Mens Lacrosse
Early Season news and Patriot Leauge Preview
Colgate is coming off a 6-6 season witha 3-2 record in the Patriot league this year. In a preseason poll, Colgate was picked to finish 5th in the League of 7 with the favorite, Hobart, getting 33 votes, and the number 7 Holy Cross getting 7. Colgate had 15. One of the reasons for this low ranking was the fact that the Red Raiders lost most of their top offensive players from last season as well as their starting goalie. The early season for Colgate in this years campain saw a very tough, non league schedule. Colgate will face 6 schools ranked in the national top 25. Colgates first 5 games saw 5 losses. Georetown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Yale and Harvard provided the opposition. Colgate held its own at times, but never was able to play a solid 4 quarters. When the level of competition was taken down a level, Colgate trampled Albany 16-4 in the last non league game of the early season. Leading scorers for Colgate are Dany Grady and Parker Gibson. Gibson has 8 goals and 3 assists while Grady is even at 7 goals 7 assists after the first league game.
March 28th- At Army
Colgates first league opponent of the season. In the previous 19 meetings, the black knights have won them all and Army was voted to finish second in the league. Colgate played a very solid, consistant game. They were getting the little things right all game and was able to hold Army at bay. At the half it was 6-4 Colgate, but Army was not done yet. Colgate was required to stay one step ahead of them all the way until the very end. A string of 3 Army goals in the 4th tied things at 10. Colgate scored with about 2 minutes left then went of defense for the rest of the game. Army threatened, but could not get off a good shot. And Colgate gets the upset 11-10.
April 1st- Lafayette
The Leopards are near the bottom of the league, and Colgate went to work on them early. CU scored 4 times in the first 5 minutes alone. Paul Abrahimzadeh had a shutout going for the first 24 minutes of the game. Colgate was up 6-0, but a three goal run by Lafayette put them back in the game. The 3rd quarter was evenly played, but Colgate got two goals and shutout Lafayette again. Colgate fell apart in the 4th. They did not score once, and were having ball control problems. Lafayette scored 3 times to pull within two with almost 10 minutes left. Colgate hung on, and I was not confident we would win until the very end. Something interesting thats worth mention was that each of Colgates 9 goals was scored by a different person. Colgate advances to 2-0 in the league with a 9-7 win.
April 5th - At Hobart
Hobart is the number 18 team in the nation, and really showed it tonight. Hobart was in the lead early, but Colgate stuck with them through the first. That was it though, Hobart scored 6 in the second. Colgate began a scoring drought that would last almost half the game. The Red Raiders managed just 10 shots on goal the entire night. Colgate had 12 saves, but let in 20. Colgate's big guns were silent all night, but Colgate did manage 5 goals. This was Colgates first league loss, as they go down 20-5.
April 8th - Holy Cross
Colgate got back to basics for this contest. They pulled out to an early lead in the first as they outshot Holy Cross. Colgates passing and transition game was holding HC inside their own zone. The Red Raider defense gave way for a while in the second and third. The Crusaders battled back from 6-1 to pull within 1 before Colgate took off again. Colgate scored 4 unanswered goals in the final quarter. In goal, Paul Abrahimzadeh recorded 9 saves, but man were some of them really good. O'Reilly led the charge with 4 goals, Dobbins and Gibson added 3 each, while Grady made one goal but had 4 helpers to take Colgate to a final of 13-7. Holy Cross was in it right until the final quarter, but Colgate got the little things right and had a solid game.
April 14th - At Bucknell
Colgate held its own for a period against the 18th in the nation Bison. Colgate was down by 1 until the Bison scored 5 unanswered goals to set the pace for the rest of the game. Danny Grady scored 2 while Dave Dobbins netted one and had Colgates only assist. Colgate losses its second in the league, 13-4
April 22nd - Lehigh
Colgate's final game of the season. It was a dreary, rainy day at Tylers field. Colgate looked good early, and scored the first two goals and finished the first quarter up 3-1. Lehigh eliminated thier mistakes and went on a 5 goal run that buried Colgate. Lehigh built their lead for the rest of the game, but Colgate rallied late in the 4th to narrow Lehigh's lead to 2, unfortunatly, thats when time ran out. Colgate outshot Lehigh all game and had more shots on goal as well. But Colgate's save percentage was less than 50% and we gave up 5 goals with a man out. The final is 11-9, Lehigh.
Season Review
I'd have to call this a somewhat average season. Colgate aimed high and took on some tough opponents early in the season. Colgate was able to keep up with them for parts of the games, but we never quite got to play a full game with all our players. The highlight of the season was a 11-10 win as West Point. It broke a 19 game winning streak by Army over us and was the first time we have ever beaten them. Returning for next years season will be our goalie, who was ranked the lowest in the league this year, but had some great games as well. Look for him to improve even more. Colgate will also be returning 2 of our top 3 scorers in Danny Grady and Parker Gibson. Our defense should also perform up to par despite some key losses. Off season recruiting and training will be important to the teams success next year as the Patriot League is actually moving up in the national rankings for Lacrosse and has had more than 1 team ranked in the national top 25.
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