Patriot League Video Recap

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – From 4-4 to a Patriot League championship!
 
No. 18 Colgate streaked its way to the conference title here Sunday, defeating Army 11-8 for the second tournament championship in program history. The Raiders won their sixth straight game and now have a May date with the NCAAs.
 
Sunday's win over Army was Colgate's second against the Black Knights in nine days, handing the Raiders their first Patriot League championship since 2008. The Raiders are returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since they were an at-large entry in 2012.
 
Cameron Williams scored a natural hat trick to spark Sunday's win, scoring three times in a five-minute span of the second quarter to give the Raiders the lead for keeps. Williams added another goal in the third to keep Army at bay, while Ryan Walsh scored two goals and Brandon Burke made eight saves.
 
Colgate (10-4) began the season with four straight wins and then four straight losses. But four more in the win-column – over Loyola, Lehigh, Holy Cross and Army – led to a share of the Patriot League regular season title. And then two convincing wins here this weekend handed Colgate double crowns.
 

The Raiders now host ACC-champion and No. 4-ranked Syracuse on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network) in the regular-season finale. Senior Day festivities are scheduled before the game.
 
Colgate's NCAA placement will be unveiled on tournament selection show, set for Sunday, May 3, at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
 
Army (10-6) was led by three John Glesener goals.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 11, Army 8
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 10-4 with its sixth straight victory.
• Army falls to 10-6 with one game remaining, Saturday against Notre Dame.
 
Facts & Figures
• Cameron Williams began a new goal-scoring streak at just the right time.
• One game after being blanked for the first time this season in Colgate's 18-5 semifinal win over Bucknell, Williams scored four goals to match his career high.
• Three of those came in consecutive order after Army had taken its only lead of the game, 3-2 early in the second quarter.
• Williams scored with 6:49, 5:14 and 2:01 on the second-quarter clock to hand the Raiders a 5-3 halftime advantage. Army never regained the lead or even a tie.
• Ryan Walsh scored the game's first two goals on Colgate's first two shots. The senior captain had 13 goals in his last four games and leads the team with 28. Williams is second with 25.
• Walsh assisted on the second and third Williams goals and now leads the team with 45 points.

• Williams (7 goals) and Walsh (6 goals, 4 assists) in two games against Army this month combined for 13 goals and 17 points.
• Other Colgate goals Sunday went to Tyler Rigo with two (matching career-high), and Anthony Abbadessa, Jack Stebbins and Matt Clarkson with one apiece.
• Abbadessa and Peter Donato added the other Colgate assists.
• This game was tight throughout, with Colgate able to muster slight scoring margins in the middle two periods.
• Colgate led 9-6 at the end of three quarters. Army pulled within 9-7 and 10-8 before Rigo scored an empty-netter with just over a minute remaining.
• Walsh led the Raiders with three ground balls, and John Baker posted a team-high two caused turnovers.
• Brandon Burke saved eight shots to improve to 9-3 in goal this season.
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy improved his four-year record at Colgate to 41-22, including 22-13 against Patriot League foes.
• Murphy served as an assistant coach at Army from 2005-11, the last six seasons under current head coach Joe Alberici, before being named to Colgate's top position.
• Murphy is now 3-2 against the Black Knights as Colgate head coach.
 
All-Tournament Team
• Colgate placed four on the 11-man all-tournament team.
• Walsh was named the Most Outstanding Player after scoring six goals and contributing five assists in the two games.
• Other Raiders named were Clarkson (6 goals, 2 assists), Williams (4 goals) and Burke (18 saves, 2 wins).
 
Beyond the Box Score
• Army outshot the Raiders 29-22, but Colgate kept up its impressive marksmanship.
• The Raiders in the two tournament games scored 29 goals on 47 shots (61.7 percent). For the season, Colgate is up to 36.1 percent (fourth nationally before Sunday).
• Ground balls favored the Black Knights 23-18, but they committed 13 turnovers to nine for Colgate.
• The Raiders were 17-of-17 on clears and also a perfect 2-of-2 defensively on the man-down. Colgate did not have a man-up opportunity.
 
