HAMILTON – Colgate returned to winning ways here Saturday, and just in time to send its senior class out on a very positive note.
 
The Raiders ran roughshod over Lafayette, posting a 16-7 victory behind hat tricks from Griffin Brown and Brian Minicus. Sam Cleveland added two goals and three assists to pace a strong senior showing.
 
Colgate matched its season high in goals and spread its scoring among 10 different players for the most Raider goal-scorers in a game this year.
 
Lafayette played the Raiders tough at the start, tallying the game's opening goal less than two minutes in. But Colgate lit the lamp five times in that opening quarter, led by two goals from Brown for a 5-2 lead.
 
The Leopards pulled within 6-4 early in the second before Brown, Mike Hawkins and Cleveland scored unassisted goals for a 9-4 halftime cushion.
 
Leading 11-4 midway in the third, Colgate turned to scoring sources of the future to finish off the Leopards.
 
Brendan Jordan, Nick Salameda and Jesse Rosenblatt all scored their second goals of the season, and then Cooper Belanger tallied his first career goal with 6:26 remaining to make it 16-5 and cap the Colgate offense.
 
Ryan Caley and John Donohue both caused a pair of turnovers and the Raiders scooped up a season-high 37 ground balls. Connor Mullen and Cyrus Scott combined for 13 saves.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 16, Lafayette 7
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the Patriot League.
• Lafayette lost its ninth game in a row, falling to 4-10 and 0-7.
 
Raider Facts & Figures
• Minicus earned his first career hat trick with goals in the first, second and third quarters.
• Brown upped his team-leading hat trick total to four. He leads the squad with 20 goals.
• Cleveland boosted his career assist total to 79, just one behind Derek Laub (1990-93) for fourth all-time at Colgate.
• Malcolm Feeney was impressive at the faceoff-X, winning 14 of 23 and scooping up 10 ground balls.
• Minicus and Jack Donaghue led the position players with three ground balls apiece.
• Lafayette's 20 ground balls were the fewest by a Colgate opponent this season.
• The Raiders committed eight penalties but allowed only one extra-man goal.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Matt Karweck: (On Senior Day) "I'm so happy for the senior class and what they've accomplished. The challenge was we didn't know exactly where we stood as far as the Patriot League tournament, but the things we talk about every day are being decision-makers – on the field and off the field. We talk about how we practice, not that we practiced. And today was a culmination of all the things we talk about: staying sticky on defense, communicating with each other, having a clean substitution box, pressing transition, scoring off-stick or low, hip or right by the goalie. All of these different things that we speak about day-in and day-out, today we finally put it together.
 
"You wish those things would have bounced our way or we would have done that a little bit more in some of these other games, but today was a beautiful way to send off our seniors. A great home win against a building Lafayette team. I've got to give credit to Pat Myers; he's a really good coach and he's got a great staff with him. And they're going to be good. I can't wait to see what they do in the Patriot League in the future.
 
"But this game was all about our senior class and the way they've led this year. I challenged them to let the music play, go out there and be in the zone and be who you want to be. Execute at a super-high level by doing the things we know are going to work. And then play a little more free than maybe you've played in the last couple of games. It came out today in a lot of ways and I'm so proud of the way our team executed the game plan. I'm proud that our seniors had such a great day to send them off at the ends of their careers. And certainly I'm so proud of the support we have from our alumni base, our parent base and our administration. You can feel it coming. You can feel the foundation has been built and continues to build, and I'm so proud to coach at Colgate University."
 
(On next week at Bucknell on CBS Sports) "Let's go! Our great feature about our Atlanta trip is coming out at halftime next week. What we talk about all the time is the student-athlete experience and what that means and looks like. You'll see what that looked like and felt like for the guys to be in Atlanta during spring break as we attempted to enhance the student-athlete experience while also trying to win ballgames. We never forget that we are mentoring these young men to be the greatest versions of themselves."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Before the game, Colgate recognized its 11 seniors: Cleveland, Caley, Mullen, Scott, Will Blumenberg, Jack Donaghue, Matt Donovan, Danny Healey, Duncan Hoskinson, John McDonald and Jimmy Williams.
• Attendance inside Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 312.
 
Up Next
• Colgate ends the regular season Friday night at Bucknell.
• The Bison are 5-8 overall and 3-4 in the Patriot League after Saturday's 12-10 road victory over Lehigh.
• Faceoff is 7 p.m., with CBS Sports Network carrying all the action.