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Globe North Sports Notebook

Swapping putter pays off for Ake

Dave Ake Dave Ake
By John Vellante
Globe Correspondent / October 25, 2009

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Dave Ake was having a tough time adjusting to a new putter, missing too many 4- to 6-footers that cost the him dearly. Will Delano, the Topsfield resident’s teammate on the Colgate University golf team, was in the same situation.

So, just before last weekend’s ECAC Division 1 championships, they decided to swap putters, Ake’s TaylorMade Spider for Delano’s Scotty Cameron. The results for both were instant and satisfying.

Ake, a Colgate senior captain who was also captain of his golf team at Masconomet Regional High, carded rounds of 74-76 for a 6-over-par 150 at Blue Heron Pines Golf Club in Egg Harbor, N.J., earning his first collegiate victory. Delano, a freshman from New Canaan, Conn., took seventh place (80-75-155) for his best finish of the season, and Colgate tied for third place in the team competition.

The 21-year-old Ake won in dramatic fashion, closing with back-to-back birdies to win by a single stroke. And yes, he drained his final two putts from that tricky 4- to 6-foot range. They managed to offset Ake’s triple-bogey on the par-3 11th and a double-bogey on the par-4 12th.

“The whole weekend was very up and down,’’ said Ake. “I had a lot of bogeys and a lot of birdies. The one big difference, though, was that I made all the short putts that I should have made. So many times in so many different tournaments I missed those short ones. Every time I was in contention, it was my putting that let me down. This time I made them and that was the difference. I made a few long ones, which was nice, but making the short ones was the key.’’

Ake said he had been trying to adjust to his TaylorMade Spider since June without much success. “Just couldn’t get a feel for it,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Delano was having the same trouble, so the two swapped putters “just to see what would happen.’’

“Putting has always been his Achilles heel,’’ Colgate’s interim coach, Keith Tyburski, said of Ake. “His strength has been his ball striking. He’s very consistent and keeps the ball in play. The conditions were tough, cold and windy, and the course placed a premium on accuracy off the tee. That played into his strength.’’

Win or lose, Tyburski said, Ake is a valuable asset.

“He has that calm about him and that settles the team,’’ said Tyburski. “Oh, he speaks his mind and when he talks, the guys listen. That not only benefits the team, but effectively portrays his message.’’

As a senior in high school, Ake led Masconomet to the Cape Ann League team title, and finished second in the Division 2 North individual championships and 12th in the state.

Campus corner
University of Massachusetts at Lowell women’s soccer goalkeeper Jamie Gillis of North Billerica has taken over the NCAA Division 2 record for consecutive shutout minutes, with the senior’s 3-0 blanking of Southern Connecticut last weekend stretching her mark to 1,232. The previous best was 1,192 minutes by Nikki Kalavitis of Lynn University in 1997. The Oct. 17 shutout was also her 12th straight, tied for third best in NCAA annals with Kalavitis. For her efforts, Gillis was named the Lowell Five Savings Bank/UMass Lowell Athlete of the Week. Her streak was on the line yesterday, when the River Hawks were lined up to face Northeast-10 Conference leader St. Rose. . . Two Merrimack women’s teams had milestone wins last week. The field hockey team beat Adelphia, 2-0, for its 11th of the season, the most in program history. Senior Katelin Gisonno of Georgetown had one of the goals. The soccer team, meanwhile, beat LeMoyne, 3-1, for its 10th victory, making it 25 straight seasons the squad has had double-digit win totals. . . UMass-Lowell inducted 10 members into its Hockey Hall of Fame last night prior to its Hockey East opener against Northeastern. Honored were Gary Bishop, Jon Morris, and Paul Lohnes, all of Chelmsford; Dean Jenkins of Lowell; Paul Ames of Billerica; Tommy Jacobs of Hudson; Jeff Daw of Fitchburg; Dwayne Roloson of Plainview, N.Y.; Mike Carr of Burlington, Ontario; and Craig MacTavish of Edmonton, Alberta. . . Merrimack College quarterback James Suozzo of Everett was the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week after rushing for three touchdowns and passing for two others in a 48-20 rout of New Haven.

Around and about
Methuen High basketball star Rashidat Agboola has verbally committed to a scholarship offer from Boston University. The 6-foot-1 senior, who averaged 21.7 points and 13.5 rebounds last season, also received offers from Holy Cross and the University of New Hampshire, as well as Northeast-10 Conference schools Quinnipiac, Stonehill, Merrimack, Southern New Hampshire, and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Princeton and Pennsylvania of the Ivy League also showed interest. Agboola enters the season with 911 career points. . . The individual winners at the 50th running of the Catholic Memorial Cross-Country Invitational at Franklin Park last weekend included Francis Hernandez of Bishop Guertin High in Nashua, in the Division 1 boys’ event, and Julie Solimine of Haverhill High, finishing first among Division 2 girls. . . At the Bay State Cross-Country Invitational in Northfield, Allison Lanois of Hamilton-Wenham Regional topped the Division 2 girls’ field.

Ideas and information may be sent to JohnPVel@aol.com.

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