Turning Point
• Colgate won only five of 23 faceoffs, but Peter Marchetto had two huge wins midway in the third quarter that kept the lead in Raider hands.
• Army's John Glesener scored with 8:41 remaining to pull the Black Knights within 5-4.
• Marchetto won the ensuing faceoff, his second of the day, to set up an excuse-me goal by Stebbins at the 8-minute mark.
• The Colgate sophomore was trying to pass to Rigo in front of goal, but the pass misfired – and wound up in the Army net.
• Marchetto won another faceoff and this time, Clarkson scooped up the ground ball in full stride.
• The senior captain didn't stop until bouncing one past Army's Sam Somers, and suddenly in the span of eight seconds the Raiders had their largest lead of the day at 7-4.
 
From the Sources

• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On the game) "I'm really proud of the effort our team showed throughout the course of the weekend. Those were two impressive opponents in Bucknell and Army, and two very different defenses.
"You credit the coaching staff – Coach Abbott on the offensive side and Coach Toomy on the defensive side – but it's about the players. Our senior class, the guys who are out there every single day.
"It was great to have Alex Kinnealey out there. Alex is a big member of our team, and we were really down when we lost him in early January. But to get him back and have him win a couple of faceoffs for us was huge."
(On the zone defense) "We stayed the course with it. John (Glesener) is such a potent outside shooter, and he's really good on the run. The zone kind of kept him on a corner and it allowed Brandon to see the outside shots.
(On the offense) "The offense had a few runs after we were fortunately to get Army to turn the ball over a few times. We continued to play and we got some timely faceoffs. We only won five, but there were some huge momentum shifts there. We actually got a goal off the faceoff, and we don't get a lot of those."
(On coaching against his mentor, Army's Joe Alberici) "He's one of the best in the business. I'm happy he kept me when he got the job; he could have let me go. I wanted to make him proud so that when Colgate called, you wanted your boss to give you a good recommendation.
"I'm very fortunate to have been hired at Colgate. My current athletic director, Vicky Chun, is a lacrosse rat. She loves it and she's in our corner all the time. When you have an athletic director who supports you the way she does, and an institution that supports lacrosse the way that it does – we're about to break ground on a facility with new locker rooms and offices – it's a fun place to coach."
• Colgate attackman Ryan Walsh: (On winning a title his senior year) "This has been our goal the last four years. Our freshman year, we lost to Lehigh in the championship and we still had that bitter taste in our mouths. We knew what it took to get here, and getting a chance to do it with the closest team I've ever been on – we couldn't ask for a better senior year.
"And we're not done yet. We're happy we won the Patriot League, but we want to show the rest of the country we can play with anyone."
• Colgate goalkeeper Brandon Burke: (On the zone defense) "We watched a lot of film and thought they would be uncomfortable against zone. We just tried to take it one possession at a time.
"I'm so proud of the 40-plus guys in our locker room. The coaches prepared us to win and expected perfection, and we got it."
• Colgate midfielder Cameron Williams: (On his success against Army) "It's exciting to play against them. They are a good team with a great defense. You have to take smart shots against Sam Somers; he's a great goalie.
"It was just going right for me today. My teammates were putting me in good spots.
(On his natural hat trick) "I made a mistake on defense and gave up a goal, so I felt like I owed it to the defense to get one back. Luckily, the goals came at good times and gave us the lead at halftime."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium was 608.
 
Up Next
• Colgate hosts ACC-champion and fourth-ranked Syracuse (11-2) this Saturday in a 3:30 p.m. start. The Orange defeated Duke 14-13 in Sunday's ACC title game.
• CBS Sports Network is televising the game.
• There is an admission charge: $10 adults, $8 seniors and $5 children. Parking is $5 for cars and $10 for RVs.

Patriot League Video Recap