BETHLEHEM, Pa – It took the full regular-season slate, but the Colgate men's soccer team scored three unanswered goals to clinch a Patriot League tournament berth with a 3-1 victory over Lehigh on Wednesday night.
Backed by
Bobby Foose's two goals, Colgate advances to the postseason as the No. 3 seed and will host American Saturday night in quarterfinal action at Beyer-Small '76 Field. Game time is set for 5 p.m.
Colgate netted two goals off earlier corner kicks, as
Drew Fischer scored his first goal of the season off a cross from
John Muckstadt. Fischer's goal tied the game up at the 31st minute, 10 minutes after the Mountain Hawks opened up the game in the 21st minute.
Andrew Cooke stopped three shots on net, conceding one. Cooke's performance kept the Raiders in contention all night, recording his sixth win of the season.
Wednesday night's win breaks a six-game losing streak to the Mountain Hawks, as their last win over Lehigh was in 2016.
The Raiders looked to strike early, as
Aidan Davock fired a shot toward the net in the third minute, but the Mountain Hawks keeper stood strong, making the save. As both teams battled back and forth for possession, Lehigh striked first in the 21st minute, netting one past Cooke low left.
The Raiders answered back in stunning fashion, as Fischer headed one past the keeper off a bang-bang play from Muckstadt and
Chris Noriega. Fischer netted his first of the season in the 31st minute.
Foose added his name to the score sheet minutes later, rifling a shot past the keeper's outstretched arm in the 35th minute. Foose netted his second goal of the season, as the Raiders took the 2-1 lead into halftime.
The Raiders continued their dominant display of soccer throughout the final 45 minutes. Foose added his second goal of the night off a penalty kick, ripping the ball to the bottom right in the 76th minute to stretch Colgate's lead to 3-1.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Erik Ronning
"Proud of the guys. Winning games at Lehigh is very hard, and coming back after conceding shows a tremendous amount of resilience. We are looking forward to hosting a playoff game on Saturday."
UP NEXT
Colgate hosts American Saturday night at 5 p.m.
The Eagles are the only team to defeat the Raiders in conference play this season, winning by a score of 3-0. American clinched after losing to Navy by a score of 1-0 with help from Loyola and Bucknell ending in a 0-0 draw.
