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Colgate University Athletics

Sam Cleveland
Bob Cornell
11
Winner Syracuse SU 12-2
9
Colgate COLGATE 5-9
Winner
Syracuse SU
12-2
11
Final
9
Colgate COLGATE
5-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Syracuse SU 3 3 2 3 11
Colgate COLGATE 3 1 3 2 9

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse | | John Painter

Raiders Push No. 3 Orange in Thriller

Syracuse Prevails 11-9 Despite Cleveland’s Four Goals, Two Assists

HAMILTON – Hats off, Colgate.
 
The Raiders saved their best effort of the 2017 season for the grand finale and nearly pulled off a shocker against the No. 3 team in the country.
 
But Syracuse rallied from a third-quarter deficit and then held off one final Colgate charge to claim an 11-9 barn burner Saturday on Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium.
 
29886At the very least, it's a good boost for Colgate looking ahead to 2018.
 
Sophomore Sam Cleveland matched his career high and led all scorers with four goals and two assists. His final tally with 1:32 remaining pulled Colgate within 10-9 and offered the home side one last gasp.
 
Colgate forced Syracuse turnovers on the next two possessions but gave the ball away in return both times, the last coming in the final 10 seconds. Syracuse goalie Evan Molloy then scored an excuse-me, length-of-the-field goal for the closing margin.
 
In addition to Cleveland, Anthony Abbadessa scored twice and the Raiders picked up single tallies from Chase Wittich, Peter Donato and Robby Dunigan. Griffin Brown's 12-game goal-scoring streak came to an end.
 
Syracuse spread its offense among eight difference goal-scorers, led by Brendan Bomberry's hat trick.
 
Bottom Line
• Syracuse 11, Colgate 9
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate closed its season 5-9.
• Syracuse improved to 12-2.
 
Raider Scoring Recap
29887• The teams traded scoring runs the entire game.
• Bomberry scored twice to spark the Orange to a 3-0 lead with 9:33 showing on the first-quarter clock.
• But Abbadessa's first goal of the game with 5:51 left brought the Colgate offense to life. Cleveland followed with a pair in the closing 1:52 and it was 3-3 after a quarter.
• Three more from Syracuse made it 6-3 Orange with 2:08 left before half.
• But Collin Orr won the faceoff and quickly found Cleveland, who completed his first-half hat trick at the 2-minute mark.
• Syracuse led 6-4 at intermission.
• Colgate came out blazing to start the third, scoring three straight goals to take a 7-6 lead.
• Dunigan tallied his first of the season with 13:16 showing, with Wittich and Abbadessa following on sweet assists from Cleveland.
• Syracuse shook off its 11-minute dry spell by scoring two goals to end the third and two more to start the fourth, going in front 10-7.
• Colgate needed another three-goal run and hadn't scored for more than 15 minutes, but Donato provided the spark with his unassisted marker with 6:14 to play.
• Cleveland's fourth of the game with 1:32 remaining made it 10-9 and gave the Raiders a chance.
• The Colgate defense then forced two turnovers in the final minute-plus, but Syracuse was up to the task.
• Molloy of the Orange grabbed a loose ball and fired it the length of the field to kill the last few seconds, only to watch the shot one-hop into the netting some 80 yards away as the horn sounded.
 
Facts & Figures
29888• Colgate his five posts in the game, including four in third quarter alone. Syracuse hit two posts, both in the fourth quarter.
• Cleveland tied career highs with his four goals and six points. He posted four goals and two assists earlier this year against Siena and Holy Cross.
• Cleveland scored 15 points in the last three games and finished as the overall points leader with 41.
• He also was the assist leader with 19, and his 22 goals were second only to Brown's 23.
• Cleveland's led the Raiders in points for the seventh time and assists for the eighth time, as well as posting his fourth hat trick. All three figures are team highs.
• Dunigan's goal to open the third quarter was his first of the season and fifth of his career.
• The Raiders forced Syracuse into an Orange season-high 17 turnovers. Colgate caused eight of those miscues, led by Jackson Patterson and Parker Baddley with two apiece.
• Colgate had one man-up opportunity and Cleveland converted to end the first quarter. Syracuse was 1-of-3.
• Cleveland's 13 shots were a Raider season high. The seven shots on goal tied the team high.
• Brandon Burke made seven saves. He finishes his Colgate career with 577 saves to just miss the top-five in program history, and his 3,415 goalie minutes played are second all-time.
• If not for the Molloy's Hail Mary, Saturday would have been Syracuse's 11th one-goal game of the season. The Orange are 8-2 in their one-goal decisions.
• Colgate lost 18-3 at No. 5 Syracuse to close the 2016 season, so Saturday's effort was quite the turnaround.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Mike Murphy: (On the game) "The kids did a great job in their preparations for this one and they played hard. We didn't want to get down 3-0 but we just needed to make some effort plays. We've done this on the backs of our seniors – guys like Jackson Patterson, Jack Stebbins and Brandon Burke lead us in that class."
 
Listen to the rest of Coach Murphy's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Crown Field was 1,873. 
• Before the game, Brown received his Patriot League Rookie of the Year trophy from senior associate commissioner Richard Wanninger.

Up Next
• Colgate's season is complete.

 
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