The 15th-ranked men’s lacrosse team posted two more wins, running its winning streak to seven games. The Raiders were able to beat host Lehigh 10-8 last Saturday at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and survived an inspired Binghamton team 11-9 on a bitterly cold Tuesday night at Andy Kerr Stadium. The Raiders now stand at 8-3 on the season.

Leading the way for the Raiders against Lehigh was first-year middie Chris Zielinski, who matched his career-high with four points coming on two goal and two assists. Zielinski was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week, and his 12 points is the most a Colgate rookie has had since senior attackman Brandon Corp had 25 his freshman season in 2006.

“It’s nice to get recognition for having a good game, but I care about team recognition much more because I feel we [Colgate] don’t get enough,” Zielinski said. “I also have to attribute some of my success to our offensive coach Coach Gibson who told me what I needed to do to play, so I had a good idea of what I needed to work on to get better and earn playing time.”

Corp extended his point-scoring streak to 43 games with a five-point outing, including the game-winning goal, on a goal and four helpers. Corp leads the nation in points per game this season at 4.5. Senior attackman Kevin Colleluori rounded out the scoring for the Raiders with three goals of his own.

Zielinski tallied the first two goals of the game for the Raiders in his first collegiate lacrosse game back in his home state of Pennsylvania.

“It was nice to play back in my home state,” Zielinski said, “My parents drove up for the game, so did my aunt, and it was nice to have some family at the game.”

Zielinski’s second goal of the game gave the Raiders a lead at 2-1 that they would never relinquish. The Raiders led 2-1 at the end of one, 5-2 at the half, 8-5 after the third and pulled out the victory 10-8. Senior defenseman Andrew Watkins and first-year attackman Pat Campbell both recorded their first collegiate goals in the contest. Lehigh was able to out-shoot Colgate 40-26, and Colgate turned the ball over 16 times, but it was to no avail. The Mountain Hawks could not pull out the victory as the Raider defense withstood the barrage of shots and sloppy play.

Colgate’s largest lead of the game came in the third quarter at 8-3. The five-goal lead was the culmination of a three-goal run by Colgate on goals from Colleluori, junior attackman Zack Craumer and senior middie Nick Monastero. For Colleluori it was his third goal of the afternoon, and his 26th on the season, which gave him the most goals on the squad at the time. However, Lehigh responded with four unanswered goals of their own to cut the lead to 8-7 two minutes into the fourth quarter. The Raiders then responded with goals from Corp and Campbell to put the Mountain Hawks away. Junior Tim Harrington posted another double-digit save effort with 11, eight of which came in the second half. With the victory Colgate clinched a berth in the Patriot League Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.

On Tuesday night, the Raiders were able to escape with an 11-9 victory against the lowly Binghamton Bobcats amidst April snow flurries at Andy Kerr. The victory was Colgate’s seventh in a row against in-state rival Binghamton who fell to 1-9 on the season with the loss. The attack trio of senior Kevin Colleluori, senior Brandon Corp and junior Zack Craumer lead the way for the Raiders. They combined for eight of the Raiders’ 11 goals on the night. Colleluori had five points on three goals and two assists, while Corp had four points on as many goals. Craumer had two points on a goal and an assist. Corp extended his point-scoring streak to 44 games, and with the four goals reached the 50-point plateau for the third season in a row. It was Corp’s eighth multi-point game in a row; he has only been held under two points once this season. