PRINCETON, N.J. – Princeton used a 10-0 run against Colgate over a 17-minute stretch of the second half to turn a nip-and-tuck battle into a 20-11 outcome here Tuesday night.
Parker Baddley scored a solo goal to start the second half and pull the Raiders within 8-7 in the first men's lacrosse matchup between these two squads in 91 years. But history was on the Tigers' side from that point forward.
Princeton senior attackman Michael Sowers set a program record with 11 assists in the game and set the Ivy League record with 14 points. Sowers during the 10-0 run alone scored once and assisted on seven others to help the Tigers improve to 2-0.
Colgate's
Ryan Decker scored the game's first goal at 12:45 of the first quarter.
James Caddigan and
Griffin Brown tallied late and it was 5-3 Tigers at the end of one quarter.
Brian Minicus and
Nicky Petkevich evened things up for the Raiders with back-to-back goals in the first four minutes of the second quarter. Caddigan's second of the night made it 6-6 before Princeton scored a pair in the final five minutes to make it 8-6 at intermission.
Baddley's goal was a beauty to open the third. The senior took possession just across midfield and made his way forward, finally winding his long pole and firing into the upper right corner of the net to make it an 8-7 game.
Colgate answered Princeton's big run with a 4-0 mini-run, the goals going to Caddigan,
Mike Hawkins and
Cooper Belanger for a pair. Minicus assisted on three of those, but it was enough and the Raiders dropped to 0-3.
Bottom Line
• Princeton 20, Colgate 11
From the Source
• Colgate head coach
Matt Karweck: (On the game) "We played fantastic in the first half. We did everything we said we were going to do: We pressed transition; we guarded people; our goalie,
Sean Collins, stood on his head; we were winning faceoffs; we out-groundballed them; our shots were right there, and we were down by two.
"Then we pump that first goal in to start the second half and we were feeling really good about ourselves.
"We are going to watch the film, of course, but part of early season is finding out how much energy and how much legs you actually have. We are testing our limits at the beginning of the year, particularly against great opponents. Can we run our guys the entire game? Do we need to substitute once in a while to keep fresh legs? Those are the kinds of things we're starting to figure out.
"We turned the ball over nine times in the third quarter. That's just unacceptable. But we're going to take a look at it all as a coaching staff and reevaluate things strategically.
"We played great defensively in the first half. We cleared the ball and we rode the ball back. We could have done some things in the third quarter but we didn't have the ball. But there's a lot to build off and we are excited about that."
Raider Facts & Figures
• Eight different Raiders scored Colgate's 11 goals.
•
Sean Collins made 12 first-half saves and finished with a career-high 18.
• Caddigan's hat trick was the third of his career and the first this season.
• Minicus set personal highs with five assists and six points.
•
Malcolm Feeney sparkled at the X, winning 19 of 29 draws for his own collegiate high.
• In addition to Belanger's career-high two goals, the senior scooped up a collegiate-best four ground balls.
• For Princeton, Sowers, Phillip Robertson, Chris Brown and Jake Stevens all had hat tricks.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance inside Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium was 523.
• Tuesday night's game was the first Colgate-Princeton matchup since 1929.
Up Next
• Colgate is back in action Saturday at Hobart.
• The Statesmen are 2-0 after their 26-9 win over Siena this past weekend.
• Faceoff is 1 p.m. from Geneva, with Hobart All-Access carrying the livestream.
