Tag: curry sports

Curry Drops Points on Homecoming

BY GIANCARLO ORSINI // Oct. 21, 2017 //

The Curry women’s soccer team gave up an early goal that turned out to be decisive at full time.

The visiting Golden Bears of Western New England University interrupted the Homecoming Weekend celebrations on Friday night. An early surge gave them the advantage just 17 minutes into the contest as midfielder Kaeli Serafino knocked one past Curry goaltender Kristen Buzzotta for a 1-0 lead that would never change.

“We started off slow,” said Curry assistant coach Kaitlin Lima. “We weren’t clinical in the final third of the field and didn’t generate enough scoring opportunities.”

To be sure, the WNU dominated the opening 25 minutes as the Golden Bears made several personnel changes to keep their momentum. Curry had chanced to level the game, but couldn’t connect on their final passes.

The Colonels started the second half with greater precision. Curry had four consecutive shots in 13 minutes, led by Tayla Randall and Arianna Viscione, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Western New England goaltender Alex Lemekha made 6 saves on the night. Curry outshot Western New England 12-9.

It was yet another conference defeat for the Colonels, who dropped to 1-5-2 in Commonwealth Coast Conference action and 8-7-3 overall.

“It’s not how we pictured our last home game to turn out,” said Viscione, a senior. “We expect more from ourselves and are disappointed to lose another conference game.”

The Golden Bears moved to 9-6-2 (7-1 in conference). Curry will return to the pitch for the last time this regular season at Wentworth on Tuesday night.

  • Curry sits at 8th place in the CCC standings. A win on Tuesday could push the team to 7th.
  • Curry has lost four of its last five games.
  • To make playoffs, the Colonels must win Tuesday to stay atop Nichols and Eastern Nazarene.

 

Women’s Basketball Falls Short in Conference Action

BY COLE McNANNA // Feb. 12, 2017 //

After registering four wins in as many games, the women’s basketball team has now started to reverse the trend and dropped their second game in as many chances yesterday in Milton.

The 57-43 decision in favor of visiting Western New England dropped Curry to 9-14 overall and 7-9 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. If the season were to end today that mark would earn the Colonels a #6 seed in the postseason tournament.

On the other hand, the Golden Bears would be given the third seed in the tournament and helped establish that top-tier ranking with a 38-point victory over Curry just under a month ago.

Western New England was led by double-digit efforts from Paige Young (11) and Emily Anderson (10) while Dorothy O’Neill was a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc for all nine of her points.

The Colonels’ underclassmen backcourt of sophomore Emily Irwin and freshman Sam Bamford led the offensive charge with Irwin going for a game-high 13 points and Bamford scoring nine while also pulling down seven rebounds.

The message from the coaching staff has been continuous improvement and Curry is striving toward that already by testing a team that blew them out in their last meeting. With only two more games, the goal is to capitalize on the time they do have.

Assistant coach Stacy Cotter said, “We need to continue to improve, winning won’t create much shuffling but if we keep improving we’ll play better and we’ll get closer to playing our best basketball towards the end of the season.”

The Colonels’ remaining enemies are the Eastern Nazarene Lions and the Wentworth Leopards who sit a fifth and last respectively in the CCC. Curry fell to the Lions by 10 but beat the Leopards by nearly 30 in their earlier meetings.

If improvement really is in the cards for these Colonels, they could just improve their seeding and run the table in the CCC as anything can happen in the postseason.

Next Saturday will be the home finale for both men’s and women’s programs with the women tipping off at 1 p.m. while the men follow at 3.

Points Race: Last night’s matchup featured the top two scorers in the conference with Emily Anderson holding a 381-369 lead over Emily Irwin through 23 games.

Rematch: In the third to last paragraph just move down “Curry fell to the Lions by 10 but beat the Leopards by nearly 30 in their earlier meetings.”

Freshman Frenzy: Of the 10 Colonels logging minutes yesterday, half of them were freshmen.

Colonels battle Fighting Scots to final minutes

BY BRANDON WILFORE // Dec. 7, 2016 //

A college basketball game is 40 minutes. Curry outplayed visiting Gordon College for 35 minutes. The game came down to those five minutes.

“We as a team are getting better each day, despite us losing. We will keep working. I believe in this team. We gotta keep going hard,” said freshman Jaelen Bellitti after Tuesday’s tough loss. Jaelen added 15 points for the Colonels.

The Curry Colonels men’s basketball team dropped to 0-7 on the year after a close loss to the visiting Gordon Fighting Scots, by a score of 76-71.

If you look on paper, the Scots seemed to have the upper hand; last year’s contest also went to Gordon, but that margin of victory was 39 points. This time, they came into the Eleanor Katz Gymnasium 4-2.

But this didn’t scare the Colonels; they came out guns blazing, not backing down to anyone. They were driving to the rim and finishing. On three straight possessions, they scored a basket and earned a foul to get the whole crowd into the game. That run led to a 15-8 lead for Curry, with almost everyone on their feet.

