HAMILTON – Colgate's second fourth-quarter rally of the week ended just like the first one, with a tough one-goal defeat. Navy held on for a 7-6 Patriot League decision.
 
The Raiders scored three times in the last 4½ minutes, including twice with a man-up around the 1-minute mark, but couldn't find the equalizer. Colgate had possession for the entire time thanks to some timely faceoff wins, but the Raiders failed to complete the rally.
 
Navy (6-3, 4-1 Patriot) scored four straight goals over the second and third quarters to take a 5-2 lead. After Colgate got one back, the Midshipmen seemingly put the game out of reach with a pair of goals to start the fourth that made it 7-3.
 
But Colgate's rally began when Anthony Abbadessa scored unassisted with 4:30 remaining to close the lead to 7-4. Then after a Navy body-check penalty for 1 minute that was not releasable, Colgate scored twice.
 
Cameron Williams tallied with a 1:04 showing, and then Ryan Walsh followed nine seconds later.
 
Strecker Backe stepped into the faceoff-X and won a pair of huge possessions, but the Raiders couldn't find the mark against Navy goalkeeper John Connors.
 

Walsh scored two goals and added an assist for Colgate (4-4, 2-2), while Tyler Rigo and Peter Donato also scored goals. First-place Navy was led by Jack Ray's hat trick.
 
Bottom Line
• Navy 7, Colgate 6
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the Patriot League.
• Navy improved to 6-3 and 4-1.
 
Facts & Figures
• The game statistics matched the one-goal outcome.
• Navy finished with a 32-31 edge in shots. Colgate helped close that gap with a 10-4 advantage in the fourth quarter.
• Colgate grabbed 25 ground balls to 23 for Navy, and the Midshipmen committed two more turnovers (17-15).
• Colgate was 14-of-16 on clears to Navy's 13-of-17. Navy posted an 11-6 edge in faceoffs.
• The Raiders went with a three-man contingent in the faceoff-X against Navy's Brady Dove. Peter Marchetto won three of 11, Collin Orr won one of four and Strecker Backe came on to claim a perfect two of two.
• Brandon Burke posted seven saves in goal, while Navy's John Connors had nine.
• Ryan Walsh returned to the scoring column with two goals and an assist. Cameron Williams, Anthony Abbadessa, Tyler Rigo and Peter Donato also scored goals, while Matt Clarkson and Chase Wittich pitched in assists.

• Williams and Abbadessa continued their streaks of scoring at least one goal in all eight games this season. Abbadessa is the team leader with 13 goals, followed by Walsh with 12 and Williams with 11.
• Clarkson contributed his team-leading 17th assist. He also led the Raiders with five ground balls.
• Backe, Leo Stouros and Chandler Millstone picked up three ground balls apiece, and Stouros caused a career-high three turnovers.
 
Scoring Log
• Colgate scored first when Rigo connected with 11:36 left in the opening quarter.
• Navy answered, and then Colgate regained the lead on Walsh's first goal with 10:16 showing in the second quarter.
• That's when Navy began its four-goal run that led to a 4-2 lead at the break and 5-2 advantage early in the third.
• Donato got one back for the Raiders with 11:12 remaining in the third, but Navy put two more on the board to go in front 7-3 past the midway point of the final quarter.
• Abbadessa found the netting with 4:30 to play to spark the Raiders. They got another boost when Navy was penalized with 1:26 remaining and the score 7-4.
• Williams and Walsh scored nine seconds apart to draw Colgate within one, but possession throughout the final 55 seconds didn't result in the tying marker.
• Colgate before Saturday had not scored fewer than nine goals in a game this season.
 
Turning Point
• Navy won all five faceoffs in the second quarter and scored three times for a 4-2 halftime edge.
• Trailing 2-1 early in the period, the Midshipmen put together a 13-5 shots edge to regain the lead.
• Navy added a fourth straight goal early in the second half to go on top 5-2 in the eventual 7-6 victory.
 

From the Source
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On the game) "We missed some opportunities early in the game to maybe make some separation. Credit their goalie for making some big stops. They had a good defensive plan. I don't know that we dodged as aggressively as we need to against a quality defense like that.
"The effort's there. I'm really appreciative of the effort that my guys are giving me. We just got to execute better down the stretch."
(On Navy's goalkeeper) "John Connors is a great goalie. We've watched enough film and we have enough of a history with John to know where we need to shoot. He was great today. But again, too many missed opportunities. It's a 60-minute game, so a missed opportunity in the first quarter can come back to haunt you in the fourth quarter. We've just got to be better in those stretches."
(On the late offensive strategy) "We called the first timeout because we still had some time on the penalty, so we were trying to get the ball into Ryan's stick. Ryan seemed to be shooting the ball pretty well today.
"And then we called the second timeout to get our first line back on and drew up a play to get the ball into some of our shooters hands, whether it was 10 (Clarkson), or 22 (Walsh), or even some pick action for 6 (Abbadessa). Credit them; they made a good play and we weren't able to execute down the stretch."
(On next week at Loyola) "We're in the meat of our Patriot League schedule, and our guys know that our goals are still in front of us. We'll study up on Loyola and study this one ourselves and get back at it Monday."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 421.
 
Up Next
• Colgate returns to the road next Saturday at Loyola
• The Greyhounds were 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the Patriot League after this weekend's 19-10 win at Lafayette.
• Start time from Ridley Stadium is 2 p.m.

Game Archive