Category: Sports

Softball Team Bashes and Bumbles into Conference Play

BY JACOB FORCE // MARCH 27, 2019 //

After returning from a weeklong tournament in Fort Myers, Fla., where they went 5-5, the Curry softball team has won three out of four games in preparation for the start of conference action.

But before the Colonels can begin Commonwealth Coast Conference play this Saturday, March 30, with a double-header at the University of New England, one more non-conference double-header looms. The Colonels will host the Suffolk University Rams this Thursday (March 28) starting at 3 p.m. Suffolk is 6-8 on the season, following two lopsided losses to Brandeis University this past Tuesday.

Freshman outfielder Liana Duarte is among several Colonels crushing the ball at the plate thus far this season. The team has an astounding batting average of .320, led by sophomore second baseman Taylor Newcomb (.409 and 13 RBI), junior catcher Michaela Colleran (.396 and 15 RBI), sophomore catcher Jordan Perzan (.354 and 17 RBI), sophomore infielders Kiana Lloyd and Jocelyn Diamond (.359 & .313, respectively), and junior infielder Caroline Johnson (.308). Duarte’s college career is only 13 games old, yet she’s raking at a .375 clip and has gotten on base in half of her plate appearances.

It’s also worth noting that those are just the players who have 20 or more at-bats this season. Junior third baseman Molly Horn is hitting .421 on 19 at-bats.

While offense has been a relative breeze thus far, the story has been much different in the field. Curry leads the Commonwealth Coast Conference in errors with a whopping 51 in 14 games. In contrast, conference rival Gordon College (also 8-6 overall) has only 19 errors.

“Our outfield, on a scale of 1-10, has played at about a six,” said coach Bruce Weckworth. “I think we can do better.”

Lloyd and Newcomb currently lead the conference in errors with 12 and 10, respectively. When asked about the two, Weckworth noted, “How do you keep them off the field? But how do you keep them on the field,” given their hitting abilities?

Pitching is another area of challenge for this year’s Colonels squad. Curry’s pitchers have a conference-low average of only 3.38 strikeouts per seven innings, but Weckworth said he remains confident in his staff, especially Mount Ida transfer Carrigan Costello, a sophomore, who has thrown a team-leading 42.2 innings thus far for a 3-3 record.

“We don’t have a pure strikeout pitcher,” said Weckworth. “What this does is it puts more pressure on the field.”

Ultimately, though, Weckworth believes his squad can turn things around. “I like our chances!” he said.

The Colonels will be a bit short-handed facing off against Suffolk this Thursday, as four sophomores are scheduled to miss the double-header. All four are Nursing majors who have academic commitments that will keep them from the field. Weckworth said that’s always a challenge for Curry women’s sports teams, as Nursing is the largest major at Curry, by enrollment, and it’s also typically the most time-intensive.

With an already young team—Curry features just three juniors and one senior—that just means more of the freshmen will get the chance to step up.

 

 

 

Women’s Basketball Grills the Gators

BY CHASE MARTINO // NOV. 18, 2018 // 

The Curry College women’s basketball team was very opportunistic in Thursday night’s home game versus Pine Manor. The Colonels forced 33 turnovers, and scored 41 points off of them, in a convincing 77- 53 win.

Curry dominated the whole night for its first win of the season, bringing its record to 1-2. The Colonels jumped out to a 21-8 lead after one quarter, and kept rolling the rest of the game. The Gators fell to 0-2.

“We were very aggressive in forcing mistakes and we were able to capitalize on the turnovers, which helped us get a must-needed win,” said coach Fran Elms.

Freshman Peyton Perine led Curry to its first win of the season. // COURTESY OF CURRY ATHLETICS

Peyton Perine and Emily Irwin led the way offensively, scoring 20 points and 19 points, respectively. Perine was an efficient 56 percent from the field on 9 of 16 shooting, and added 4 rebounds and 4 steals.

“I just felt like I was in a groove,” she said. “My teammates definitely helped me get so many good looks.”

The Colonels played smart basketball and worked the ball down low for a good portion of their points, scoring 34 in the paint. This, paired with the 41 points scored off turnovers, were the two biggest factors that led to the blowout win.

Curry’s Amanda Leal finished with 13 points.

Pine Manor’s Kristen Harris led the way for the Gators with 12 points, while two of her teammates, Arielle Harrell and Oceane Tabbak, ended the game with double-digit turnovers (12 and 10, respectively).

  • Neither team scored any fast-break points.
  • Pine Manor held a 1-point lead with 8:10 left in the first quarter. It was the Gators’ only lead of the night.
  • Curry had 23 more field goal attempts than Pine Manor.

Colonels Hockey to Open Conference Play

BY MEGHAN RIVERA AND JOE TAFT // NOV. 1, 2018 //

The Curry College men’s hockey team opens conference play tomorrow night when it travels to Worcester, Mass., to face Becker College. The Colonels and Hawks will have little time to rest after the game, with a rematch Saturday night at the Ulin Rink in Milton.

Curry freshman Vladimir Cibulka will get his first collegiate start in goal. The Colonels enter Friday’s contest 1-0-1, having won the Buffalo State Tournament in New York last weekend, with junior goalie Justin Ketola earning the tie and sophomore goalie Cody Murch getting the title-game win.

“We have three goalies that we are confident in, so that’s a strength for sure,” said Curry coach T.J. Manastersky.

Three seniors lead this year’s team, with Zach White serving as captain and Lionel Mauron and Mack Heisinger as assistant captains. White was among the team’s leading scorers last year, with 17 goals and 15 assists. Mauron added 30 points, including 20 assists, and Heisinger had 16 points as a defenseman.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CURRY ATHLETICS

The Colonels’ roster features a lot of diversity this year, with players from seven different countries. Manastersky said preseason captains’ practices and the recent trip to upstate New York definitely brought the players more together.

