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Colgate University Athletics

Brandon Burke
Steve LaCrosse
Brandon Burke posted a career-high 16 saves in Colgate's overtime loss against No. 7 Cornell.
9
Colgate COLGATE 4-3
10
Winner Cornell COR 5-2
Colgate COLGATE
4-3
9
Final
10
Cornell COR
5-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT F
Colgate COLGATE 1 3 2 3 0 9
Cornell COR 4 2 2 1 1 10

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse | | By John Painter

Raiders Take No. 7 Cornell to Overtime

Colgate Rallies from Four-Goal, Second-Half Deficit but Falls in 10-9 Thriller; Burke Career-High 16 Saves

ITHACA, N.Y. – Colgate came from four goals back in the second half and took a late lead against seventh-ranked Cornell, only to see the Big Red score at the end of regulation and in overtime for a 10-9 victory.
 
A Fox Sports 1 nationally televised audience watched the Raiders score five straight goals over a nearly 15-minute stretch between the third and fourth quarters. Colgate had gone from 8-4 down to 9-8 in front with 3½ minutes to play.
 
Cameron Williams, Tyler Rigo and Chase Wittich did the damage during Colgate's rally. Williams and Rigo scored two apiece, and Wittich tallied the other while assisting on the first three. Wittich tied the game solo style with 4:36 left before Williams scored unassisted with 3:34 remaining.
 
But Cornell's Dan Lintner scored his fourth of the game with 1:03 showing in regulation, and Matt Donovan scored his fourth with 1:04 left in overtime to cap the late Big Red reversal.
 
Colgate lost its third straight game and falls to 4-3. The Raiders just missed knocking off their first top-10 opponent since defeating No. 1 Massachusetts in the 2012 NCAA tournament. Cornell, which won for the 10th time in a row over Colgate, is now 5-2.
 
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Williams scored twice during Colgate's second-half rally.

Brandon Burke was the star of the game in goal. The Colgate sophomore posted a career-high 16 saves, including nine in the second half as the Raiders were making their comeback.
 
Wittich finished with two goals and three assists to lead the Raider offense. The five points and three assists were season-highs for the first-year Raider attackman.
 
Colgate is back into Patriot League action this Saturday against Navy. Start time is noon from Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium.
 
Bottom Line
• Cornell 10, Colgate 9 (ot)
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 4-3.
• Cornell improved to 5-2.
 
Facts & Figures
• This wasn't a run-and-gun game. It was methodical offenses working against seemingly impenetrable defenses.
• Yes, Colgate rallied with a 5-0 second-half run. But those five goals were scored over a 14:17 stretch from late in the third quarter to late in the fourth.
• And both teams fought through extended scoring droughts.
• Colgate had scoreless stretches of 16:48 between the first and second quarters, and 16:30 between the second and third quarters.
• Cornell was scoreless for 12:55 of the second quarter, and then 23:58 between the third and fourth quarters.
• The only breakaway goal of the game was the very first one, when Cornell's Matt Donovan intercepted a Raider pass after the opening faceoff and scored. Just 11 seconds had elapsed and Cornell led 1-0.
• After Peter Donato tied it 1-1, Cornell scored four straight for a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter.
• Colgate answered with three in a row. Chase Wittich scored from a sharp angle with 12:11 left in the half and then Anthony Abbadessa went back-to-back inside of a minute to make it 5-4 with 4:21 remaining.
• Cornell led 6-4 at the break and then scored the first two of the second half to go back in front 8-4 with 10:01 left in the third.
• Not only did Colgate hang on from there, the Raiders turned the game completely around.
• After an extended offensive possession, Colgate's Cameron Williams finally found the net on an assist from Wittich with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
Tyler Rigo then scored two in a row for the Raiders, although the goals came 9½ minutes apart. Rigo scored with 45 seconds left in the third on a nifty bounce shot to make it 8-6, and then again with 6:15 to play in regulation for a one-goal margin.
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Weinstock helped the Raiders hold Cornell scoreless for 23:58.

