HAMILTON — A strong second quarter led the Raiders to a 16-10 victory over Lafayette Saturday afternoon at Andy Kerr Stadium, giving them a 2-0 start to Patriot League play.
Hunter Drouin finished as Colgate's leading goal scorer, finding the back of the net four times.
Michael Minicus tallied a team-best six points with a goal and five assists.
Jack Turner (3G, 2A) and
Rory Connor (1G, 4A) also logged five-point performances.
The Raiders opened the game on a 5-2 run, with
Charlie Lohman scoring at the 12:12 mark and Minicus following 29 seconds later. After a Leopards goal,
Liam Connor and Drouin recorded tallies 47 seconds apart, putting their team up 4-2 with just over nine minutes left. Turner added to the run with his first three minutes later.
Lafayette notched three in a row to tie the game at 5-5 with 1:04 remaining. Colgate got the last tally of the quarter after
Rory Connor fired one in with 12 seconds left to retake the lead.
A big second helped Colgate take off and never look back. The Raiders opened the quarter on a 7-0 run. Turner got the first two, finding the back of the net seconds in then doing the same just over a minute later.
Griffin Walker then put one in at the 11:01 mark.
A man-up goal from Drouin pushed the Raiders' advantage to five at 10-5 with just over six minutes left.
Liam Connor then got the next two for Colgate followed by another from Drouin at the three minute mark.
The Leopards closed the quarter with two of their own, but the Raiders took a 13-7 advantage into the locker room at halftime. The teams combined for just two goals in the third. The Raiders scored first with just under seven minutes on the clock, and the visitors got one with a minute and a half left.
Lafayette made a late push at the start of the fourth, scoring three straight to cut the deficit to four at 14-10. Colgate secured the victory with insurance goals from Drouin and
Ben Trumble.
Matt LaCombe made nine saves in goal for the Raiders, and he also caused two turnovers, tied for the team lead with
John Carrabine.
Max Yates scooped up a team-best seven ground balls.
Kyle Rummel went 15-of-26 from the face off 'x' and collected five ground balls.
UP NEXT
The Raiders are back on the road next Saturday, heading to Bucknell for a 4 p.m. contest.
