HAMILTON – Brian Minicus scored a career-high four goals and Colgate gave 10th-ranked Lehigh all it could handle before falling 15-10 here Sunday afternoon.
The Raiders spotted Lehigh a 4-0 lead by early in the second quarter before Minicus struck for the first of his four with 9:36 showing on the clock.
Adam Salvaggio added a pair and although the Mountain Hawks got one back in the closing seconds, Colgate trailed just 5-3 at intermission.
Then the Raiders came out smoking to start the third.
Minicus scored unassisted just 41 seconds into the quarter and
Mike Hawkins followed suit with 12:55 left and it was a 5-5 game. This despite the fact that Lehigh's Mike Sisselberger was on his way to winning 19 of 25 faceoffs and tilting the field in the visitors' direction.
The Lehigh offense finally got in gear, scoring eight of the next nine goals over a 22:47 stretch of the third and fourth quarters to go in front 13-6. Minicus had the only Colgate goal during that run and he scored his final tally on a man-up opportunity with 2:25 remaining in the fourth.
Minicus assisted on Colgate's final goal from
Bobby Goggin – his first of the season – to just miss his career game high of six points. This was the junior attackman's second career hat trick and first since turning the trick against Lafayette back in 2019.
In addition to Salvaggio's two goals, Hawkins assisted on two for a three-point game and scooped up a career-high five ground balls. The Raiders forced a season-high seven caused turnovers, including three from faceoff specialist
Thomas Colucci for a collegiate best.
Lehigh improved to 4-0, while Colgate is now 1-4. The Raiders remain 1-1 in the North Division and still alive for one of two places in the Patriot League tournament.
Bottom Line
• Lehigh 15, Colgate 10
From the Sources
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Colgate head coach Matt Karweck: (On the game) "One of the stories of the game is we knew he (Sisselberger) was a good faceoff guy. But I'm so proud of our guys because we dedicated ourselves to a team effort and we ended up having a really good game at the faceoff-X.
Our faceoff game was executed at a really high level, even though the stats don't show it. They scored one goal off a loose-ball scramble but that was it.
"Our defense did a great job in the first half, holding them to five goals. That was a significant job there. We ended up giving up 10 over the next two quarters but we stuck to the game plan and this was the best we have played defensively. We've got to clean it up in the clearing game. It's unacceptable how we are clearing the ball.
"The offense only had two possessions in the first quarter; that puts you behind a full quarter. But we came out firing in second half and tied it up 5-5. I called an early time out and it worked because we scored two goals right after that timeout.
"Our job is not complete at the end of 2½ quarters, and it seems like that has been our MO. There are some changes that need to be made around that marker of the game. Some of our older guys came in at the end and scored a couple of goals and overall, it was some of the best lacrosse we have played in quite a while."
Stats of the Game
• In addition to Colucci's three caused turnovers,
Sean Collins,
Thor Adamec,
Donny Gayhardt and
Owen Callahan also contributed to the season-high seven.
• First-year
Will Rosenblatt scored his first collegiate goal to spark a three-goal finish for the Raiders over the final 2:56.
• Goggin's goal was the sixth of his career.
• On the Colgate scoring chart, Hawkins is up to 13-8-21 for the season, with
Brian Minicus at 6-9-15.
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Michael Minicus is second on the team in goals with seven.
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Jacob Sposita has five goals after scoring early in the fourth quarter.
• Collins was solid in goal, posting 13 saves against 41 Lehigh shots.
Up Next
• Colgate is on the road next weekend with a visit to Bucknell.
• The Bison on Sunday dropped a 13-10 decision at Navy to fall to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the Patriot League South Division.
• Faceoff from Lewisburg is scheduled for Saturday at noon, with ESPN+ carrying all the action.
