LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – The Colgate women's lacrosse team scored early and often Wednesday afternoon as the Raiders dominated the Siena Saints in a 16-6 win at the Siena Turf Field.
 
With the win, the Raiders improved to 2-0 for the first time since the 2013 season.
 
Tara Atkinson (Lloyd Harbor, New York) led the Raiders with four goals and five points, both tied for career-highs, while Haley O'Hanlon (Garden City, New York) also recorded four goals for the Raiders in the win. O'Hanlon now has 98 career goals.
 
Payton Gabriel (Lakewood, Colorado) picked up her first career hat trick and set a career-high with four points. Fellow sophomore Lindsay West (Bedford Hills, New York) notched a career-high with four points on two goals and two assists for the Raiders as part of the offensive outburst.
 
First-year Danielle Van Calcar (Wyckoff, New Jersey) continued her impressive start to the season with four points, all on assists, to go with a game-high six draw controls. Senior Kristen Brigagliano rounded out Colgate's top scoring barrage with three points on a goal and two assists.
 
The Raiders poured home the first six goals of the game to take a 6-0 lead with 14:22 to go in the first half. Alissa Masini (Gillette, New Jersey) got Colgate on the board first just 1:59 into the game before Atkinson netted her first of four goals 52 seconds later to make it 2-0. Six different players scored the game's first six goals for Colgate.
 
After a goal from Siena's Alexis Deaken, Colgate scored the next three goals to close out the first half. West made it 7-1 Colgate before Atkinson scored a pair of goals with in 1:01 to tally the first-half hat trick and give Colgate a 9-1 lead at halftime.
 
O'Hanlon scored the Raiders first three goals of the second half on her way to her four-goal performance. Following another goal from Siena's Deaken, Gabriel capped off her hat trick with a pair of goals within 44 seconds and extended Colgate's largest lead of the game to 12 goals at 15-3 with 16 minutes left in the second half.
 
Siena scored three of the final four goals of the game, including a third goal from Deaken. Atkinson tallied her fourth and final goal with 9:05 to go in the game, Colgate's 16^th goal in its 16-6 victory.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 16, Siena 6
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Raiders won back-to-back games to open the season for the first time since 2013 to improve to 2-0 while Siena dropped its season opener to fall to 0-1.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Colgate's 16 goals Wednesday afternoon are it's most since scoring 16 against Siena last season in a 16-8 victory
-The Raiders' 10-goal margin of victory is it's largest since a 16-6 win against Lafayette on April 11, 2015
-Colgate allowed just one goal in the first half, it's fewest since shutting out American in the first half of a win on March 19, 2016
-The Raiders have not allowed a team to score double-digit goals in four straight games dating back to the 2017 season
-Atkinson tied career-highs with her four goals and five points, and also tallied a career-high four groundballs
-Wednesday marked Atkinson's second career hat trick and four-goal game
-O'Hanlon netted four goals on Wednesday to put her two shy of 100 in her career
-She also had five draw controls to give her nine this season and 166 in her career, just four away from tying Colleen Bubnack '11 for second in program history
-Gabriel recorded the first hat trick and four-point game of her career
-West picked up two goals and two assists for a career-high four points off the bench
-Van Calcar had another stellar game for Colgate with four assists for four points and snagged six draw controls
-Her four assists are the most in a single game by a Colgate rookie in at least the past 10 seasons and she is tied for the team lead with seven points in the first two games
-Samantha Croston (Mount Sinai, New York) recorded eight saves in her second career start and win, and added two groundballs with a caused turnover
-Kristen Brigagliano (Brightwaters, New York) tallied three points for a second straight game with a goal and two assists, and added a groundball and caused turnover
-Natalie Gwynn (Canandaigua, New York) scored a goal for a second straight game to open her collegiate career
-Masini netted her first goal of the season, and scooped a groundball and caused a turnover
-One game after tallying a hat trick, Natalie Washuta (Chatham, New Jersey) had a career-high five draw controls, a groundball and a caused turnover
-Madeline Barcia (Manhasset, New York) and Ingrid Backe (Fairfield, Connecticut) each tied career-highs with four groundballs and three groundballs, respectively
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate held a 36-21 advantage in shots and 26-14 edge in shots on goal
-The Raiders also held a strong advantage in draw controls at 18-6 and groundballs, 19-10
-Colgate was 15 for 17 in clears, including a perfect 10 for 10 in the first half, while Siena was 14 for 19
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Heather Young
"Everything started from the draw circle today. Natalie, Haley, and Danielle all did a fantastic job, which helped catapult our offense. I'm really happy with all the helpers we had today.
 
"The defense was so solid with our one-stops and Sam did really well with the shots she faced.
 
"I'm very happy with our overall performance from start to finish today. We are looking forward to a week break and preparing for Binghamton."
 
UP NEXT
Colgate is off until next Wednesday when the Raiders travel to Binghamton to face the Bearcats at 3 p.m. The Raiders look to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2004.