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Purple Knights News

May 5, 2008

This Week In Saint Michael's College Athletics

COLCHESTER, Vt. - With the exception of the women's tennis team playing in the NCAA tournament on Thursday, the 2008 spring sports season came to a close on Friday. As softball picked up a season-ending win on the road, both men's and women's lacrosse teams faced top-seeded, undefeated foes in the conference semifinals. The baseball team also closed out the season under the lights following a doubleheader sweep by a combined two runs. Among the 23 seniors that ended their illustrious careers this past week were the two leading scorers in women's lacrosse history and the winningest goalkeeper and top goal-scorer in men's lacrosse program history.

Men's Lacrosse (8-7, 6-4 NE-10)

Senior captain Mike Boerma (Concord, Mass./Lawrence Acad.) scored three goals and five assists in the Northeast-10 Conference quarterfinals to lift the Purple Knights past the Hawks of Saint Anselm (8-7), 8-6 Tuesday afternoon at Duffy Field. With all three of Boerma's goals in the first period, Saint Michael's jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Saint Anselm scored two unanswered goals. With a 6-3 lead at the break, the Purple Knights would surrender two third period goals to enter the final frame at 6-5. Senior Greg Lazarus (Evanston, Ill./Evanston) scored a pair of goals in the fourth quarter to solidify a third consecutive semifinal berth at Le Moyne on Friday. With the win, Saint Michael's secured their fourth straight winning season.

Against reigning national champion Le Moyne College Dolphins (14-0) in the conference semifinals on Friday, Saint Michael's was out-shot 61-16 en route to a 16-5 loss on the road. Despite 16 saves from senior goalkeeper Jeff Hannon (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug Reg.), the Purple Knights would trail 9-3 at the break and allow five unanswered goals to end the contest. Sophomore Nate Noble (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) would lead the offense with back-to-back unassisted goals in the second to cut the deficit to 6-3. Lazarus also tucked in his 109th career goal to tie the program record set by Rich Saba '92.

With a 34-26 record under fifth-year head coach Paul Schimoler, the Class of 2008 leaves Saint Michael's with four consecutive winning seasons, the best in program history since 1985-1989 under coaches Jeff Culkin and Mike McColgan. Hannon also leaves his mark on campus as the winningest net-minder, amassing 32 wins over four years.

On Sunday, it was also announced that senior defender Kevin Simmons (Ridgewood, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) would garner Northeast-10 All-Conference Second Team honors. With a team-high 50 ground balls on the season, Simmons started all 15 games this year. Simmons is also the only Purple Knight on the men's squad to have played in all 60 contests over the last four years.

Women's Lacrosse (9-7, 6-4 NE-10)

Junior Kim Berlo (Scituate, Mass./Scituate) scored a game- and career-high seven goals in the Northeast-10 Conference women's lacrosse quarterfinal at Merrimack Wednesday to help Saint Michael's to a semifinal match-up with top-ranked Stonehill on Friday. In the upset, the Purple Knights scored 10 second half goals, including senior Brynne Curran's (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) 61st of the season to set a program record for scores in a season.

After falling behind 8-4 in the first half, Saint Michael's rallied with five goals in the final six minutes of play in the first half to take a 9-8 lead into the locker room. Saint Michael's went on to score five unanswered to open the second half and run away from the Warriors on their home field. Senior captain Amanda Soule (Hartland, Vt./Woodstock Union) netted five goals, while classmate Courtney Wakem (Tiverton, R.I./Tiverton) stopped a season-high 19 of Merrimack's 38 total shots.

In the semifinal on Friday versus Stonehill, Saint Michael's would face the Skyhawks for the second time in eight days. This time, hardly the same would be at stake, but the result was a near mirror-image. After taking the lead on a goal from senior captain Amanda Soule (Hartland, Vt./Woodstock Union), the Skyhawks went on a 10-1 run to end the first half and subsequently earn a trip to the conference finals.