The problem for the Colonels this year has been turnovers, but not Tuesday night. Using high-intensity defense and taking good care of the ball, they extended their lead to double digits with nine minutes to play until the half.

Curry players were trapping in the corners, swatting layups and even laying out for loose balls; was this the night they got their first win in two years?

At the half, the Colonels led 41-29 and everything was clicking. They committed only four turnovers in the first half…FOUR. Before Tuesday night, the Colonels averaged a Commonwealth Coast Conference-high 18.4 turnovers a game. The Scots racked up 15 of their own.

The beginning of the second half was, weird, to say the least.

A family member of a Curry player got warned by the college’s Public Safety officers to back away from the court. The man took that as an insult and talked back, leading to Public Safety asking him to leave. While being escorted out, the guy decided to sprint out of the gym like he was on Cops, and the whole gym erupted in laughter.

After all the dust settled, there was still a basketball game going on. The Colonels were holding on to an 11-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game.

A win was just ten minutes away…if they can close it out.

With the help of Garrisson Duvivier and Eric Demers, Gordon got back into the game and worked to trail by only a pair of points with seven minutes to play.

But Curry has some scorers too, including Jaelen Bellitti and Paul Preziosi, who both had productive second halves to fuel a run that would extend the lead to five with just under three minutes to go.

The Colonels needed a stop, leading 71-66 with 1:28 left in the game. They got one when senior James Pina blocked Sam Johnson, seemingly ending the battle that had been going on all night. Pina emphasized his play with a lion-like roar to force the Scots called a timeout.

After their conference, Gordon got some key defensive stops and tied the game at 71 with under a minute left.

Now, winning doesn’t just come to a team. Believe it or not, you have to learn how to win, and there were some learning curves for Curry.

The Colonels had the ball looking for the go-ahead basket and got a three-point attempt from the corner by James Gibson. It failed to fall and the Scots rushed down the court and laid the ball in to take the lead with 29 seconds left.

After a few offensive rebounds by Gordon, and fouls by Curry, the Purple and White dropped their 32nd contest in a row, this time by a 76-71 final score.

“The way we played tonight says a lot about our toughness and heart as a team after a tough loss the game before,” said Preziosi after the game. He added that this is definitely “a game we can improve on [so we can] learn how to finish.”

3 Points (No Pun Intended, Pun Intended)

  • Bench?: Curry’s bench only contributed 12 of its 71 points.
  • Bellitti Backcourt: The twins combined for 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists
  • Road Trip: The Colonels travel north to Maine for their next two games over the holiday break. They resume conference play Jan. 3, at home against Salve Regina.
    Can the New Year bring the Colonels their first win?

Curry Ties Johnson and Wales in Third Annual Teddy Bear Toss Game

BY TYLER MILLIKEN // Nov. 20, 2016 //

The hockey team took their home ice Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd ready to donate teddy bears to children in need. They only needed to wait about seven minutes.

Intensity was high on both sides once the puck dropped in this Commonwealth Coast Conference matchup with Johnson and Wales University as Curry had been riding a four-game winning streak. Not to mention, the Colonels had some added pressure at the start of this matchup.

With the Teddy Bear Toss taking place, all the bears get thrown onto the ice when the Colonels score their first goal of the game. Due to this being such a highly attended event, it’s no surprise the team wanted to come out firing.

It would only take 7:08 for Curry to score that first goal. Junior forward Adam Valadao sent a scorching slap shot into the back of the net, thanks to a flawless pass from defensemen Jarret Kup. It marked both the third goal for Valadao and the third assist for Kup and sent stuffed teddy bears flying over the boards.

Junior Ryan Fitzgerald said after the game, “Everyone on the bench was ecstatic and jumping up and down giving high fives after the goal. It was just a really special moment for anyone who was a part of the team.”

The Colonels maintained the intensity and senior forward Tyler Vankleef extended the lead with two minutes left in the first frame. Vankleef used his stickhandling skills and placed one past Joey Ballmer for his CCC-best 11th goal of the season. Jake Heisinger and Alec Mono registered the assists that put Curry up 2-0 with 2:14 to go.

By the end of the first period, there were plenty of hits in the corners to keep the players jawing at each other. However, the Colonels retained a 14-8 lead in the shots category after the first 20.

The Wildcats bounced back early in the second, however, tying the game in the first seven minutes. Ben Brouillard, a senior forward, slapped a shot past Curry’s Ben Sinclair for their first goal of the game at the 2:55 mark.

Then, just minutes later, sophomore center Chad Guderian stole the puck and beat two defenders before zipping the puck just over Sinclair’s glove at the end of a Colonel power play.

The comeback wouldn’t shut down Curry, though, as it battled back to retake the lead with only minutes left on the clock.

Mono grabbed his second assist of the game as he found forward Shane Tracy who smacked the puck in the back of the net thanks to a screen in front of Ballmer.

