HAMILTON – Colgate men's soccer battled Holy Cross here Saturday night and came away with a 2-0 shutout victory, shifting its Patriot League record to 3-2-0.
Tyler Forbes and
Jared Stroud were the Raider goalscorers, with each tally marking their first of the season.
Forbes netted Colgate's first goal in the 10th minute when he collected a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box. The senior then one-timed a driven volley into the top right corner, past the outstretched arms of Holy Cross' Kevin Wright.
Just 10 minutes after the break, Stroud made it a two-goal Raider lead. Forbes started the play by feeding the ball inside the box to the sophomore. Stroud then followed that up by drilling it into the lower left-hand corner of the net, sliding the edge to 2-0.
Colgate continued from there, containing the majority of ball possession to secure the victory.
Forbes' early strike gave the Raiders a little momentum to start the contest.
The Crusaders saw Joey DeVivo nearly tie game in the 20th minute when he shot from inside the 18-yard box.
Karl Brown came up with the huge block, though, keeping the Raiders ahead.
Ethan Kutler then almost responded to that attempt with just less than 18 minutes to play in the opening period. He took a free kick from 25-yards out that narrowly missed the goal, striking the near post and bouncing out of play.
The Raiders took their 1-0 advantage into the break but just 10 minutes into the second period, Stroud gave Colgate a little more wiggle room with his first of the season.
Colgate tightened up its defensive pressure, while also continuing to create goal-scoring chances in the remaining minutes.
Ricky Brown was strong in net for the Raiders and made one save to earn his second shutout of the season.
Colgate is back in action Tuesday when it travels to nearby Hartwick for a 7 p.m. non-conference tilt.
Live stats and video will be available at the start of the game.
BOTTOM LINE• Colgate 2, Holy Cross 0
WON-LOST RECORDS• Colgate improves to 6-6-1 overall and 3-2-0 in Patriot League play.
• Holy Cross dips to 4-5-4 and 1-2-2, respectively.
KEY RAIDER INFO• Forbes and Stroud both registered their first of the season.
• Kutler led the Raiders in shots with five, Forbes was close behind with three.
• Brown had one stop in the contest to record the shutout.
FACTS & FIGURES• The Raiders recorded 11 shots, while Holy Cross had 12.
• Holy Cross had the edge on corner kicks at 7-4.
• Colgate finished with the advantage on shots on goal at 4-1.
• The Crusaders ended with two saves to the Raiders' one.
• There were three cards issued throughout the game, two to Colgate and one to Holy Cross.
FROM THE SOURCE•
Colgate Head Coach Erik Ronning: (on the game) "We did a tremendous job from start to finish tonight. Holy Cross is a very good team. We dictated the tempo for large parts of the game. Our guys believed, they played with energy and it was a total team effort, all credit goes to them. They did a terrific job and we're very solid defensively in the back and with our press. We moved the ball very, very quickly probably the best we've moved the ball all year and created a couple really early. We scored two great goals and created a lot of other really quality opportunities. It was probably the most complete game for us. I couldn't be more thrilled for them. It was a great team effort."
(on
Tyler Forbes' contributions lately)
"Tyler's been searching for a goal. He's had his opportunities. He's a handful. He really pressures. He's a great defensive forward. He's really a pain in the neck to deal with as a back. He does put himself in good spots and he just hasn't had that finishing touch."
"He's gotten a little bit unlucky in certain opportunities and certain situations and I was really happy for him to get the goal that he got. I knew at some point this season he was going to score a screamer like that. He always seems to get his left foot on something off the run of play a bit, which that was, and put it in the back of the net. It was a really quality finish and I'm really happy for him.
"To that sequence that led to Jared's goal, it was a great finish, great sequence of passes and a great final pass leading to a solid finish by Jared (Stroud). He did a tremendous job tonight but everyone did a tremendous job tonight. From top to bottom our defending was really good, really committed on both sides of the ball. They really followed through on the game plan that we put forth and now we've got to enjoy this evening and get ready for Hartwick."
UP NEXT• Colgate next heads to Hartwick on Tuesday.
• Kick off is slated for 7 p.m. on Elmore Field.
• Live stats and video will be available at the start of the game.
GAME ARCHIVE
