NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Isabel Kreitler (Fairfield, Connecticut) tied career-highs with five goals and seven points Tuesday afternoon as the Colgate women's lacrosse team overcame a four-goal second half deficit to defeat the Niagara Purple Eagles, 11-10, at Niagara Field.
 
Junior midfielder Haley O'Hanlon (Garden City, New York) continued her impressive season as she scored the game-winning goal with 4:20 left in regulation, one of her three points in the game.
 
The Raiders last overcame a four-goal deficit to win back on March 15, 2014, in a 12-11 win against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in Hamilton, New York.
 
Kreitler gave the Raiders an early lead as she scored the first three Colgate goals of the game for her third hat trick of the season. Kreitler's first goal came just 38 seconds into the game before netting her second less than five minutes later.
 
Niagara scored 40 seconds after Kreitler's second goal for Colgate to cut the Raiders' lead in half. The game stayed 2-1 for the next 10:12 of the game before Kreitler picked up her 11^th of the season to complete the hat trick on a free position goal.
 
The Purple Eagles scored five of the next six goals to close out the half, including three consecutive goals before Lindsay West (Bedford Hills, New York) tied the game at 4-4 with 6:08 to go in the first half on her fifth tally of the season. Niagara added a pair of goals in the final 1:42 of the first half to take a 6-4 lead.
 
Caroline Crump scored a man-up going 4:26 into the second half and after regaining the draw control, Niagara extended its lead to four goals just 22 seconds later on a goal from Alexis Morales to take an 8-4 lead.
 
Colgate followed Niagara's pair of goals by scoring six consecutive goals over a span of 11:47 to take a 10-8 lead with 11:27 to play in the second half. Kreitler continued her dominant performance in the second half with her fourth goal of the game with 23:14 left to play in the second half as the Raiders began to cut into the Purple Eagles' lead.
 
Natalie Washuta (Chatham, New Jersey) scored a pair of goals within 36 seconds of each other with 21:26 left in the second half and 20:50 left in the second half for her second two-goal game of the season. Kreitler tied the game on her fifth of the afternoon with 17:41 on her second free position of the game.
 
Payton Gabriel (Lakewood, Colorado) scored her fifth of the season to complete the Raiders' comeback of a four-goal deficit with 16:06 left in the second half to give the Raiders a 9-8 lead. O'Hanlon recorded her second assist of the game on Gabriel's goal.
 
Just before the midway point of the second half, Asil Asfour (Eden Prairie, Minnesota) made a huge save on a Niagara free position shot to maintain the Raiders lead before Gabriel added her second of the game off Kreitler's first assist and sixth point.
 
Niagara battled back with a pair of goals within a minute of each other to tie the game once again, 10-10, with 8:49 to go in the second half. Rachel MacCheyne and Grace Hunt scored each goal for the Purple Eagles in the span.
 
O'Hanlon netted her first of the game with 4:20 left in the second half, a goal that stood as the game-winning goal as the Raiders pulled away from the Purple Eagles. Niagara pushed for a tying goal in the waning minutes of the game but O'Hanlon had a caused a turnover and picked up the groundball to finish of the win for the Raiders.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 11, Niagara 10
 
WON-LOST RECORDS
The Raiders win their second straight game to improve to 3-1 to open up the season while the Purple Eagles lose for the first time this season to fall to 1-1.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Colgate's 3-1 record is its best four-game start since the 2005 season when they finished 13-7 and reached the NCAA Tournament
-Kreitler tied a career-high with five goals and seven points to lead the Raiders to the victory
-Kreitler also led the Raiders with five draw controls and grabbed a groundball.
-Washuta picked up her second two-goal game of the season and also caused a turnover
-O'Hanlon tallied her fourth straight three-point game with a goal and two assists
-O'Hanlon also filled up the stat sheet with three ground balls, three draw controls and two caused turnovers
-Gabriel joined O'Hanlon as the only Raiders to score in four straight games to open the season with the second straight two-goal game of her career
-Four different Raiders grabbed groundballs as Asfour, Kelly Haberl (Summit, New Jersey) and Chelsea Taylor (Manhasset, New York) joined O'Hanlon
-Madeline Barcia (Manhasset, New York) had a solid game with two caused turnovers and two groundballs
-Asfour tied a season-high with seven saves against the Purple Eagles
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate came back to win the shots battled, 31-26, including a 16-9 advantage in the second half
-The Raiders also held the edge in shots on goal at 21-17
-Niagara had a slight advantage in draw controls, 12-11, and groundballs, 22-18
-Both teams were pretty even in turnovers with Colgate having one more than Niagara, 19-18.

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Heather Young
"I'm really proud of the team and their effort to fight back once they doubled us up. We fought hard, stuck to the game plan and executed nicely. [Isabel] was great on the draw and her offensive output was unmatched. Chelsea Taylor was solid on defense and Asil came up with some big stops in goal."
 
UP NEXT
Colgate returns to the field next Tuesday when it travels to Ithaca, New York, to take on the nationally ranked No. 15 Cornell Big Red on March 7 at 5 p.m.