HAMILTON – Behind another strong defensive effort and a pair of second-half goals by Ryan Bellavance and Oliver Harris, the Colgate men's soccer team earned its third consecutive league shutout with a 2-0 victory over Holy Cross Wednesday night at Beyer-Small '76 Field.

After a scoreless opening half, Bellavance and Freddy Jonsson executed a perfect give-and-go in the 69th minute, with Bellavance firing a one-timer inside the right post to get Colgate on the board.
 

Another look at Bellavance's one-timer from Jonsson that gave us the lead in the 69th minute! pic.twitter.com/hArPKTZ77W

— Colgate Men's Soccer (@ColgateMSOC) October 25, 2018

Harris doubled Colgate's advantage just over a minute later after beating the nearest defender with an inside move and burying a long shot over the outstretched arms of Henry Stutz from 20 yards out.
 

Thanks for the goal, Ollie ?? We could watch this on repeat ??

Colgate 2, Holy Cross 0#GoGate pic.twitter.com/Ep3ItG61pZ

— Colgate Men's Soccer (@ColgateMSOC) October 25, 2018

Jacob Harris was perfect in net for Colgate, stopping both shots he faced in the second half to earn his third straight shutout.
 
Colgate controlled the tempo early but could not get one past Stutz. Just over six minutes in, Kentaro Morrison made a nice move to cut in on the left wing but his far-side shot skipped wide of the right post.
 
Jonsson forced a diving save from Stutz in the 24th minute after redirecting a cross from the top of the box. Late in the half, Morrison fired another shot on target but it struck into the hands of Stutz once more to keep the Raiders in check.   
 
The Crusaders' best chance came with less than a minute left in the half after Max Krause earned a set piece from just outside the box. His initial shot was blocked but the rebound curled in and Luka Milidragovic delivered a header off the crossbar. The ricochet caromed in front but Colgate cleared to keep the score deadlocked at 0-0 at the half.

Bellavance earned a great opportunity early in the second half after Stutz mishandled his centering pass and left a loose ball in front. The Crusaders swarmed the ball to prevent the Raiders from getting a shot off and they were able to clear it away from the unoccupied net.
 
Holy Cross picked up its offensive pressure late, but J. Harris earned a pair of saves in the 74th and 78th minutes to hold off the Crusaders en route to the 2-0 victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 2, Holy Cross 0.
 
FOR THE RECORD
• Colgate improved to 8-3-5 overall and 4-1-2 in Patriot League play with the win.
• Holy Cross dropped to 2-9-4 on the season and 1-5-1 in league action after the loss.

KEY RAIDER NOTES
• The Raiders jumped into second place in the league standings and trail Loyola by just two points for the top spot.  
• Colgate earned its sixth league shutout and eighth clean sheet of the year. 
• The Raiders have allowed just one goal against conference foes all season. J. Harris owns a .952 save percentage and .13 goals-against mark within the Patriot League.
• For Bellavance, it was his second goal of the season and first career game-winning tally. 
• O. Harris netted his third goal of the campaign to take over the team lead in points with seven.
• Jonsson picked up his first assist of 2018 as three seniors filled up the scoring sheet in the win for Colgate. 

BY THE NUMBERS
• Colgate finished with 15 shots and owned a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal. 
• The Raiders held the advantage in corner kicks, 8-2. 
•  Fouls were 9-7 in favor of the Raiders. 

FROM THE SOURCE
• Colgate head coach Erik Ronning:
 
"I am happy to get a victory and earn three points tonight. The conditions were tough for both teams and it was a very tightly-contested game but we were fortunate to get a pair of late goals. This is the type of atmosphere we expect in every game as we look forward to the upcoming challenges here in these last two regular-season matches."
 
"Ryan [Bellavance] and Oliver [Harris] came up in big moments and we were able to control the tempo from there. Our guys did a great job; we defended well and didn't give away a lot of quality goal-scoring opportunities. Our guys had a great approach tonight to get a shutout victory against a tough Holy Cross team."
 
"We have two very important games left against Navy and Boston University. We are going to recover now and shift our focus to go down and face a tough Navy team that is playing really well. I am looking forward to our next challenge."
 
UP NEXT
• Colgate is back in action Sunday for a key Patriot League contest at Navy.
• Kickoff from Annapolis, Md., is scheduled for noon.