HAMILTON — Colgate tallied the final five goals of the game to rally from an 11-9 fourth-quarter deficit and beat Loyola of Maryland 14-11 in the Patriot League opener for both teams.
"Let me first start with the incredible respect that we have for Coach Toomey and his staff. They have built an incredible program, and Coach Toomey is one of the all-time greats. We are honored to get this win," said head coach Matt Karweck.
"As far as the game today, I'm so proud of the all around effort, poise, and fight that we had throughout the entire game. We do not stop, and we do not quit. We just send waves and waves of pressure, and eventually we break through," he added. "In all of our phases, I thought we did a great job. It is truly a testament to our preparation, our scout team, and our dedication to the process throughout the week."
The Raiders' Ryan Favaro knotted the game at 11 with 5:37 left off an assist from Rory Connor. The go-ahead goal followed 58 ticks later as Hunter Drouin drilled an unassisted shot by the Greyhound goaltender. Drouin made sure that Loyola wouldn't mount a comeback as he assisted on a Ben Trumble goal at the 3:28 mark and then made the game's final tally with an unassisted shot with 2:33 left in the contest.
The game started slowly, as Loyola drew first blood, but Colgate ended the first quarter with a 2-1 lead off goals from Jack Turner and Rory Connor. The Greyhounds came back with the first two goals of the second period before Turner tied the game on an assist from Max Yates. Loyola then ran off three consecutive scores for a 6-3 lead. Trumble scored with 5:35 left in the half followed by a Colin Ruppenstein solo tally to pull the Raiders within 6-5. Loyola closed the half with a score with 24 seconds left for a 7-5 Greyhound lead.
Colgate pulled within a single score with just over three minutes gone in the third quarter as Rory Connor scored unassisted. Loyola answered halfway through the period before Drouin dropped in an unassisted goal for the first of his three goals on the day. Turner then scored off a feed from Favaro to knot the score at 8-8. Loyola responded with a pair of goals to take a 10-8 advantage, but with just 19 seconds remaining in the third period Turner scored a man up goal off an assist from Rory Connor.
The Greyhounds pushed the lead back to two with the first goal of the fourth period, setting up Colgate's five-goal run to close out the contest. Rory Connor scored on an assist from Turner to start the Raiders' winning run.
Colgate's Matt LaCombe was outstanding in goal, making 20 saves, several of the spectacular variety. Yates led the Raiders' defensive effort with nine ground balls. Turner led Colgate with four goals and an assist, while Rory Connor had three goals and two assists. Druin added an assist to go along with his hat trick. Kyle Rummel won 14 of 24 faceoff skirmishes for the Raiders.
UP NEXT
Next Saturday, Colgate remains home for another Patriot League battle, facing Lafayette at 4 p.m.
