Men’s lacrosse earn top seed and home-field with upset over Colgate
By Kyle Barndollar
Sports Editor
Charlie Streep ’12 scored five goals and Joe Mele ’09 registered two goals and two assists as the No. 18 Bison men’s lacrosse team trounced No. 13 Colgate 19-11 in Hamilton, N.Y., Saturday, clinching the Patriot League regular season title.
With the win, the 8-6 Orange and Blue earn the right to host the Patriot League tournament this weekend at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. They will face fourth-seeded Army in the first round today at 3 p.m.
Colgate, who came into the game tied with the Bison’s record of 5-0 in the league, earns the second seed in the tournament and will have to beat No. 11 Navy, the third seed, if it hopes to repeat last year’s run to the NCAA Tournament. The game begins at 5:45 p.m., following the University’s game against Army.
“Colgate has shaped into a big rivalry game for us and we really wanted to get this win for the seniors,” Tim Brandau ’10 said. “We played with a lot of confidence and after a few shots went in we knew that they were not going to stop us all day.”
Ten different Bison registered at least one point in the win over Colgate, which had previously beaten the Orange and Blue five consecutive times, including twice in each of the last two seasons.
“We had the best week of preparation and practice I’ve ever seen in my life coming into this game,” Head Coach Frank Fedorjaka said. “I’ve never seen a team more motivated.”
It showed. The Orange and Blue scored on more than half of their 36 shot attempts, went two for three in extra-man opportunities, and outscored the Raiders 10-4 in the second half of play.
Streep scored the first two goals for the Bison, pulling the score to an even 2-2 after Colgate started the game on a 2-0 run. Another Colgate goal made it 3-2 before Brandau and Streep went back to back to give the Bison a 4-3 lead.
Colgate took a 6-5 lead with 10:09 left in the second period, but Perry Menzies ’09, Mike Danylyshyn ’11 and Mele each scored on a three goal run, putting the Bison back in the lead 8-6 with three minutes to play in the half.
Streep scored his fourth of the game, giving the Orange and Blue a 9-7 halftime lead with one second remaining in the half.
“Giving up seven goals in one half for us is really bad, but our offense really kept it going and kept us in it,” Fedorjaka said. “We made some halftime adjustments on defense that worked, and our offense kept putting up goals in the second half.”
The Bison dominated the third quarter on both ends of the field. The Orange and Blue scored six goals in the period to just one for the Raiders, who only managed six shots. Goalie Nick Sciubba ’09 made three of his 13 saves in the period.
Brandon Corp, three-time reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, scored the only goal of the third period for the Raiders, sandwiching his second of three goals on the day between two three-goal runs for the Bison.
Brandon Buchmayr ’11, Austin Winter ’10 and Chris Palmer ’10 all scored once in the first 7:07 of the period before Corp’s goal.
Just nine seconds after Corp scored to make it 12-8, defenseman Jason Neithamer ’12 scored his first goal of the year, setting off another three-goal run.
Palmer and Doug Buckley ’09 followed, stretching the score to 15-8 at the end of the third period.
The Bison coasted through the fourth, with Mele, Winter, Brandau and Streep all adding another goal in the final 15 minutes on the way to victory.
The Orange and Blue will now host their first-ever Patriot League tournament with the hope of making it to the NCAA Tournament. It is unlikely the Bison will earn an at-large bid to the tourney, so they must win the four-team conference tournament this weekend to earn a spot in NCAAs.
If the Bison can win today against Army, they will play the winner of Colgate and Navy Sunday at 3 p.m. for the conference championship.
