Lacrosse Game Central
 
HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/29/12) – The No. 17 Colgate men's lacrosse team will hit the road for the fourth time this season to face Patriot League foe Army on Saturday, March 31 at 12 p.m.
 
The Raiders, who are undefeated on the road this season, are coming off a tough 12-11 setback to Navy last weekend. Despite Colgate (7-2, 1-1 PL) coming back from a five-goal deficit twice in the game, a late goal from the Mids in the final three seconds of the match was enough to earn them the win.
 
Junior Peter Baum and freshman Ryan Walsh led the way against Navy with three points apiece. Baum tallied three goals while Walsh recorded two goals and an assist. Senior John Donnally scored two goals in the game while senior co-captain Jeff Ledwick, sophomore Brendon McCann and juniors Robert Grabher and Matt Baker all added one goal each.
 
PATRIOT LEAGUE PLAY
The Raiders are currently sitting in fourth place in the league standings tied with Army, which also has a 1-1 league mark. No. 16/16 Bucknell and No. 7/7 Lehigh are at the top of the standings, both owning a perfect 2-0 record in league play, while Navy now has a 3-1 league mark for second place. Holy Cross and Lafayette are at the bottom with 0-3 marks.
 
RAIDERS' POINT LEADERS
Peter Baum, who was recently ranked second amongst Division I attackmen by Inside Lacrosse, leads the team tying his career-high with 49 points from a career-high 36 goals, and 13 assists. The junior is on a 36-game point streak, which is tied for ninth in the nation, is ranked ninth nationally for career goals by an active player with 99, and is tied for sixth in the country with 20 career hat tricks. Baum is also currently ranked eighth in program history for goals in a season and is seventh in career goals. Following him are Ryan Walsh and Jeff Ledwick. Walsh, who is the country's leading freshman goal scorer, is second on the team with 32 points from 21 goals and 11 assists, while Ledwick has 17 goals, seven of which are man-up, and seven assists for 24 points.
 
LEAGUE AND NATIONAL STATISTICS           
Colgate, which continues to be a force in the national statistics this season, also has several players ranked amongst the nation's best. Peter Baum, who leads the league in goals per game (4.00), points per game (5.44) and shots per game (10.56), also leads the country in goals and points per game. Also ranked national is junior Robert Grabher who is 11th in faceoff win percentage (.569) and is fourth in groundballs per game (7.33), which is a league best. Senior Kevin Gordon and sophomore Bobby Lawrence are tied for 23rd in the nation with 1.67 caused turnovers per game, while Jeff Ledwick is tied for first in the league in man-up goals but is first with an average of 0.78 per game.
 
As a team, the Raiders lead the league in goals per game (13.44), groundballs per game (35.11), shots per game (44.00), caused turnovers per game (10.78), shots on goal per game (26.56) and faceoff win percentage (.565). The Raiders are also ranked in the top 10 nationally in six categories. The team is second in scoring offense, third in caused turnovers per game, fifth in points per game, sixth in both groundballs per game and scoring margin (4.56), and is ninth in win percentage (.778).
 
COLGATE REMAINS IN NATIONAL POLLS
The Colgate men's lacrosse team remains ranked in the national polls for the third straight week, landing the No. 17/17 spots in both the USILA Coaches' Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll that were release on Monday, March 26.

After starting the season ranked No. 19 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Preseason Poll and receiving votes in the USILA Coaches' Preseason Poll, the Raiders jumped back into the national rankings two weeks ago, after defeating Hobart and Holy Cross the week before to claim the No. 17/17 spots. The team then climbed up to the No. 12/13 spots after defeating Binghamton and undefeated No. 13 Fairfield. The setback to Navy last weekend dropped the Raiders back to the No. 17 spots while propelling the Mids into the rankings for the first time since March 8, 2010 at No. 19 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.
 
SERIES
Army leads the all-time series between the two teams 27-6 since they first met in 1923. This will be their 17th meeting in West Point, N.Y., with the Black Knights holding a 14-2 advantage at home. Colgate's only two road wins were an 11-10 win in 2000 and a 12-11 victory in 2004. The Raiders have won the last two meetings in the series, which were both in the 2011 season. Colgate first defeated Army 13-11 at home before going on to beat the Black Knights 7-6 in the Patriot League Semifinals in the teams' first neutral-site matchup in Lewisburg, Pa.
 
SCOUTING ARMY
The Black Knights (4-5, 1-1 PL) are coming off a 10-3 league win over Lafayette last weekend. The team, which was picked to finish second above Colgate in the league's preseason poll, also has one loss in league play to No. 11/11 Lehigh on March 17. Army also has wins over Wagner, VMI and Rutgers, while also suffering setbacks to No. 11/13 Massachusetts, No. 6/6 Syracuse, No. 7/3 Cornell and Air Force.
 
The team, which is 3-1 at home this season, is led by junior Garret Thul, freshman John Glesener and senior Conor Hayes. Thul, who is second in the league and tied for sixth nationally in goals per game with 3.00, leads the team with 29 points from 27 goals and two assists. He is followed by Glesener who has 12 goals and eight helpers for 20 points, while Hayes has 17 points from 12 goals and five assists. Defending the net, the Black Knights are led by senior goalie Zach Palmieri who has played and started in nine games, has a 8.95 goals against average, which is second in the league, and has a total of 80 saves for a .516 save percentage. 
 
PL PRESEASON POLL
The Colgate men's lacrosse team was picked to finish third in the 2012 Patriot League Preseason, while junior Peter Baum was selected as the PL Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
 
The Raiders landed the third spot behind defending champion Bucknell and Army. The Bison were picked to win the title once again with 72 points, the maximum point tally possible, and 12 first-place votes while Army received 54 points and two first-place votes. Following Colgate, which had 52 points, were Lehigh (44), Navy (38), Lafayette (19) and Holy Cross (15).