EASTON, Pa. – Welcome to the Colgate starting lineup, Joe Delaney!
 
Colgate took out 45 days of frustration on Lafayette and Delaney scored five goals in his first collegiate start to spark a 14-9 victory here Friday night.
 
The Raiders won for the second time in conference play and the first time overall since defeating Hobart back on March 8. Colgate also scored a season-high 14 goals, reaching double-figures for the first time since February.
 
Colgate's first half was a thing of beauty on both sides of the ball. The Raiders put a season-high six goals on the board in the opening quarter, jumped in front 9-2 in the second and led 10-4 by the break. Many of those goals followed failed Lafayette clears as Colgate was pressuring from end to end.
 
Head coach Mike Murphy specifically hailed the effort not only of Delaney but also of Robby Dunigan, who scored two goals and caused three turnovers as the Raiders limited Lafayette to just 7-of-17 on clears for the game.
 
Lafayette committed 19 turnovers, with 13 of those caused by the Colgate defense.
 
Delaney's five goals were a Colgate high for the season. The sophomore upped his career total from four goals to nine, all this season. Tyler Rigo and Sam Cleveland joined Dunigan with two-goal games.
 
The Raiders close out the 2016 season in two weeks at Syracuse. Faceoff from the Carrier Dome is May 7 at 1 p.m.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 14, Lafayette 9
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 4-9 overall and the Raiders end 2-6 in the Patriot League.
• Lafayette's season concludes at 3-11 and 0-8.
 
Raider Scoring Recap
• Duncan Hoskinson started Colgate's first-half onslaught on a low shot that found the net with 11:32 showing.
• Delaney scored twice in the first quarter and twice in the second to help Colgate build its 9-2 lead. He completed his hat trick just 53 seconds into the second quarter.
• Rigo scored twice in the first quarter, including the finale of a six-goal flurry with eight seconds left in the period.
• Cleveland scored twice for his fifth multigoal game, tying Chase Wittich for the team lead in that category. Cleveland's first goal was a swipe-and-score on the doorstep when he was denied a scoring chance but then picked the pocket of the Lafayette goalie and stuffed it home.
• Cleveland also tied Anthony Abbadessa for the team lead with 15 goals.
• Dunigan scored his goals in the second and fourth quarters, giving him three for the season.
• Jack Stebbins and Peter Donato added second-half goals, and Delaney added his fifth early in the final period. Stebbins reached 10 goals for the season and Donato has seven.
• Chandler Millstone pitched in the second and third assists of his career, setting up Delaney in the first quarter and Cleveland in the second.
• The second Millstone helper came on the immediate heels of his forcing a turnover, grabbing the loose ball and finding Cleveland for a transition goal that made it 10-4 at halftime.
 
Facts & Figures
• Colgate outshot Lafayette 38-25 and compiled a 33-26 ground ball advantage.
• Colgate completed 14 of 15 clears and limited the Leopards to just 7-of-17.
• Lafayette outscored Colgate 4-1 in the third period to pull within 11-8. Two of those goals were man-up, while Colgate was 0-of-3 on extra-man chances.
• In addition to goals, the Raiders posted season highs for points (20), ground balls (33) and caused turnovers (13).
• Colgate committed nine turnovers for their second-lowest total of the season (7 vs. Army).
• The seven-game losing streak snapped Friday night was Colgate's longest since the 2001 Raiders opened that season with eight straight defeats on their way to 3-10.
 
More Key Info
• Colgate's six goals in the first quarter were a season high for any quarter this year.
• Colgate reached double-figure scoring for the first time since their 11-10 overtime win over Bucknell on Feb. 27.
• Rigo's two goals gave him 13 for the season and nine over his last five games. He has four multigoal games during that stretch.
• First-year Will Blumenberg grabbed a season-high five ground balls. Brandon Burke added five along with eight saves.
• Delaney scored his five goals on 10 shots. He added four ground balls and one caused turnover.
• Cleveland pitched in with four ground balls and Dunigan joined Strecker Backe with three apiece.
• Leo Stouros, Jack Stebbins and Cleveland forced two turnovers apiece.
• Peter Marchetto won seven of 12 faceoff attempts; Collin Orr added four faceoff wins.
• Connor Murphy (defense) and Stebbins (midfield) joined Delaney (attack) with their first Colgate starts. Abbadessa and John Baker missed Friday's game because of injuries.
• Matt Donovan and Tyler Schmarak both saw their first action of the season.
• Lafayette was led by two goals each from Kevin Lewis, Matt Close, Eric Joseph and Dillon Confalone.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On the game) "We are really banged up and as we say all the time it's the next man up. We started the week of practice and said we were going to give some guys a chance, so moving Joe Delaney to his natural high school position of attack and he played well with the five goals.
 
"But the young man I'm probably the most proud of is Robby Dunigan. I've always been a firm believer that if you can have an effective ride, you can win a lot of ballgames. He was a one-man wrecking crew down there and I'm really proud of the effort that 24 gave us."
 
Listen to the rest of Coach Murphy's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate midfielder Tyler Rigo: (On the game) "It's great to finally get a win. It's been a tough stretch but we've been grinding it out in practice and to get a W was the best we could do."
 
Listen to the rest of Rigo's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate attackman Robby Dunigan: (On the game) "I was just trying to hustle as hard as I could out there and I was fortunate to be the guy who was down in the goalie's face on a lot of rides. I was able to take advantage and get our team the ball back a few times."
 
Listen to the rest of Dunigan's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate attackman Joe Delaney: (On the game) "It was awesome. I got a couple of quick ones early and it's all confidence at that point. It was great."
 
Listen to the rest of Delaney's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance Fisher Stadium was 312.
 
Up Next
• Colgate caps the 2016 regular season May 7 at eighth-ranked Syracuse.
• The Orange are 8-4 heading into next week's ACC tournament.
• Start time is 1 p.m. from the Carrier Dome.