Curran would add on to her record-setting year with goal #62 and #63. Soule would also score two goals, placing her second all-time in points scored (157) behind Curran's program-best 197. The junior, Berlo, also cracked the record books with a school-best 27th assist on the year to junior Lauren Rizzotti (Rockland, Mass./Cohasset) to give Saint Michael's an early 1-0 lead.

On Sunday, it was announced that Curran and senior captain Christine Driscoll (Belmont, Mass./Newton Day School) were to be named to the Northeast-10 All-Conference First Team, while Soule made her way on to the All-Conference Second team.

Baseball (11-25)

Winning three of the last six games of the season, the baseball team completed a sweep of Lyndon State Wednesday and thusly finished the season 6-2 against in-state rivals. Most notably, the Class of 2008 knocked off the Panthers of Middlebury College, 7-6, for the first time in their four year career on April 15.

Saint Michael's sophomore Kevin Wickles (Hatfield, Mass./Suffield Acad.) out-dueled Lyndon State for eight innings and came away with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in the opener of a doubleheader played at Skip Pound Field. The right-handed Wickles went the distance to get the win for the Purple Knights, allowing one run on eight hits, while striking out eight and walking six. Sophomore Matt Beaulieu (Littleton, Mass./Lawrence Acad.) led the offense with two hits in the win.

In game two, Saint Michael's jumped out to a 5-1 lead only to see the Hornets surge back for a 8-6 advantage after four innings of play. In the top of the fifth, two run-scoring singles by Tim Pilczak (Cohasset, Mass./Kent Hills School) and freshman Ben Yodzio (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) erased the deficit and propelled the Purple Knights in an abbreviated 9-8 victory in five innings. Yodzio had three hits for the Purple Knights, while junior captain Joe Gil (Andover, Mass./Andover) and senior captain Evan Grenier (Bridgeport, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) chipped in two.

Junior Colin Dudunake (Florence, Mass./Suffield Acad.), who relieved Purple Knight senior starter Kyle Gingras (Pittsfield, N.H./Pittsfield) in the third, picked up the win; allowing two earned runs on three hits while striking out one.

On Friday, the baseball team dropped its final game of the season, falling at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, 8-3. Greg McLaughlin (Rutland, Vt./Rutland), one of eight seniors playing his final game for the Purple Knights, singled three times and scored a run in the setback. Sophomore Mike Robert (Wellesley, Mass./Babson) pitched 6.1 strong innings with three strike outs, but dropped to 2-4 on the season with the loss.

Softball (8-29, 2-26 NE-10)

The Saint Michael's College softball team closed out their 2008 season with a doubleheader split at Franklin Pierce University Wednesday afternoon, scoring a season-high 12 runs to the Ravens' one in game one. Scoring 10 runs in the sixth, Saint Michael's junior short stop Ashley Harkins (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) led the way with three RBIs in the inning on a three-run triple. The Purple Knights would drop game two, 9-1, with Harkins driving in the lone run on 2-for-4 in the nightcap.

In the Purple Knights big sixth inning, freshmen Meghan Colitti (Dover, N.H./Berwick Acad.) and Kristen Haungs (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) each drove in a pair of runs while going 2-for-4 in the opener. Junior left-hander Megan O'Connor (Georgetown, Mass./Georgetown) pitched a six-inning complete game, allowing one run and striking out six as the ace went 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.

In the nightcap, Saint Michael's fell behind 3-0 in the first and could not make up the difference, allowing two in the third and four in the fourth. Saint Michael's and Franklin Pierce knocked seven hits each, but six errors from the Purple Knights proved to be costly in the abridged five-inning game. Haungs and Colitti each registered a hit for Saint Michael's as O'Connor again allowed one earned run in 3.1 innings, while striking out three.

Eighth-year coach Robyn Newton-the winningest coach in program history-also posted her 300th career game at the helm of the Purple Knights in Wednesday's doubleheader.

This Week's Schedule:

Thu. May 8 Women's Tennis vs. California (Pa.) # 10:00 a.m.

Fri. May 9 Women's Tennis vs. Bloomsburg/Queens (N.Y.) % TBD

(#) NCAA 1st Round (at West Liberty State College)

(%) NCAA 2nd Round (at West Liberty State College)

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