhouser are the main goalkeepers, and Colby has a 0.75 team goals-against average and four shutouts this fall.
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Colby field hockey is 0-4 in the NESCAC, including a 3-1 loss to Middlebury on Saturday. The NESCAC has four teams ranked in the top eight in the country in Division III, and two of Colby’s losses were to No. 4 Middlebury and No. 5 Tufts. Another loss was by a 3-2 score to a Trinity team that received several votes in the top 20 poll.
The Mules played evenly against Tufts in the first half and were right with Middlebury after falling behind 2-0 in the first nine minutes. Colby missed on a penalty stroke in the first half, or the score would have been 2-1 at the break.
“I think we had a great performance against Middlebury on Saturday,” Colby coach Tina Cormier said. “These teams are top four teams in the country. We were 20-20 in shots and 9-8 in corners, and I don’t think we’ve ever competed that much against those teams.
“Everybody’s upbeat. We know that those teams are the top teams in the nation, and we’re not there yet. So we’re learning from those games, and we’re taking all the positive out of them, and bringing it to practices.”
The Mules are 4-4 overall and will look for their first conference win when they host Wesleyan on Saturday at 11 a.m. Megan Fortier leads the Mules with nine goals and two assists, while Erin Maguire has five assists. Goalie Sarah Evans, who was a Division III All-American last season, holds a 1.48 goals-against average and a save percentage of .818. One main reason for the defense’s success is center back Kellie Walsh, a senior captain. Walsh also plays at the top of the circle on Colby’s offensive penalty corners.
“She’s a very gritty kid,” Cormier said. “She kind of leaves it all out there on the field. She’s a great kid. She’s a good leader for our program, and kids rely heavily on her. She’s a huge asset. She came in here with a mission, and she wants to win.”
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For someone who admits she wasn’t planning on doing any college sports, Mount View graduate Chrissy Larrabee is having a spectacular season for the Husson women’s cross country team.
Husson opened its season Aug. 30 at the Fens Classic in Boston. It was a 2-mile course, and Larrabee finished first with a time of 11 minutes, 51 seconds.
Next came the Husson Harrier Invitational on Sept. 6. Larrabee again finished first, running the 5-kilometer course in 20:04.
Then came the 5K UMass-Dartmouth Invitational on Sept. 20 — a 37-team meet. Larrabee placed 10th overall with a time of 18:24.
Husson’s most recent race was Saturday at the Bowdoin Invitational. Seven schools attended, including Bates, Bowdoin and UMass-Dartmouth. Larrabee won her third race in four starts, finishing the 6K in 23:23.
The Eagles and Larrabee will next compete at the Colby Invitational on Saturday.
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Two local freshmen scored their first collegiate goals on Sunday. Both enjoyed the feeling so much that they scored another goal in the same game.
Bethany Winkin, a Winslow grad who now plays field hockey at Bryant University, had both of her team’s goals in a 3-2 overtime loss to Dartmouth. Winkin was a standout back at Winslow and scored four goals as a high school senior. At Bryant, she had played in only three of the Bulldogs’ first eight games and did not have any shots before scoring twice on four shots on Sunday.
Tom Samson, a Waterville grad, plays men’s soccer at Maine Maritime Academy. Samson had taken 15 shots over the Mariners’ first nine games, but hadn’t found the net until doing it twice in a 5-0 victory over Lyndon State. MMA is 2-0-1 in the North Atlantic Conference and 4-0-1 overall over its last five games. Samson, who earned NAC Rookie of the Week honors for his performance against Lyndon, has started nine of MMA’s 10 games as a freshman.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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