No. 19 Colgate Men's Lacrosse Team Opens with Win Over Bryant

HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/11/12) – The No. 19 Colgate men's lacrosse team opened the 2012 season with an exciting 10-8 win over Bryant on Saturday afternoon at Andy Kerr Stadium.

This was Mike Murphy's first game and win as a Division I men's lacrosse head coach.

Junior Peter Baum led the way with a game-high five points from four goals and one assist while senior co-captain Jeff Ledwick tallied two goals and one assist. Senior Colby Wilson also had a multi-point game with one goal and one assist while junior Matt Baker and freshmen Ryan Walsh and Matt Clarkson scored one goal apiece. Junior Michael Thomas also added two points from two assists.

Colgate (1-0) came out to a strong start in its first game of the 2012 season. After starting the game playing defense, the Raiders turned things around quickly, netting their first goal of the season less than three minutes into play. Ledwick used his speed to get past his defender and then fired the ball into the back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead. Sixty-eight seconds later, Clarkson tallied Colgate's second goal with help from Wilson to put the score at 2-0. The Raiders continued to put pressure on Bryant's net for the rest of the quarter, forcing its goalie to make some solid saves to keep his team in the game.

The second period was the most fruitful of the four, with a total of seven goals being scored in the 15 minutes of play. Colgate struck first with a long-range shot from Baum to stretch its lead to 3-0. Feeling the pressure, the Bulldogs battled back as they began to find their offensive rhythm. A pair of penalties on the Raiders gave Bryant an opportunity to answer back, tallying its first goal of the game at the 10:19 mark during an extra-man opportunity to reduce the score to 3-1. The goal ignited the Bulldog's offense which then found back-to-back goals 32 seconds apart in the next two minutes to tie the game at 3-3. The teams then rallied back and forth over the next eight minutes. Colgate jumped ahead once again with goals from Baum and Baker at the 6:25 and 4:09 marks to reclaim its lead with the score at 5-3. Baum's man-up goal was assisted Thomas while Baker's even-strength tally had help from Ledwick. However, a late goal from Bryant with 1:44 left in the quarter had the Bulldogs within one going into half time.

The Raiders found their spark once again early in the third period, finding the back of the net twice, 15 seconds apart, just 1:40 into the frame. Baum scored the first goal on an unassisted play while Wilson scored the second goal on a man-up opportunity with help from Thomas. The offensive surge forced Bryant to pick up its intensity, resulting in it scoring a goal at the 9:24 mark. However, it was not enough to deter Colgate, which answered back with its eighth goal courtesy of Baum to restore its three-goal advantage and put the score at 8-5. However, like the previous period, a late man-up goal from the Bulldogs in the final two minutes of the period then put the score at 8-6 going into the final 15 minutes of play.

Bryant broke the Raiders' lead once again with a strong start to the period in which it scored two goals just 2:05 into the frame. With the score tied at 8-8, both teams began to play a more physical and aggressive game as they fought to claim the lead in what had become a thrilling end to the game. However, in the end it was Colgate that proved to be the stronger team, tallying a goal at the 8:23 mark from Walsh and then finding an insurance goal from Ledwick with an assist from Baum with 7:02 left in the game, to eventually secure the 10-8 win.

Senior goalie Jared Madison had nine saves for the Raiders while Jameson Love had 12 for Bryant. Colgate had a 40-34 shooting advantage, going 3-for-7 on extra-man opportunities while the Bulldogs scored on two of their three advantages.

Colgate will look to secure its second win of the season next weekend when it hosts Vermont on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 12 p.m.