• Wittich had both assists.
• Wittich then scored his second of the game to tie it 8-8 with 4:36 left. Williams followed with his second of the night and 10th of the season, scoring down low at the 3:34 mark to put the Raiders in front 9-8.
• But Cornell's combo of Dan Lintner and Matt Donovan had the game's final say.
• Lintner scored with 1:03 remaining in regulation off a Donovan assist, and then Donovan tallied unassisted with 1:04 left in overtime.
• The goals were the fourth of the game for both Lintner and Donovan, and Donovan added four assists. He now has 26 goals and 10 assists for the season, while Lintner has 13 goals.
 
More Key Info
• Wittich posted two goals and three assists to lead the Colgate offense. Abbadessa, Williams and Rigo also scored twice, with Williams adding an assist. Donato scored Colgate's first goal.
• For Abbadessa, it was his fourth multi-goal game this season. Abbadessa and Williams are the only Raiders with goals in all seven games.
Brandon Burke turned away 16 shots of the 26 he faced on goal. That save total broke the sophomore's previous career-high of 15 set last year in a 10-9 win at Binghamton.
Strecker Backe picked up three ground balls for the second straight game to match his career-high.
• Except for saves, the stats favored Cornell.
• The Big Red had a 41-23 edge in shots and 38-13 advantage in ground balls. Faceoffs favored the hosts by a 16-7 count.
• Colgate was 12-of-14 on clears to Cornell's 10-of-11. The Raiders were 2-of-3 on extra-man opportunities; Cornell was 0-of-2.
• Colgate did commit one more turnover, 9-8.
 
Turning Point
• Colgate scored five straight goals and led 9-8 in the closing minutes. The Raiders seemed poised to pull off a rare win over their Central New York Rivals and the No. 7 team in the country.
• In front of a national television audience, to boot.
• But give Cornell credit. The Big Red went to their two hot hands and Lintner produced the tying goal with 63 seconds remaining in regulation, with Donovan doing the deed in overtime.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On his good feeling coming in) "Yeah, I liked the way we practiced Sunday and Monday. Our guys showed a lot of poise coming off a tough game Saturday.
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Colgate special teams kept Cornell 0-of-2 on extra-man opportunities.

"To come out and play the way we did for 60-plus – there are no moral victories in our program, but we learned a lot about our club."
(On rallying from 8-4 down) "You just keep playing. You can't get too worried about up-two, down-two. Whatever the situation is, you've just got to keep playing lacrosse. Our guys showed some good mental fortitude and, to give it a boxing analogy, we knew it would be a 12-round fight. We just needed to keep swinging and doing the things we were doing because when we had the ball, we were doing some nice things on offense. We just didn't have it enough.
"The faceoff-X continues to plague us a little bit. We're getting better and we're getting stronger there, so we need to continue to improve in practice and get ready for the Naval Academy."
(On Burke's 16 saves) "In games like this where you play a team as talented as they are, you need your goalie to be big. For us to have won this game, we were going to need a "teen" kind of save number from our goalie.
"We got that; Brandon was excellent. He's really starting to feel better. The ankle's not that big of a deal anymore. He had a great two days of practice, and I'm very excited for Brandon."
(On Wittich's five-point night) "We've been seeing that coming along for a while now. Chase was a highly recruited guy and that's what we recruited him to do. He comes from a program where he's used to these kinds of games. I'm excited for Chase to move forward. We're going to need him to play big as we get into the meat of our Patriot League schedule."
(On Saturday's game against Navy) "It's a big one, but they're all big now as we get into Patriot League play. I told the team that this ends the first half of the season; this was the very middle game of our 13-game slate.
"Now we turn our full attention to the Patriot League, and the first team that has our attention is the Naval Academy."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Schoellkopf Field was announced at 750.
 
Up Next
• Colgate returns to Patriot League competition with a Saturday home date against Navy.
• The Midshipmen are 5-3 overall and tied for first in the conference at 3-1.
• Start time from Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium is noon.
 
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