Colgate Men's Lacrosse Soars Past Hobart, 18-8
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HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/6/12) - The Colgate men's lacrosse team's offense came alive once again on Tuesday afternoon as the team soared past Hobart 18-8 on Tuesday afternoon in their fourth win of the season.
This was the most goals the Raiders have scored against Hobart since the teams first met in 1921. This was also their second straight win by 10 goals, having defeated Robert Morris 24-14 last weekend.
Leading the way once again was junior Peter Baum who had a game-high nine points from six goals, including the game-winner, and three assists to improve his total to 30 points with 23 goals and seven assists. The junior was followed by senior co-captain Jeff Ledwick who had four points from three goals and one assist while freshman Ryan Walsh and sophomore Justin Kirchner added three goals apiece. Junior Matt Baker also had one goal and two helpers for three points as well while sophomore Brendon McCann had one goal and one assist, and junior Denis Brown had one goal in the game.
Junior Robert Grabher had a strong showing at the faceoff X for Colgate (4-1), winning 17 of 28 faceoffs and collecting a team-high nine groundballs. Defensively, sophomore Kevin Boyle had a solid performance with four groundballs and three caused turnovers while sophomore Bobby Lawrence held Hobart's leading scorer without a point and only one shot in the game.
The Raiders got on the scoreboard early, scoring the opening goal when Ledwick picked up a pass from freshman Matt Clarkson, dodged his defender and then shot the ball into the back of the net just 2:27 into play. Colgate then played some strong defense which then led to a goal by Baum at the 8:38 mark after he picked up a groundball, curled around the right post and then fired the ball into the top of the goal. Walsh then put the score at 3-0 after a failed clear by the Statesmen that was caused by Baum. He picked up the ball and then fired a left-handed shot past the goalie. He was followed by Baum who scored at the 2:53 mark with an assist from Baker to put the score at 4-0, but then a pair of goals from Hobart at the 2:06 and 1:11 marks put the game within two at 4-2. A goal from Baum with five seconds left in the period eventually put the score at 5-2 at the end of the first 15 minutes of play.
In the second quarter Hobart turned things around, getting on the board first with a goal just 1:01 into play. Baum then found his fourth goal of the game with an assist from Ledwick at the 12:15 mark but then the Statesmen responded with a goal less than a minute later to reduce the score to 6-4. This proved to be the smallest scoring margin of the game. Colgate then went on to tally a trio of goals from Baker, Baum and Kirchner to increase its lead to 9-4 going into half time. Clarkson had an assist in Baker's goal while McCann assisted on Baum's tally.
The Raiders extended their lead in the third period, scoring three back-to-back goals in the first five minutes to put the score at 12-4. Ledwick scored the team's first man-up goal of the game off a pass from Baum at the 14:19 mark. Less than 60 seconds later, Walsh tallied an unassisted goal and was then followed by McCann who had help from Baum to score the team's 12th goal at the 10:54 mark. The Statesmen finally struck back with their first goal of the quarter at the 10:17 mark, but Colgate followed it up with two quick goals from Baum and Kirchner to increase its lead once again. Hobart eventually found its sixth and seventh goals of the game in the closing minutes, but the Raiders' answered back with a goal in the final 43 seconds of the period to take a 15-7 advantage going into the final 15 minutes of the game.
Colgate then went on to tally three more goals from Walsh, Kirchner, and Brown, which was on an extra-man opportunity, to eventually secure an 18-8 win. The Raiders outshot Hobart 58-29 in the game, went 17-for-20 on their clears and held a 44-32 advantage in groundballs.
Senior goalie Jared Madison had 10 saves in his fourth win of the season while sophomore Conor Murphy had two stops in 4:51 of play. Peter Zonino had 17 saves for the Statesmen. Colgate went 2-for-6 on its extra-man opportunities while holding Hobart scoreless in its three opportunities.
The Raiders will resume play this weekend when they travel to Holy Cross for their first Patriot League matchup of the season on Saturday, Mar. 10 at 12 p.m.