HAMILTON – The Colgate men's soccer team earned a crucial 2-1 win over Navy Sunday afternoon to stay alive in the battle for a Patriot League Tournament spot on Senior Day at Beyer-Small '76 Field.
The Mids took a 1-0 lead shortly into the second half, but Colgate answered with goals from junior
Aram Ouligian and senior
Karl Brown to capture the 2-1 victory.
The first quality scoring opportunity of the game came in the 21st minute as junior
Steven DeLeo had a breakaway chance down the right side, but Navy keeper Mac Burke was able to make the save. The Raiders kept up the pressure for the remainder of the half and shots from sophomore
Kentaro Morrison and Ouligian provided good opportunities in the 32nd and 37th minutes, but the game went to halftime scoreless.
The Raiders forced Burke to make three saves in the opening five minutes of the second half, but Navy was able to strike first as a goal from Daniel Zaremba gave the Mids a 1-0 advantage in the 52nd minute.
The Raiders immediately countered with two shots in the following minutes before Colgate tied it up in the 61st. A corner kick from senior
Jared Stroud found the head of Ouligian who sent it into the back of the net to knot the score at 1-1.
Colgate continued to pressure and was able to withstand some pressure from Navy as well in the next 15 minutes before the Raiders found the go-ahead goal in the 81st minute. A shot from junior
Uyi Omorogbe off another Stroud corner kick was blocked, but Brown collected the rebound and buried it in the back of the net to give the Raiders the 2-1 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
BOTTOM LINE
WON-LOST RECORDS
- The Raiders improve to 6-10-1 on the season and 3-4-1 in the Patriot League. Colgate now has 10 points in the Patriot League standings.
- Navy drops to 2-12-2 overall and 0-6-2 in league action.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- Stroud tied the Colgate single-season assist record with his eighth helper of the season. He (2016, 2017) and Sean O'Sullivan (2004) share the record of eight. He needs one more assist to break the record and become Colgate's career and single-season assists record holder.
- Ouligian's goal was his team-best sixth of the season.
- Brown netted his second goal of the season.
- Sophomore Jacob Harris earned the start in goal and made one save to pick up his second win of the season.
FACTS & FIGURES
- Colgate finished the game with a 21-6 shot advantage, including a 15-4 second-half edge.
- Corner kicks were tied 4-4.
- The Raiders forced Burke to make 12 saves in goal.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach
Erik Ronning
- "It was great to get a come-from-behind win and have a senior in Karl Brown get the game-winning goal. We started to play with more urgency in the second half as we knew that for our season to be relevant from a playoff standpoint we had to get a win. This group of players is never going to go down without a fight."
- "I'm happy that this group of seniors was able to get a positive result in their last home game. We'll get ready for BU Friday. If we want to give ourselves a really good shot at making the playoffs, then a win is very important."
- "We're going to focus on playing at a high level this week in training. We still have a lot to play for. We have to focus on doing things the right way and making sure that we're still focusing on the process."
- "This group of seniors came in four years ago when the program had taken a little bit of a step back. Those young men embraced the challenge of getting Colgate soccer back to where it belonged. They endured some tough times and kept on forging on and staying true to the process. They've really set the tone for the culture of this entire program."
UP NEXT
- Colgate wraps up the regular season at Boston University Friday night.
- Kickoff from Boston is set for 5 p.m.
