Photo Gallery

HAMILTON – The NCAA playoffs – or at least a similar atmosphere – arrived one week early for 12th-ranked Colgate and No. 1 Syracuse.
 
The Orange held off the host Raiders 9-7 here Saturday in an entertaining and well-played contest. These two conference champions held nothing back in an NCAA tournament preview, putting on quite a show for the 5,310 in attendance.
 
Colgate opened first-half leads of 3-1 and 5-3 before the Orange finally grabbed their first advantage at 6-5 later in the second quarter. But Anthony Abbadessa's goal with 14 seconds left before halftime made it 6-6 at the break.
 
That free-wheeling first half turned into a defensive duel in the second. And after Colgate regained the lead 7-6 on a Matt Reyes-Guerra-Dunn goal early in the third, the Orange blanked the Raiders over the game's final 24:19 to finally gain control.
 
Dylan Donahue scored with 5:58 left in the third to tie it, and then Nicky Galasso tallied his second and third goals of the game in the fourth quarter for the decisive tallies.
 

Matt Clarkson and Ryan Walsh scored two goals apiece for the Raiders, and Clarkson added a pair of assists. Brandon Burke made 14 saves to keep the Orange in range.
 
Syracuse improved to 12-2, while Colgate saw its six-game winning streak come to an end and dropped to 10-5.
 
The NCAA selection show is Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern time on ESPNU.
 
Bottom Line
• Syracuse 9, Colgate 7
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate's six-game winning streak ends and the Raiders fall to 10-5.
• Syracuse improved to 12-2.
 
Scoring Breakdown
• Colgate stood toe-to-toe with its Central New York neighbor.
• The Raiders scored first less than two minutes into the game on a goal by Matt Clarkson. The senior midfielder then lit up the highlight reel with a behind-the-head special that made it 2-1 with 9:58 showing.
• Ryan Walsh found the net with 5:47 remaining in the first quarter and it was 3-1 Colgate.
• Syracuse knotted the score with a pair of goals, but Colgate answered with two of its own as Chase Wittich and Walsh connected.

• Back and forth it went as Syracuse went on top 6-5.
• It appeared that would be the halftime score, but Anthony Abbadessa connected with 14 seconds showing before the break to draw the Raiders level at 6-6.
• Matt Reyes-Guerra-Dunn scored a Senior Day goal of his own and Colgate went back in front 7-6 early in the third quarter.
• But that's where the Syracuse defense clamped down. The Orange held Colgate scoreless the final 24:19 of the game.
• Syracuse pulled even on Dylan Donahue's hat trick goal with 5:58 left in the third. And then Nicky Galasso chalked up his own hat trick with a pair of fourth-quarter tallies for the 9-7 final.
 
Facts & Figures
• Syracuse controlled possession with an 18-2 edge in faceoffs.
• Shots favored the Orange by a 43-26 count, as did ground balls by 29-20.
• The Raiders forced 11 Orange turnovers while tying their season-low with nine for the second straight game.
• Colgate committed just nine turnovers in three of its biggest games of the season – at No. 7 Cornell, versus Army in the Patriot League championship game, and Saturday against No. 1 Syracuse.
• Brandon Burke was terrific in goal, finishing with 14 saves. It was Burke's seventh double-figure saves game, and the 14 total was second only to his 16 in the overtime loss at Cornell.
• Walsh with two goals reached the 200-point plateau for his career. He's tied with Derek Laub (1990-93) and trails only Peter Baum (2010-13), who had 225.
• Walsh has 136 goals and 64 assists in 64 career games.
• Clarkson moved back into a season tie with Walsh at 47 points. Clarkson for the year has 20 goals and 27 assists – both personal season highs.
• In addition to Walsh and Clarkson, single Colgate goals went to Abbadessa (his 23rd), Wittich (15th) and Reyes-Guerra-Dunn (fourth). Peter Donato had an assist in addition to the Clarkson pair.
• John Baker posted four ground balls to just miss his career high. The same goes for Leo Stouros with two caused turnovers.

• Syracuse was led by the three goals each from Donahue and Galasso, while Kevin Rice pitched in two goals and three assists. Ben Williams was the faceoff star with an 18-of-20 effort and 11 ground balls.
• Bobby Wardwell got the win in goal, making eight saves. Seven of those saves came in the second half when Colgate scored just the one goal.
• Colgate connected on its first two man-up opportunities – goals by Walsh and Wittich – and finished the game 2-of-4. Syracuse was 1-of-3.
• Colgate entered the game fourth nationally in man-up offense, and eighth in man-down defense. Included in Saturday's effort for the defense was the killing off of a two-minute, non-releasable penalty late in the third quarter with the score tied 7-7.
• The Raiders were 17-of-18 on clears to Syracuse's 10-of-12.
 
Turning Point
• Reyes-Guerra-Dunn handed Colgate a 7-6 lead with 9:19 left in the third quarter.
• But Syracuse turned up the defensive pressure and held the Raiders scoreless the rest of the way, a 24:19 stretch to end the game.
• The Orange got just enough offense with goals from Donahue and Galasso (two) to likely set themselves up as the overall No. 1 seed when Sunday's pairings are released on ESPNU.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On the game) "They're a great team, and you have to be on your game. We missed some 50-50 ground balls and you can't allow them to have as much possession as they had. It wasn't a great performance by our guys at the faceoff-X, but we'll get better there. It's good to have Alex starting to get back into the swing of things.
"You've just got to be able to have the ball to be able to score.

(On halftime adjustments) "We just needed to keep playing. There were a couple of miscommunications from the sidelines and we've got to do better as coaches making sure we have the correct personnel in situations. That comes from me, so I've got to be better there.
"But other than that, we just had to continue to play Colgate lacrosse."
(On Sunday night's NCAA selections) "We will go wherever they send us. We're proud to be Patriot League champs and we're going to represent our conference the best way we can."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium attendance on a beautiful day was 5,310.
• This was Syracuse's first visit to Hamilton since 2008, when the Raiders posted a 12-11 victory.
 
Up Next
• Colgate finds out it NCAA tournament destination when selections are revealed Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time on ESPNU.