Box Score

HAMILTON – The Colgate men's soccer team earned its first Patriot League win of the season with a 5-0 shutout over Lehigh Saturday night at Van Doren Field.

Colgate (2-4-4) was lead by Mike Reidy who scored two goals on the day. The Raiders also saw goals from Evan Heroux, Mike Garzi and Shane Conlin. Liam Stapleton saw little action on his end of the field, but picked up 1 save in the game.

Lehigh (1-8) saw two shots from Kyle Chin and James Meyerkord. Ciaran Nugent had four saves.

“It was a great overall team effort on both sides of the ball,” head coach Erik Ronning said. “Very happy for the guys.  We will now focus our efforts in preparing for Hartwick on Tuesday night.”

From the beginning of the game Colgate had high-pressure on the Lehigh back four. They were able to earn a corner kick mid-way through the half. Metzger played the ball into the box and after being bounced around a few times the ball fell at the feet of Nick Arpey. He played a long ball into the box where Patrick Letourneau was able to head it in the back of the net. Unfortunately the goal was called back after the Raiders were called for a foul.

Lehigh earned their first true scoring opportunity off a 35-yard volley by Meyerkord. He took the ball out of the air, shooting it at net. The ball sailed just wide but gave Lehigh a good chance at goal.

The Raiders were able to notch the first goal of the game after Reidy ripped a shot from about 10-yards out. Garzi started the play by holding up the ball in the midfield. He looked up and found Reidy, who took the ball deep into the side of the box. After shaking off the Lehigh defenders, Riedy cut the ball back towards the net and took a strike at goal, giving Colgate the 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later Colgate would extend its lead with a brilliant set piece. Metzger took another great corner kick finding the head of Heroux, who blasted it past the Lehigh goalie. This was Heroux's first goal of the season and first intercollegiate goal.

As the second half progressed the Raiders continued to dominate the ball possession. Conlin broke through from the Lehigh defense using his fancy footwork. He was able to find Arpey who was wide open running down the middle of the field. Arpey chipped the goalie, but the ball ricocheted off the top post bouncing back out into play. Conlin who continued his run was able to grab the rebound but unable to put it away. 

The Raiders were able to once again connect for their third goal of the game 11 minutes into the second half. Metzger played a long ball across the field to the fast paced Conlin, who drew the goalie out of the box. Conlin then played the ball to Garzi, who one-touched it into the back of the net.

Once again two minutes later Colgate extended its lead to four on Reidy's laser of a shot. Conlin found him running down the left hand side of the field. Reidy took one touch before firing a shot past Nugent.

"It felt great to get those goals tonight, senior midfielder Mike Reidy said. “We've been struggling a little bit this season trying to find our way, but we had a great week of practice and everyone came in focused today. Our hard work paid off.”

After a take down in the box with 20 minutes left to play in the game, the Raiders were given a penalty kick. Conlin was the man for the job and he placed it in the bottom left hand corner of the net, making the score 5-0.

The game would end with the Raiders winning by a big margin and giving them a record of 1-0-1, two games into Patriot League play. Colgate will be back in action next weekend for soccer family weekend as they take on the Crusaders of Holy Cross at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Van Doren Field.