EASTON, Pa. (4/14/2007)—Senior Brendan Hurley (West Islip, N.Y.) tallied a game-high three goals and added an assist to lead the Colgate men’s lacrosse team to a 12-5 victory against Patriot League opponent Lafayette College. The Raiders scored seven consecutive goals through the second and third quarters to cruise to the win.

 

Colgate pushes its record to 8-4 overall and 4-1 in Patriot League action, while the Leopards fall to 1-11 and 0-6 in conference play.

 

Junior Matt Lalli (Princeton Junction, N.J.) added four points off of one goal and three assists, while senior Jeff Hiller (Wantagh, N.Y.) had two goals and an assist. Sophomores Kevin Colleluori (Bethpage, N.Y.) and Brandon Corp (Chittenango, N.Y.) both registered two scores. Lafayette’s Steve Serling and Matt Mersky both had two tallies to lead the Leopards.

 

After a scoreless opening 10 minutes, Lafayette took advantage of a man-up opportunity to get on the board first with a goal from Serling with 4:45 left in the first quarter. Senior Chris Eck (Fairfield, N.Y.) evened the score for the Raiders 1:25 later off an assist from Hiller. That was Eck’s first goal this season and just the second of his career.

 

Coming out of the first break tied at one, the Leopards pounced on Colgate by scoring a pair of unanswered tallies for a 3-1 lead with 7:45 remaining until halftime. That was all the Raiders needed to wake them up as they went on a seven-goal streak, including scoring the half’s final five for a 6-3 lead at the break.

 

Hurley got things started at the 6:19 mark and then added another score two minutes later to even the score at three. Corp and Colleluori found the back of the net just 41 seconds apart to give Colgate a 5-3 lead and Corp added one to the scoreboard with 1:07 left for a 6-3 lead at halftime.

 

Colgate’s stalwart defense continued to hold off the Leopards for the second half, allowing just two more goals. The Raiders added four more scores in the third quarter for a 10-4 advantage heading into the final frame. Colgate needed just 14 seconds to score in the third quarter as Lalli got the ball off the opening faceoff and fed Hiller for the goal. Colleluori scored again before Lafayette’s Mersky stopped the streak with a goal at the 9:04 mark.

 

The Raiders scored three of the game’s final four goals to earn the 12-5 victory. Colgate outshot the Leopards 46-21 for the game and won the groundball battle 29-17. Eck dominated the faceoffs, winning 15-of-17 restarts and picked up 11 groundballs. The Raiders went 17-of-21 overall at the “X”.

 

Colgate was 2-of-4 in extra-man opportunities and Lafayette finished 2-of-3 in man-up situations. In goal, freshman Tim Harrington (Lutherville, Md.) went the distance, making eight stops. Lafayette’s Jeff Canfield made 20 saves in 52 minutes of action.

 

The Raiders close out their home schedule and Patriot League slate on April 21, hosting Bucknell at 3 p.m.