The diversity, “it’s incredibly positive. I think it’s fun,” said the coach, now in his seventh season at Curry. “It opens up everyone’s eyes and you learn about other people, cultures, countries, and ways of playing hockey. The challenges come back to the communication…You’ve gotta check for comprehension.”

Becker enters Friday’s game 0-2, including an 8-1 blowout against Assumption College. But even though the Hawks are predicted to finish last in the Commonwealth Coast Conference, according to the preseason coaches poll — Curry was ranked fifth out of eight teams — the Colonels aren’t planning for an easy few days.

“Any given night you can lose to anyone and you can beat anyone,” said Heisinger, “so it really doesn’t matter what their record is.”

“They’re aggressive, they’re fast, and they play up-tempo,” added Manastersky. “We have to stay disciplined, but we also have to be ready to match their intensity.”

Senior forward Corey Schafer leads Becker in goals thus far with two, while freshman forward Caleb Labrie and sophomore defenseman Christian Leon each have two assists on the young season. The Colonels should get plenty of chances to find the back of the net, as the Hawks defense has allowed a whopping 107 shots through just two games.

Curry’s offense has been well balanced thus far, with five different players scoring goals. Freshman center Michael Curran, who co-leads the team with two points (1 goal, 1 assist), was recently named conference rookie of the week.

  • Curry students in need of a ride to the Ulin Rink in Milton Saturday night can catch a free lift on the “fan-wagon.” It leaves the Student Center at 4 p.m., and the game begins at 4:50.
  • Friday night’s game at the Worcester Ice Arena begins at 7 p.m. The game can be watched online through a live video stream.
  • Curry finished last season 17-8-1 (11-6-1 CCC), while Becker finished 5-18-1 and came in last place in the CCC (3-15).

Men’s Soccer Battles to 1-0 Win Over Framingham

By John Cataloni // Sept. 20, 2018 //

The Colonels found themselves in a physical, defensive battle on a chilly Wednesday night, that may serve as a prelude of what’s to come as Fall approaches and the second half of their season begins.

The Curry men’s soccer team were able to edge out non-conference Framingham State University at Walter M. Katz Field, 1-0, in a game that saw quite a number of stopped play and whistles.

The first half was played to a 0-0 tie, and the Rams actually out-shot the Colonels 15-7 in the period.

Just 10 minutes into the second half, Curry found their break as freshman Nico Sabbatini launched a missile that found the back of the net, with an assist from junior Brandon Rinaldi.

The Rams had their opportunities as they had six more shots on goal than the Colonels but they could not get through junior goalkeeper Paul DeMaio who posted 11 saves in the winning effort.

Late in the second half, there were frustration fouls for the Rams which resulted in two yellow cards after all the physical play and trash talk.

“Framingham State battled hard, we are pretty evenly matched we just made one more play then they did,” said junior Claudio Orsini. 

Sabbatini made that one more play and now leads the team with three goals on the year. 

“The team gives me the confidence to go out and play and take those shots from deep,” said Sabbatini. 

The impressive freshman hails from Cape Elizabeth, M.E. but is originally from Italy.

“All the freshman have been solid and I feel great moving forward with this team as we move towards our bigger conference games,” said Rinaldi. 

Rinaldi also mentioned that he doesn’t think that there’s one star player on the team.

“Different games different guys will make the big play and we need that. We have a chip on our shoulder being ranked last in the preseason polls but we just beat a good [Framingham] team and I think we are only going to get better moving forward,” added Rinaldi.

The Colonels improve to 6-2-1 halfway through the season while the Rams fall to 4-3-1 after the loss.

Up Next

Curry will continue it’s four-game home stand as it hosts conference foe Wentworth (4-3-1) Saturday, Sept. 22, at 1:30 p.m.

 

Colonels Fail to Click Against Engineers

By Joe Taft // Sept. 9, 2018 //

It was a night filled with squandered opportunities.

The Curry College Colonels football team converted only 2 of 12 third-down plays and mustered just a single touchdown in falling to the MIT Engineers Friday night at Walter M. Katz Field, 16-6.

“We played a really good football team here tonight and we gave them a hard-fought game,” said Curry head coach Skip Bandini. “I’m proud of our effort.”

Curry seemed to be one big play away from a major momentum shift all game, but was repeatedly unable to cash in. Trailing by just 7 at the half, the Colonels’ Cameron Sass intercepted a pass in the third quarter. However, the Curry offense went 3-and-out to hand the ball back to MIT, which eventually proceeded to find the end zone and double its lead.

The Colonels finally scored on their next drive thanks to a 26-yard pass from quarterback Nick Juvelier to wide receiver Nick Villanueva. However, the ensuing extra-point attempt by Cody Sughrue was blocked.

The Engineer defense forced a safety in the fourth quarter to seal the game, 16-6. Juvelier did march his team down the field on its last drive with a seven-yard rush of his own and five completions. But the last-ditch effort ended in a lost fumble at midfield by Villaneuva with 1:14 to go. It was Curry’s second lost fumble of the game.

Juvelier finished 15-of-25 on completions, throwing for 179 passing yards and one touchdown. Villanueva made four catches for 75 yards, while Zach Levy led the ground game with 34 yards on just 7 carries.

“I absolutely love these kids here at Curry,” said Bandini. “You can see it in their eyes that they want to win. Sometimes a few just don’t fall your way.

“We had a couple of drops today. It happens. That’s how this game works.”

Up Next

Curry (1-1) will need more from its offense this coming Saturday, Sept. 15, when it hosts Anna Maria College at 1 p.m. That shouldn’t be too hard given that the Amcats have allowed 89 points in two games, both losses, this season.

It will be the Colonels’ third straight home game to open the season.