The Colby Field Hockey program began in 1968 and belongs to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), one of the most competitive Division III conferences in the nation.
The team competes on the Bill Alfond Field which has synthetic turf to accommodate late fall games, as well as competition during inclement weather.
Colby Field Hockey is led by Allison Whittemore, who was promoted to Head Coach to being the 2022 season after being an assistant since 2018.
In the program's history, it has totaled six All-American awards, including Georgia Cassidy '20 in 2019 and three-time All-American Wendy Bonner '05 (2002, 2003, 2004).
Traditions and Milestones in Colby Athletics
Athletes don't just join a team at Colby, they join a tradition. It's a tradition that trains them to be leaders, to meet the greatest challenges head-on. To Dare Northward. To give back. We will grow that legacy. Welcome home.
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In 1973, Colby made national news when it hosted the first intercollegiate women’s ice hockey game, against Brown. The hockey team blazed a trail, becoming Colby’s first women’s varsity team, in 1975, followed by softball, cross-country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, squash, Nordic skiing, and other sports.
The Importance of Women's Contributions
When Colby finalized plans to move from downtown Waterville to the Mayflower Hill campus in the early 1930s, one woman provided the leadership to make sure women’s needs were met. It was Runnals who led the fundraising for a new women’s union (later named Runnals Building) and oversaw the planning of women’s housing. Women were first to the new campus, which was funded and built throughout the 1930s. In the fall of 1942, they lived in buildings named for the first women graduates, Low and Coburn.
In 1980, 250 students signed a petition asking for an interdisciplinary major in women’s studies, and a year later they got it. The 1980s saw huge growth in the program, with 35 faculty members teaching across disciplines, and in 1995 women’s studies became its own major.
“Loyalty to our college does not mean that we are blind to its imperfections,” Runnals said during an address at Colby Night, an athletic awards celebration, in 1963.
Hidden Histories: Uncovering Women's Stories at Colby
Maggie Libby ’81 loves a good mystery. An artist and worker rooted in Maine, Libby (they/them) has for nearly a decade worked tirelessly to answer that question through Hidden Histories: a project by Maggie Libby. The series reconstructs a history of Colby’s 19th- and 20th-century women using mixed-media portraits, biographical texts, altered books, and storyboards using source material from the College’s archive. Hidden Histories documents women’s images, voices, and stories to make visible a piece of Colby’s history previously missing from public spaces and conversations.
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Libby started the project with large-scale portraits of the first women to attend Colby in the 1870s. Contemporary artist Maggie Libby’s portraits of alumnae Mary Caffrey Low, Class of 1875, and Ninetta May Runnals, Class of 1908. Libby’s portraits explore and subvert traditional portraiture’s mediums, color palettes, and ideas of finish.
“I also wipe, spray, scratch, and redraw to build up a rich sense of things left out, hidden information and excavated histories,” they said. Libby majored in art at Colby and went on to earn a William and Marguerite Zorach Scholarship to the prestigious Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting. Currently, Libby stewards multiple oral history projects to enlarge the College’s archives; they’re also constructing a timeline of women’s history at Colby.
Hidden Histories brings forward neglected narratives, illuminates them, and boldly places them in contemporary conversations.
Colby College Like You’ve Never Seen It Before...
The Alfond Rink and Colby Hockey
In the program’s early days, there was no Alfond Rink on campus - construction on that didn’t begin until the mid-1950s - and the Mules were as dependent as everybody else in New England on cold winter weather in order to play outdoors.
In 1977, Jack Kelley earned his 300th collegiate coaching victory with a win over Northeastern at Alfond Rink, still the Mules’ current home.
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“I loved my time at Colby. My family and wife all love Colby, and I thought I had pretty much accomplished what I wanted to accomplish at BU and at the pro level,” Kelley said. “But what I loved best of all were those afternoons on the ice teaching with the kids.
“What Blaise has done, he’s restored the tradition of Colby hockey,” Kelley said. “Although it’s been going on for years, they haven’t had the great success Blaise has going now.
MacDonald’s first year came after a four-win season. By last season, he’d had the benefit of four full recruiting classes - finally giving him a team that was completely his and not recruited to Colby by previous coaches.
“We have only have two signs in our locker room, and one of them says ‘Leave a legacy,'” MacDonald said. “It’s about leaving the place better than you found it, whatever that may be. These seniors we have, since we’ve been here, these guys have worked really hard to do that.
“They’re now the first ones (from Colby) to win the NESCAC, the first team to win an NCAA game, the first team to get to the Frozen Four. They’re only the fourth team in the history of our league to get to the Frozen Four. And when the Mules drop the puck against St.
Bowdoin-Colby Rivalry
The men’s hockey team (11-5-1; 5-5-1 NESCAC) and rival Colby College (9-6-2; 7-3-1 NESCAC) will meet for the 218th time tomorrow night in one of the longest-running small-college hockey rivalries. The teams played their first game against each other in 1922, which the Mules won 2-1. Bowdoin most recently played Colby in December and fell 4-2 in Waterville.
The first 37 years of Bowdoin-Colby games were played on an outdoor rink. For much of its history, the games were also played on back to back days, with one competition being in Waterville and one in Brunswick. Students would typically travel to both games, which led to increased fan involvement and more intense crowds.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Bowdoin-Colby rivalry regarding any sports team was strong, but was especially prominent when it came to hockey.
With the implementation of plexiglass and the move to Watson arena, many of the fans turned to taunting and chants in the ’90s and 2000s. Music now plays during game stoppages instead of fraternity chants and student bands.
“Colby games are just a zoo. It’s always a little louder with Colby. The intensity is turned up. The passion is turned up.
Brunswick has not seen a traditional Bowdoin-Colby game in over three years.
Facilities
Here, floor-to-ceiling windows let the light flood in, beckoning. At 350,000 square feet, this place is unlike anything that's come before. It continues our commitment to the environment and conservation, and the same spirit of place and sport is here. An all-season 200-meter track will host the highest levels of competition.
Maine's only Olympic-sized swimming pool welcomes not only college, but high school swimmers to perform their best. The best ice in the northeast has new walls. We've laid our hardwood and we're ready to compete. Our athletes will have access to the best trainers and coaches, and a fitness center the size of two football fields combined.
For specific venue guidelines for the following spaces, please visit the FACILITY RULES and REGULATIONS page here:
- Aidan's Climbing & Bouldering Wall
- Aquatics Center
- Boulos Family Fitness Center
- Field House, Indoor Tennis Court
- Jack Kelley Rink Regulations