HAMILTON – The Colgate women's lacrosse offense came alive Saturday afternoon as the Raiders exploded for 20 goals in a 20-10 victory over American at Beyer-Small '76 Field.
 
Saturday's goal total was it's most since April 23, 2011, when the Raiders also scored 20 goals in a victory against Bucknell.
 
Payton Gabriel (Lakewood, Colorado) led the Raiders with a career-high five goals and six points in the best offensive game of her career.
 
Natalie Washuta (Chatham, New Jersey) also recorded a career-high in goals with four while Kristen Brigagliano (Brightwaters, New York) and Haley O'Hanlon (Garden City, New York) each tallied three goals and two assists for five points.
 
With O'Hanlon's three-goal performance, she has recorded 37 goals this season to pass her previous season-best of 34 from 2015 and 2017.
 
Danielle Van Calcar (Wyckoff, New Jersey) had a season-high nine draw controls and joined Tara Atkinson (Lloyd Harbor, New York) with two goals and three points each.
 
The Raiders scored four goals in the first 3:20 of the game to jump out to a 4-0 lead, including a pair of goals in the first 1:06 of play. After an American goal, the Raiders extended their lead to five goals and 6-1 with 22:38 to play in the half.
 
American bounced back to score five of the game's next six goals to pull within a goal with 13:37 to go in the first half but could not manage to take the lead.
 
Four different Raiders scored their next four goals to regain a five-goal lead and Colgate led 12-7 at halftime.
 
The second half started off much like the first half as the Raiders scored five consecutive goals and seven of the first eight to take a 19-8 lead over the Eagles. Lindsay West (Bedford Hills, New York) scored the Raiders 20th and final goal of the game to close out Colgate's scoring.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 20, American 10
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Raiders improved to 9-4 (4-2 Patriot League) on the season and the Eagles fell to 3-10 (0-5 Patriot League) with their fifth straight loss
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Colgate scored 20 goals in a game for the first time since April 23, 2011 when the Raiders beat Bucknell 20-7
-Gabriel scored a career-high five goals and notched a career-high six points to lead the Raiders offensively
-Washuta also notched a career-high with four goals and four points, and tied a career-high with six draw controls
-O'Hanlon recorded a career-high for goals in a season as she finished Saturday with 37
-She recorded her ninth hat trick of the season and recorded her fourth five-point game to go along with four groundballs, three draw controls and a caused turnover
-Brigagliano also recorded a hat trick and two assists for five points, and went 3 for 3 on free positions
-Van Calcar recorded a season-high nine draw controls and had three groundballs along with two goals and an assist
-Her nine draw controls are the most since Isabel Kreitler had nine against Siena on Feb. 25, 2017
-Atkinson notched two goals and picked up an assist for three points
-She also caused a turnover and had two groundballs
-Samantha Croston (Mount Sinai, New York) had eight saves and four groundballs in goal for Colgate
-West scored for the Raiders and Kara Marzo (Williamsville, New York) had an assist

FACTS AND FIGURES
-Colgate outshot American 43-22 and 28-17 in shots on goal
-The Raiders had a strong advantage in draw controls at 20-11
-Both teams had 15 clears with Colgate going 15 for 16 and American at 15 for 19
-Colgate had 14 turnovers compared to American's 13
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Heather Young
"I'm really proud of the team, especially offensively. We had a rough go against Lehigh and we put a lot of pressure on the team to respond back this week. We implemented a few things we'd been forgetting and I'm proud of the communication amongst the team on the sideline. It was amazing to see all the wins on the draw that Haley, Natalie and Danielle were getting today."
 
"Haley, Natalie, Payton and Kristen are all active listeners. When I'm giving them constructive criticism or they're asking for feedback, they're taking it and implementing it. Especially Natalie, there were a couple things I wanted her to fix from the Lehigh game and she went out and crushed it.
 
"Putting in a really balanced effort both halves was huge today. That's something we really wanted to do offensively. Scoring that many goals means the offense is definitely clicking and were all on the same page, which was something we were pushing with them this week.
 
"We've got two really tough teams this week with high-powered offenses. They're going make sure we really buckle down defensively and try to shut down some of their tough threats."
 
Sophomore Attack Payton Gabriel
"It all started with the draw. I couldn't have gotten all the goals that I did without the opportunities from the draw. It was all up to Danielle, Haley and Natalie to get it down there.
 
"Last year was a tough one so we've worked so hard and put a lot of effort in practice, and stuck to the game plan. Last week was a tough loss to Lehigh but we came back strong today.
 
"Today's win definitely gives us a lot of confidence. We have a big opportunity in hands with our upcoming games against Army and Loyola."
 
UP NEXT
The Raiders hit the road for a mid-week clash with the Army West Point Black Knights on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Michie Stadium.