LOS ANGELES – The Colgate men's soccer team battled until the very end Thursday night at UCLA, but the Bruins were able to capture a 4-2 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Drake Stadium.
 
The Raiders' historic 2016 season comes to a close at 13-7-2. Colgate claimed its sixth-ever Patriot League Championship after making a strong run through the Patriot League Tournament. The Raiders recorded back-to-back 10-plus win seasons for the first time since 1991-92.
 
Colgate's seven-member senior class (Ricky Brown, Colin O'Neill, Ethan Kutler, Zach Tamen, Zach Pagani, Charlie Vallee, Nick Le) played their final game in the Maroon and White. The accomplished class helped lead Colgate to the 2016 Patriot League Championship and a 2015 regular-season championship.
 
UCLA held a 3-2 lead at halftime after a high-scoring first half that saw Colgate goals from Pagani and junior Bruno Scodari. The Bruins added a late insurance tally with just over a minute to play. Brown made six big saves in goal.  
 
Brown made his first save two minutes into the contest on a shot from UCLA's Abu Danladi. Junior Jared Stroud got off a header on a Kutler cross in the tenth minute, but his attempt flew just wide. The Raiders withstood a pair of UCLA shots and a corner kick in the next few minutes before the Bruins took an early 1-0 lead in the 17th minute on a goal from Jose Hernandez.
 
Colgate answered back five minutes later when a give-and-go pass from Kutler found the feet of Pagani. Pagani dribbled a few yards before sending the ball into the lower left-hand corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 22nd minute.
 
The Bruins grabbed the lead back in the 26th minute when Willie Raygoza made it 2-1. Colgate had a couple of quality chances in the next few minutes, including a Kutler free kick that ricocheted off the post, but the Bruins added an insurance tally in the 33rd minute on Danladi's second goal of the game.
 
Scodari cut the Colgate deficit in half less than five minutes later when he tapped in a loose ball on a scramble in front of the net to put the score at 3-2. Sophomore Freddy Jonsson nearly tied the game in the final minute of the first half, but UCLA took its 3-2 lead into halftime.
 
A header from sophomore Aram Ouligian that missed just inches high opened the second-half action. The Raiders controlled possession for a majority of the first 15 minutes of the stanza, but the Bruin defense stood tall. 
 
The Colgate backline kept the Raider deficit at 3-2 until the final two minutes of play when Kike Poleo added an insurance tally to cement the 4-2 Bruin victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE

• UCLA 4, Colgate 2

 
WON-LOST RECORDS

• Colgate's season ends at 13-7-2.
• The Bruins move 10-7-2 and advance to Sunday's second round contest at No. 4 national seed Louisville.

 
KEY RAIDER INFO

• Pagani scored his seventh goal of the season and wraps up his career with 11 career tallies.
• Scodari's goal was the first of his career.
• Kutler ends his career with 33 goals, good for third all-time in the Colgate record books. His 81 career points finish second all time.
• Brown wraps up his career with 17 shutouts, a mark that is tied for third all-time in Colgate's record book.
• Junior Jared Stroud tied Colgate's single-season assist record this season with eight helpers.

 
FACTS & FIGURES

• The Bruins finished the game with an 18-13 shot advantage despite shots being tied 10-10 at halftime.
• UCLA held a 10-5 shot on goal advantage and 9-2 corner kick edge.
• Brown's six saves were compared to UCLA keeper Kevin Silva's two.

 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Erik Ronning

• "I really proud of this group. They're a special group of young men who represent Colgate, their families, myself and this program in the brightest of lights. They were fantastic for the entire year. This is one of the best teams, if not the best team, that I've had the privilege to coach."
• "This group of seniors has set the bar incredibly high. The underclassmen really see that this group of seniors has left a strong legacy. That legacy means that we want to work incredibly hard to get back to this point. We want to get that first NCAA win that we've been craving. That's the next step for this program."
• "I couldn't be more proud of the effort our guys put forth tonight. I thought it was an exciting soccer game. I thought we were going to get that final chance and bury it, but it wasn't meant to be. UCLA is a very good team and we wish them the best of luck."
• "Our start to the game was sluggish and nervy. We made some mistakes that good teams like UCLA are going to capitalize on. I thought we responded well though. We have a good team and I thought we controlled a lot of the tempo in the second half. We got in dangerous spots and had a few good opportunities, but were just missing the finish."