HAMILTON – Navy emerged from Saturday's back-and-forth Patriot League men's lacrosse duel to post a 16-11 decision over Colgate on Crown Field.
 
The Midshipmen led Colgate 8-3 late in the second quarter before the Raiders reeled off eight of the next nine goals. Colgate was in front 11-9 heading to the fourth and the Raiders were starting the quarter man-up, without a faceoff.
 
But Navy's Ryan Kern opened the period with another of his 16 saves in the game, sparking the Midshipmen to a 7-0 finish. Navy's win snapped a three-game losing streak, while Colgate dropped its fifth straight and seventh in the last eight.
 
The Raiders were down 8-3 with halftime closing in when Griffin Brown scored from Matt Donovan with 2:04 showing. Duncan Hoskinson followed at the 1:24 mark, set up by James Caddigan, and then Parker Baddley found the net from Brown's assist with 1:01 remaining.
 
Colgate has scored three goals in 63 seconds and went to the locker room trailing 8-6 but riding tons of energy.
 
The momentum continued into the second half with Caddigan and Brian Minicus scoring in a 2½-minute window to pull the Raiders even 8-8 with 10:34 showing on the third-quarter clock.
 
Navy got one back but then Colgate grabbed its first lead of the day when Bobby Goggin, Sam Cleveland and Baddley again tallied for an 11-9 Raiders edge heading to the fourth.
 
That's when Navy's Kern opened with a big stop on a Minicus shot and Greyson Torain took over. Torain scored a fourth-quarter hat trick to reach five goals for the day and the Midshipmen left town with a key Patriot League decision.
 
Bottom Line
• Navy 16, Colgate 11
 
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 3-7 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League.
• Navy improved to 5-5 and 3-3.
 
Raider Facts & Figures
• Cleveland, Brown and Baddley all scored twice for the Raiders. Baddley's two goals were a career-high and gave him three for the season.
• Minicus pitched in a goal and the rookie added Colgate's first four-assist game of the season. Those assists were the first ones of Minicus' collegiate career.
• Colgate got off a season-high 50 shots. Previous season high was 43.
• Malcolm Feeney was 15-of-30 on faceoffs and picked up a career-high 12 ground balls.
• Will Blumenberg caused two turnovers.
• Colgate's 11 goals were the most since the Raiders scored 16 at Binghamton back on Feb. 16.
• Navy's first seven goals were scored by seven different Mids.
• Torain's five goals matched his career high.
 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Matt Karweck: (On the game) "We had a heck of a rally there at the end of the second and into the third. We had great energy all over the field. We had 50 shots; their kid had 16 saves. That's a heck of a day for that guy. The end score doesn't reflect how close this one really was, but I'm really proud of our guys for their energy and their focus to be able to make a huge rally. We're up 11-9 at the start of the fourth with the ball on the man-up. Their guy makes a great save on a shot that would have put us up three.
 
"We are going to continue to work on our transition defense, faceoffs, and we're giving up too many shots in the dead center of the field, coming from the invert or behind. We've got to really focus not panic sliding on people from behind because the skip pass over the top makes it really easy to score on us. We are going to have to take that away. We are always developing, that's what I told the guys down in the locker room. Every game, win or lose, we have to get better, so we are going to keep our focus on that.
 
"At the end of the day, I'm really proud of the way our guys battled back to give ourselves the chance to win. Unfortunately, we just didn't get the W today."
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance inside Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 394.
 
Up Next
• Colgate hits the road for Holy Cross and a crucial matchup next Saturday.
• The Crusaders are 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the Patriot League after Saturday's 16-4 victory at Lafayette.
• Faceoff is 1 p.m., with the Patriot League Network carrying all the action.