Even though Johnson and Wales outscored the Colonels, Curry again took the shot advantage, this time 19-10.

As the third period rolled around, the Colonels appeared to begin to play it safe. They were no longer playing aggressive and seemed to be playing keep-away from the Wildcats.

Unfortunately, this new strategy failed to work after Tracy ended up in the box for hooking. At the end of that power play, Johnson and Wales tied the game with 11:52 remaining in regulation. Freshman Nicholas Gray netted the goal for the Wildcats after Connor Bates earned his second assist of the game on a pass right in front of the goal.

Johnson and Wales sustained their offensive pressure but Sinclair would come through and keep the game deadlocked at three by the time regulation ran out.

The five-minute overtime was short, but the Colonels had one great chance to win with 3:03 showing on the clock. Vankleef secured a breakaway, but a Wildcat tossed his stick and tripped him as he attempted to score.

Curry was given a penalty shot and Vankleef had the game on his stick.

He eyed up his challenger and took on the task that creates the longest distance between the blue line and the goal. Ballmer made a sliding effort to keep the puck out of the net and the game tied.

Over the final three minutes, neither team could get anything going and the game ended in a 3-3 draw.

Colonel goalie Ben Sinclair totaled 35 saves on the night, while Johnson and Wales’ Joey Ballmer racked up 42 due to Curry outshooting the Wildcats 45-38.

It wasn’t all negative, though, as teddy bears still came on the ice and Vankleef elaborated, “Seeing the bears come down was awesome. It’s what this event is all about. Getting those teddy bears and giving them back to the community and the sick kids in the hospital is a real good feeling.”

When speaking about how the Colonels might bounce back after a tough draw like this, Head Coach T.J. Manastersky explained that “It’s hard to tell. After a game like that, I don’t say much to them…We have the luxury of a week off from games, so it’ll be good to just be together and have some fun at the rink.”

After that week off, the Colonels will have the chance to resume their unbeaten streak Dec. 1 on the road at Endicott College, who is 3-2-2 on the season.

Women’s Basketball Drops Season Opener to Framingham State

BY TYLER MILLIKEN // Nov. 16, 2016 //

After months of anticipation, the women’s basketball team finally tipped off against Framingham State University in their season opener last night at the Eleanor Meyerhoff Katz Gymnasium.

Despite having a new team full of youth and inexperience, the Colonels were still quite confident heading into this matchup. The Rams seemed ready to jump on this flaw though, and immediately began the game with an extreme amount of defensive pressure.

Unfortunately, Curry didn’t seem prepared to deal with this type of game plan, because they started the match up struggling on all accounts. Between lazy defense, poor shooting, and an inability to hold onto the ball, it was impossible for the Colonels to find a rhythm.

Framingham State’s Mallory DeFeo would open up the scoring with a big three from the corner, and Curry was never able to find a lead after this.

The Rams were helped in part by center Alycia Rackliffe, who shadowed junior Nicole Rice for most of the game and limited her to only two points in 19 minutes on the court.

On the other side of the ball, Framingham struggled shooting-wise in the first quarter, as they were not able to take advantage of quite a few Colonel turnovers. Their defense would keep them in the game early though, with the scoreboard displaying only a 12-9 score.

Ram guard Quinn O’Connell opened up the second quarter with a wide open three, which marked the beginning of an offensive hot streak for Framingham.

DeFeo took advantage of these opportunities by putting up seven points of her own, showing no trouble banking shots from the perimeter or driving to the hoop and getting a bit physical.

Throughout the quarter, Curry’s opponent was setting a number of picks they just couldn’t get around, which created a number of open shots.

Those shots, paired with Coach Fran Elm’s inability to find a hot hand despite multiple substitutions led to a 35-13 deficit at the break.

Sophomore forward Tiphani Harris opened up the second half scoring six points in the first two minutes for the Rams and further increased the advantage. The Colonels’ nervous energy that was present pregame had completely worn off.

A three down the stretch from guard Mary Kate O’Day inflated the Framingham lead to 30 points with only a minute to go in the third and Coach Elms wasn’t holding back on his bench.

It was much of the same in the final frame as the Rams finished the last six minutes with a 16-0 run on their way to a 75-30 final score. It was not the way this team was looking to start their season, after working hard to formulate a new chemistry with so many new faces joining campus.

However, junior captain Rice noted that lack of knowledge was a hindering factor. “Honestly you have to chalk most of it up to inexperience. We added eight freshmen [to a team] that is really rebuilding after losing four out of five starters after last season.”

Coach Elms was also honest after the game, unsure of how his team will bounce back due to their youth, although mentioning, “As long as my girls learn from this, they’ll be okay. We just need to continually improve.”

Their next opportunity to improve comes before their Saturday Tip-Off Tournament as Pine Manor College (0-1) comes to the Katz Gymnasium.