HAMILTON – Third time was the charm for Colgate as the Raiders polished off Siena 16-11 here Sunday in nonconference action.
 
The Raiders for the third straight week were forced by wintry weather to move their game off its scheduled Saturday start. This time, a 30-inch midweek snowfall was the culprit.
 
But after dropping the first two rescheduled affairs, Colgate stayed on task this afternoon despite a frazzled week of preparation. The Raiders put together a fast start and then backed that up with a solid fourth quarter to gain a split of their four-game homestand.
 
Colgate's offensive stalwarts came up big:
 
• Sam Cleveland scored a career-high four goals and matched his personal best with six points;
• Chase Wittich recorded his second hat trick of the season and fourth of his career;
• Nicky Petkevich posted his first collegiate hat trick; and
• Anthony Abbadessa contributed a career-high five assists while matching his collegiate high with six points.
 
Collin Orr kept the Raiders on the attack by winning a career-high 22 faceoffs in 30 tries. He picked up five ground balls and assisted on a pair of quick-strike goals – one to Cleveland just before halftime and the other to Abbadessa late in the third.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 16, Siena 11
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 3-4.
• Siena is now 0-8.
 
Raider Scoring Recap
• Siena controlled the ball and the clock over the game's first four minutes and took a 1-0 lead on Jon-Michael Tokar's tally with 11:03 left.
• But the Raiders took over from there, posting the next seven goals from five different scorers.
• Duncan Hoskinson and Griffin Brown traded the last four goals between them to join Wittich, Peter Donato and Petkevich in the goals column.
• Abbadessa by the first quarter horn already had three assists.
• After Siena closed to within 7-4, Cleveland scored twice in the final 3½ minutes to help the Raiders to the locker room leading 9-5.
• The second goal took just six seconds as Orr won the faceoff cleanly and then sprinted toward goal before finding Cleveland.
• Colgate's Wittich made it 10-5 early in the third and that lead stood until just shy of the five-minute mark, when Siena scored three straight.
• But Cleveland's highlight reel one-hander off a rebound led to a follow-up goal six seconds later. Orr again won a clean faceoff and streaked toward goal, this time finding Abbadessa for a 12-8 cushion.
• Siena again pulled within 12-9 before the Raiders iced it with three in a row. Petkevich scored twice and Wittich in between to complete hat tricks for both Raiders.
• Cleveland's fourth goal into an empty net completed the Colgate scoring.
 
Facts & Figures
• Colgate's 16 goals were a season high and the most for the Raiders since they blasted Bucknell 18-5 in the 2015 Patriot League tournament semifinals.
• Brown extended his multigoal scoring streak to six games.
• Abbadessa kept his streak alive of scoring at least one goal in every game this season.
• Abbadessa's previous assist high was three on two occasions.
• Jack Stebbins and Will Blumenberg were major contributors on faceoffs, finishing with five ground balls apiece. For Stebbins, it was a career high.
• Orr was 7-of-9 on faceoffs in the first quarter and 6-of-7 in the fourth on his way to 22-of-30. His previous high for faceoff wins was 15 last month at Bucknell.
• Orr's assists were the first two of his career.
• Hoskinson's two-goal game was his second of the week.
• Donato finished with a goal and two assists.
• Siena kept it close by committing just three turnovers to 14 for Colgate.
• Raiders goalkeeper Brandon Burke posted 12 saves – his fourth double-digit total of the season.
• Siena's Tokar and Mike Reilly posted hat tricks.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On the game) "I'm glad to get the victory. We challenged the seniors a couple of days ago that we would win this game on their backs, with 5 (Burke) in the goal and 19 (Jackson Patterson) and 3 (Strecker Backe) underneath and Jack Stebbins having to play some extended minutes on short-stick defense. We're going to need that kind of effort as we move forward to Cornell and then the league as well."
 
(On the offense playing well) "Yes, we knew we were going to need that. We needed to capitalize on opportunities and it was good to see Collin Orr dominate at the faceoff-X."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance on a sunny but cool afternoon at Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 189.
 
Up Next
• Colgate faces a quick turnaround with a Tuesday afternoon game at Cornell.
• The Big Red are 0-5 this season after losing 17-8 Saturday at Yale.
• Cornell has won the last 11 meetings in the series against Colgate, including 10-9 in overtime two years ago in Ithaca and 6-5 last season in Hamilton.
• Start time from Schoellkopf Field is 5 p.m.