HAMILTON — Colgate clawed its way back from an early 5-0 deficit but could not complete the comeback despite cutting the lead to one twice, falling 9-7 to Lehigh on Senior Day Saturday afternoon.
"It is pretty simple, we didn't play Colgate Lacrosse. They slowed the pace of play, and we dug ourselves a hole," said head coach
Matt Karweck. "We didn't close the way we close, didn't finish the way we finish, and didn't attack the ground balls the way we usually do. That's how we play, and today, we didn't play like that for all four quarters," he added.
"The good news is that we are motivated to get better, our seniors are ready to take the next step, and our team is hungry. Not our best day, but the league is wide open, and our best lacrosse is yet to be played."
The Raiders outscored the Mountain Hawks 4-1 in the third, beginning with a goal from
Liam Connor 30 seconds in. After Lehigh scored, Colgate ended the quarter on a 3-0 run.
Hunter Drouin started it, firing one in with 6:03 remaining. The Raiders then scored twice in the final 24 seconds, first from
Rory Connor.
Michael Minicus caught a full-field pass from
Patty Eldredge with three seconds left and then put in an impressive diving shot on a dive to make it 6-5.
Lehigh notched the first goal of the fourth quarter, but Colgate responded with
Rory Connor's second of the afternoon to make it a one-goal contest again at 7-6. The Raiders once again cut the deficit to one at the 3:37 mark, but a tally from Lehigh 44 seconds later sealed the deal.
The Mountain Hawks scored four times in the opening quarter, including twice in the final minute. Lehigh added another early in the second to push its advantage to five. Eldredge recorded the Raiders' lone first-half goal with 1:20 left, making it 5-1 at halftime.
Colgate outshot Lehigh 34-25, including a 17-13 edge in shots on goal.
Rory Connor led the team in points with four, tallying two goals and two assists.
Max Yates and
Aidan Murnane each logged a team-high three caused turnovers, while Yates also picked up a team-best eight ground balls.
UP NEXT
The Raiders are back on the road next Saturday for their penultimate Patriot League regular season game, taking on Holy Cross at 3:30
