Dear Alumni, Families, Friends, and Fans of Colgate Athletics, 

Greetings from Hamilton, N.Y., where the Colgate campus is settling into the first full week of classes. I write to welcome you to this new academic and athletic year, and to invite you to become a part of our success.

We are eager to welcome you to our events - both home and away - as we cheer on more than 560 Raiders across all 25 varsity programs. Your engagement makes a huge difference in our student-athletes' ability to pursue big dreams, from published undergraduate research and grad school acceptance in every field… to personal records and team championships in every arena.  

Already, our Raider teams are having strong showings out of the 'gate. Men's soccer knocked off No. 16 Providence in its season opener last Thursday. Our defending Patriot League Champion volleyball team began its 2022 campaign with a strong showing at the University of Southern California's Cardinal & Gold Classic, sweeping UMBC 3-0 to close out the weekend; and field hockey defeated Merrimack in its season opener, with first-year student-athlete Dani Palmer earning Patriot League Rookie of the Week. 

An exciting weekend ahead features women's soccer taking the pitch this evening against La Salle at 7 p.m. Colgate's annual Club Sports Fair & Community Block Party will be held prior to the game, welcoming Colgate students and community members throughout the region to experience a great Colgate Athletics event, and to encourage them to attend many more. Football will travel to the West Coast for a premier matchup versus Stanford on Saturday night. Our golf team will host the Alex Lagowitz Memorial Invitational on the newly renovated Seven Oaks Golf Course, and junior Dugan McCabe will aim to defend his individual title. Also, the men's and women's cross country teams will race at home in the Harry Lang Invitational, featuring the first-ever friends and family race (sign up here). 

As our athletics department looks to the year ahead, we will continue to pursue our foundational goals, which are to achieve success in academics, athletics, personal and career development, campus and community engagement, and resource stewardship. Along with colleagues and leaders across campus, we will also work to make real progress toward the Third-Century Plan generally, including transformational athletics initiatives. 

Ultimately, what matters most is that we are providing the best possible environment and resources for our student-athletes to achieve their highest aspirations and to have a great Colgate experience. A few new initiatives aimed at enhancing the student-athlete experience include: 

• Additional programs to further enhance student-athlete mental health, including implementation of an integrated wellness team approach, enhanced educational efforts, and Mental Health Mondays
• Enhanced leadership development support for captains, including new opportunities for team captains and sport administrators to connect and communicate
• Expanded sports medicine support with the initiation of the Upstate Medical Sports Medicine Fellowship 
• New educational opportunities for staff and coaches offered by our division's DEI Committee. 

Last night, we hosted our fourth annual Raider Rally student-athlete kickoff BBQ at Andy Kerr Stadium. This is always a really special event when we get to see the shared enthusiasm and genuine love for Colgate and one another among our student-athletes, coaches, and staff as they reconnect as a community after some time away. Just like I encouraged our student-athletes to find a way to reach out and to BE the Colgate community to someone else every day, I ask you to do the same. 

One very effective way to nurture our own sense of inspiration and purpose and to build our own success is to contribute to the success of others. Send that note of encouragement. Show up at that Colgate event near your home. When you get there, cheer loudly and bring your greatest positive energy, becoming a part of Colgate showing our best selves to the world! Give generously to our Colgate Athletics Council annual fund. Consider a legacy gift to help us build a reimagined Reid Athletics Center. Become a corporate sponsor. Reach out to that old Colgate friend or teammate, and bring them along. 

If you want to be a part of building a championship culture through Colgate Athletics, sign up for our Raider Insider email, which will keep you updated and give you weekly highlights from our teams throughout the year, and reach out to Jen Stone to speak with us about how you can support Colgate Athletics. Familiarize yourself with other NCAA-compliant ways to support our varsity programs and student-athletes, and ways to partner to provide new opportunities related to name, image and likeness (NIL). We hope to talk with you soon.

I look forward to seeing many of you on campus or cheering on our teams on the road this year, and I invite you to join us in celebrating both 50 years of women's varsity sports at Colgate and our Colgate Athletics Hall of Honor Class of 2022. 

Let's have an unforgettable year… together! Go, 'gate!

Dr. Nicki Moore
Vice President and Director of Athletics