HAMILTON – Colgate's injury bug finally took a bite.
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Boston University won 26-of-33 faceoffs and scored an 18-11 Patriot League victory over the 18th-ranked Raiders here Saturday. Colgate's four-game winning streak to start the season comes to an end.
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The Raiders are playing without injured starters
Alex Kinnealey in the faceoff-X and
Brandon Burke in goal. Kinnealey is out for the season, while Burke is hoping to return by next weekend.
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Boston University (4-2, 1-1 Patriot) used its faceoff advantage to rack up a 43-31 margin in shots and a 26-18 edge in shots on goal. Colgate forced 22 BU turnovers, but the Raiders committed seven in the final quarter when they were in desperation mode.
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The last four Terrier goals were scored against a virtual empty net as Colgate was trying to scramble for possession.
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Matt Clarkson and
Peter Donato registered hat tricks to lead the Raider scoring. Clarkson's trio was his first since last season against Loyola, while Donato scored three goals in a game for the first time in his career.
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Boston U. was led by Adam Schaal's five goals and Ryan Hilburn's four.
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Saturday's game was the second of a doubleheader with the Colgate women's team on the Astroturf surface of Tyler's Field. Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium and Beyer-Small '76 Field remained unplayable because of ice and snow, and a light snow fell throughout Saturday's contest.
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Donato put the Raiders on the board three times Saturday.Colgate also had a game cancelled at Hobart on Tuesday because of snow after the team traveled the two hours to Geneva.
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The Raiders (4-1, 2-1) are at Fairfield next Saturday in a 1 p.m. start.
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Bottom Line• Boston University 18, Colgate 11
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Won-Lost Records• Colgate is now 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League.
• Boston University improves to 4-2 and 1-1.
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Facts & Figures• Colgate scored the game's first two goals but trailed 4-3 at the end of the first period.
• The second Raider goal was the first of the season and second career from
Matt Reyes-Guerra-Dunn. RGD scored during against Lafayette during his freshman season of 2012.
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Matt Clarkson and
Peter Donato registered hat tricks for the Raiders. Donato scored Colgate's first, fourth and eighth goals, while Clarkson connected for Nos. 3, 9 and 11.
• Clarkson leads the team with 18 points on six goals and 12 assists. The senior captain assisted on Donato's first goal Saturday.
• Boston University led in shots 43-31 and in ground balls 34-28. The Terriers also committed 22 turnovers to Colgate's 14. Seven of those for the Raiders came in the final quarter.
• BU faceoff specialist Sam Talkow won 26-of-33 in the X and scooped up 18 ground balls.
Conor Braddish had the most faceoff success for the Raiders, winning 4-of-9.
• Boston U. transitioned quickly to offense after winning its faceoffs. Four Terrier goals came nine seconds or less after a faceoff.
• Colgate was 17-of-22 on clears to BU's 10-of-12. The Terriers had just three clear attempts (3-of-3) in the first half because of their faceoff wins and possession.
• Colgate trailed at halftime (8-7) for the first time all season.
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Walsh scored a goal and picked up four ground balls.More Key Info• In addition to the Clarkson and Donato hat tricks, and Reyes-Guerra-Dunn's goal, Colgate picked up single scores from
Anthony Abbadessa,
Ryan Walsh,
Tyler Rigo and
Cameron Williams.
• Abbadessa, Clarkson, Reyes-Guerra-Dunn,
Jack Stebbins and
Chase Wittich had Raider assists.
• Adam Schaal scored BU's first five goals to lead the Terrier offense. His fifth was a man-down effort that made it 5-3 early in the second quarter.
• Ryan Hilburn added four goals and Jack Wilson of nearby Manlius scored three goals with two assists. Wilson has 17 goals and six assists for the season.
• Walsh and
John Baker were the Colgate ground ball leaders with four.
Matt Yeager and
Strecker Backe caused two turnovers apiece.
• There are no undefeated Patriot League teams in conference play by the first week of March. Colgate and Army both suffered their first league losses Saturday. There's now a three-way tie among Colgate, Holy Cross and Bucknell at 2-1, with Army, Loyola, Navy and Boston University close behind at 1-1.
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Turning Point• A three-goal Boston University flurry midway in the third period proved decisive.
• With the score tied 9-9, Wilson struck twice and then Hilburn connected seven seconds later to hand the Terriers a three-goal lead for the first time with 4:18 left in the period.
• Colgate never again drew closer than two goals.
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From the Source•Â
Colgate head coach Mike Murphy:Â (On the game) "You've got to give them all the credit. There were a lot of distractions this week, but I've just got to do a better job coaching my team."
(On BU taking advantage of Colgate injuries) "You've got to play the guys who are playing. Our guys for the most part did the best they could, and today just wasn't our day. Peter (Marchetto) has been good at the faceoff-X, but we ran into a really good guy in the Talkow young man. He was excellent today and really tilted the field their way. But I like my guy. Peter will do a better job next week as we prepare for Fairfield, there's no doubt about that. Jake's a great goalie, and we've got to do a better job of playing defense in front of him and being a little bit more coordinated there.
"We've got injuries; everybody's got injuries. We've got to have guys step up and I've got to do a better job coaching my guys."
(On the Patriot League) "It shows you how deep the Patriot League is with great coaching and the great players. We'll step out of league play next week and get ready for a Fairfield team that did everything it could except win against a very talented Yale team. We'll have our hands full against Fairfield and worry about the league in a couple of weeks."
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Gate Grab Bag• Attendance at Tyler's Field for the second game of Saturday's doubleheader was 445.
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Up Next• Colgate steps out of Patriot League play for a visit to Fairfield next weekend.
• The Stags are 2-3 after dropping a 9-8 overtime decision Saturday at sixth-ranked Yale. Fairfield plays at Bucknell on Tuesday.
• Start time from Rafferty Stadium next Saturday is 1 p.m.
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