Men's Lacrosse Falls to Colgate, 11-8

HAMILTON, N.Y. - Lafayette dropped an 11-8 conference final to Colgate on Saturday afternoon at Andy Kerr Stadium.

Benjamin DiBattista continued his stellar sophomore campaign. The Westwood, Mass. native scored twice and now claims 31 goals this season. He has scored at least two goals in eight contests.

The hosts opened the contest with a goal at 13:19 in the first to capture an early 1-0 lead. The Leopards countered two minutes later when Billy Irish collected his third goal in the last two games. With just under eight minutes left, Colgate's Andrew Kiefer broke the 1-1 tie. Another Raider score at 4:45 granted Colgate a 3-1 advantage that held until the end of the period.

Thanks to Aidan Kopen and Joshua Heaney, Lafayette closed the gap in the second stanza. Hunter Droudin and the Raiders struck first, scoring with 13:43 on the clock for a 4-1 lead. At 9:17, Kopen fired a pass from Nick Muller into the back of the net to pull within two (4-2). Less than a minute later, the Maroon and White scored again courtesy of Heaney. As the quarter came to a close, Colgate controlled a 4-3 lead.

In the first half, the Leopards won eight of the nine faceoff opportunities. Junior faceoff specialist Nick Faccone was a perfect 4-of-4 at the X, while freshman Luka Vecchione won three.

Lafayette kicked off the second half with back-to-back goals to take its first lead of the day. Benjamin DiBattista notched a goal at 13:23 in the third prior to Charlie Foley scoring his seventh goal of the season for a 5-4 lead. The final eight minutes of the quarter belonged to the hosts. Colgate rallied with a three-goal stretch to take a 7-5 advantage into the final 15 minutes of action. In the period, the Raiders scooped up 15 ground balls to the Leopards' five.

The fourth quarter began with another three-goal run, this time from the Maroon and White. Joseph Duggan, George Urich and DiBattista all scored in the first three minutes of the stanza to retake an 8-7 advantage. Following Urich's goal, the Raiders' defense stepped up. Colgate held the Leopards scoreless over the remaining 12 minutes of action, while adding on four goals for an 11-8 final. Ryan Favaro was the hero for the Raiders, tallying the decisive score that retook a 9-8 lead.

DiBattista paced the Leopards with two goals. Seven members of the Maroon and White recorded at least two ground balls.

Faccone was masterful in his faceoff battles, winning nine of 10 attempts in addition to collecting six ground balls. In 23 faceoffs, the Leopards won 17 duels,

Joe Doherty was dealt the loss after finishing with a 54.2 save percentage. The senior goalkeeper tallied 13 saves while allowing all 11 goals. Colgate's Andrew Lehrman recorded a win after making 15 stops and allowing eight goals (65.2 save percentage).

The Maroon and White return home to Fisher Stadium on April 11, hosting Loyola Md. at 12 p.m. for Community Youth Day.

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