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Colgate University Athletics

Raiders Hold Off Bucknell 11-10 to Advance to First Patriot League Tournament Championship

The Raiders will take on top-seeded Navy on April 29 at 12 p.m.

Sophomore Brandon Corp had a career-high seven points in the win over Bucknell.
 
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (4/27/2007)—Colgate University sophomores Brandon Corp (Chittenango, N.Y.) and Kevin Colleluori (Bethpage, N.Y.) combined for seven goals and four assists as the 19th-ranked Raiders held off a charging 16th-ranked Bucknell squad, 11-10, in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. The third-seeded Bison scored four goals in 1:24 at the end of the fourth, but the second-seeded Raiders were able to hold on for the victory. Colgate advances to the championship game versus No. 10 and top-seeded Navy on April 29 at 12 p.m., at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
 
The Raiders captured their first Patriot League Tournament win in program history to improve to 10-4 overall, while the Bison fall to 11-4. Colgate has beaten Bucknell in each of the past three meetings.
 
Corp finished with four goals and three assists for a career-high seven points, while Colleluori had four goals. Senior Chris Eck (Fairfield, Conn.) dominated the faceoffs, winning a career-high 20-of-25 restarts and picking up 10 groundballs. Eck also added a career-best two points off of a goal and an assist.
 
Tim Brandau led the Bison with four goals, all of which came in the fourth quarter, while John Togneri and Austin Winter had two goals and an assist apiece.
 
Leading by one at 6-5, Colgate came out strong in the fourth quarter and went ahead 11-6 with 6:42 left to play. Corp, Colleluori, and senior Jeff Hiller (Wantagh, N.Y.) combined for the five goals, getting assists from four different players. Colgate whittled the clock down to just under three minutes before the Bison made things really interesting. Bucknell capitalized on every chance it got in the final 2:49 as it narrowed the score to 11-10.
 
John Togneri got the streak started with an unassisted tally at 2:49 and Brandau added three more goals in 32 seconds to pull the Bison within one. Trailing 11-10, Bucknell won the ensuing faceoff and set its offense up for the tying goal. With 15 seconds left on the clock, freshman goaltender Tim Harrington (Lutherville, Md.) came up with perhaps the biggest save of the game as he stopped a Nick Mars shot. The Raiders failed to clear, giving the ball back to the Bison with eight ticks left.
 
Coming out of a Bucknell timeout, Colgate pressured the ball and never allowed the Bison to get a good look at the goal. Senior defenseman Tyler Philpot (Gales Ferry, Conn.) forced the ball loose from a Bucknell stick and picked up the loose ball to secure the win.
 
The two squads got off to a slow start in the first 13:27, firing just a combined five shots.  Colgate quickly changed that as it rattled off three goals in the next 41 seconds for a 3-0 lead after the first quarter.
 
Corp sparked the run with 51 seconds left to play by feeding a streaking Colleluori for the game’s first score. The Raiders won the ensuing faceoff and 35 seconds later Corp rifled a left-handed shot past Nick Sciubba for a 2-0 lead.
 
Eck continued his faceoff domination and raced down the center of the field to score his second goal of the season with 10 seconds left in the quarter.
 
Corp made it 4-0 just 1:08 into the second quarter off of a pass from junior Matt Lalli (Princeton Junction, N.J.). The Raiders got their man-up opportunity with 10:15 left in the period and capitalized for a 5-0 lead. The Raiders passed the ball quickly around the top of the box and Corp threw a pass across the face of the goal to Colleluori for the sophomore attacker’s second goal of the contest.
 
The Bison stopped the run 1:05 later when Winter fired a shot into the right corner of the net. Michael Cooke made it 5-2 just 31 seconds later with a bounce shot under Harrington
 
Bucknell dominated the third quarter after Colgate scored just 40 seconds into the session. The Bison stifled the Colgate offense for the final 14:20 and were able to rattle off three unanswered to head into the thrilling final quarter down just 6-5 after trailing 5-0 early in the contest.
 
Colgate dominated the groundball game, winning 50 to Bucknell’s 30. Sophomore Will Planer (Rumson, N.J.) was outstanding, collecting a career-high 12 groundballs. The Raiders went 2-of-4 on extra-man opportunities and held a narrow 34-33 advantage on shots.
 
In goal, Harrington finished with five saves and one groundballs. Sciubba also made five stops and picked up five groundballs.
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