Colgate Connect - Go ’gate

Langel new leader of men’s basketball
In April, the men’s basketball program welcomed Matt Langel as head coach. Langel comes to Hamilton after serving as an assistant coach at Temple University under the tutelage of Fran Dunphy, who was recently named the Eastern College Coach of the Year after guiding the Owls to their fourth-straight NCAA Tournament.
Langel was also a two-year member of Dunphy’s University of Pennsylvania staff. There, Langel helped guide his alma mater to two consecutive Ivy League Championships. A 2000 graduate of Penn’s Wharton School of Business, Langel helped lead the Quakers to two Ivy League titles and NCAA Tournament appearances during his four-year playing career (1996–2000). The Quakers went 27-1 in Ivy League action during his junior and senior campaigns and sported a 42-14 overall record. Langel was named Ivy League and Big Five Player of the Week numerous times and received the Big Five’s Most Improved Player Award. He was also named to the Holiday Festival All-Tournament team (1998) and the University of California Golden Bear Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team (1999).
Langel etched his name in the Penn record books in several different categories. He is a member of the 1,000-point club with 1,191 points. In all-time Penn basketball history, he stands second in three-pointers made in a game with eight; is eighth in three-pointers made in a season with 70; and fourth in career three-pointers made with 201.

In the April 23 game against Bucknell, Colgate’s seniors scored five of the lacrosse team’s seven goals — including a goal and two assists by Andrew Mould ’11 (#16) — in their final home game. Unfortunately, a second-half setback gave way to a loss to the Bison 12-7. The team ended its season on a high note, beating the University of Maryland for the first time in the program’s history, on the Terps’ turf in May, and closing with an 11-5 overall record. (Photo by Bob Cornell)

Hays Fort named women’s basketball coach
The women’s basketball team brought on Nicci Hays Fort as the new head coach. She comes to campus after five years at DePaul University as an assistant coach and associate head coach, helping the Blue Demons to a No. 9 national ranking in the final polls of the 2010–2011 season.
   Hays Fort honed her skills working with legendary coach Doug Bruno, who was recently selected to assist the 2011 USA Basketball Women’s National Team. She helped guide the Blue Demons to five NCAA Tournaments and a combined 112-54 record. Last season, DePaul advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history. The team finished 29-7 overall (the most wins by any team in DePaul’s history) and ranked in the top 10 of the national polls.
   Before joining the staff at DePaul, Hays Fort served as the head coach at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla. After taking over that NCAA Division II program in 2002, she coached seven All-Sunshine State Conference selections, the 2004 SSC Freshman of the Year, and three other all-freshman picks.
   The Monroe City, Mo., native served as an assistant coach at Nicholls State University from 2000 to 2002 and was the first head coach at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy during the 1999–2000 season.
   As a student-athlete, Hays Fort was a two-sport letter winner in basketball and softball at Truman State University (Mo.) before finishing her education at Culver-Stockton College (Mo.).

Larkin gains gold at IIHF World Championships
As the youngest player on Team Italy, Thomas Larkin ’13 helped score the gold medal at the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation Division IA World Championships in overtime with a 4-3 win over Hungary on April 23.
   Italy held on for the win in overtime after giving up a 3-1 lead. Larkin had one shot and a minus-1 rating in the win.
   One of two ECAC and U.S. hockey players in the tournament, Larkin is the first Italian-trained NHL draft pick. He finished the tournament (his first-ever international event) with a goal on five shots and a plus-1 rating. He netted his first international goal in a 6-0 win over South Korea during pool play, which came as a shorthanded goal.
   With this win, Team Italy will jump up to the top division of the next tournament and will compete against the likes of the United States, Canada, and Russia in the summer of 2012.

Swimming Coaches Association honors Roach
Director of Athletics David Roach is the 2011 recipient of the Daktronics’ Ben Franklin Award, given by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. The award is presented to the individual or organization whose efforts best promote the integrity and enhancement of the student-athlete ideal.
   “The sport of swimming has always been near and dear to my heart,” said Roach. “It’s something that shaped my career. To be remembered by my peers and fellow swim coaches is an honor.”
   Roach spent eight years (1978–1986) at Brown University as the women’s swimming coach, taking the Bears into the national spotlight through conference championships in 1983, 1984, and 1985. As head coach at the University of Tennessee, his women’s swimming teams won 85 percent of their meets and improved from 39th to 4th at the NCAA Division I Championship. Roach was twice named SEC Coach of the Year.

In a twin bill against the University at Albany in early April, Colgate took game one 7-1, but the Raiders lost the nightcap to the Great Danes 8-0. The women’s softball team finished its season as the 2011 Patriot League regular-season champion and reached the championship game of the tournament — hosted by Colgate for the first time in school history — for the second-straight season. (Photo by Bob Cornell)

Day and Brisebois make AHL debuts
Two graduating hockey players made their professional debuts once Colgate’s season ended.
   Brian Day ’11, a draft pick of the New York Islanders, played 10 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (the Islanders’ AHL affiliate) after signing an amateur tryout contract.
   Day had a successful tryout with two goals and three assists for five points in the 10 games. He scored one of his two goals in his first professional game in a 5-1 win over the Portland Pirates. In his next game, he recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, which includes a goal, an assist, and engaging in a fight, when they played against the Connecticut Whales.
   The Sound Tigers didn’t make the playoffs, so Day’s season came to an end prior to Colgate’s graduation, but the senior has a good chance at signing a contract after his performance in those 10 games.
   Francois Brisebois ’11 also signed an amateur contract, with the Binghamton Senators. He played three games for the Ottawa Senators’ affiliate.

13 teams honored by NCAA
Thirteen Colgate athletics teams were honored by the NCAA with a Public Recognition Award for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. These awards are part of a broad effort by the Division I to enact academic reform. Among the Colgate men’s teams recognized were basketball, ice hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, indoor track, and outdoor track; the women’s teams included cross country, rowing, swimming and diving, indoor track, outdoor track, and volleyball.
   These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. High-performing teams receiving awards posted APR scores ranging from 978 to a perfect 1,000.
   The APR provides a current look at a team’s academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention, and graduation and provides a measure of each team’s academic performance.

For all the news of the spring sports season, visit gocolgateraiders.com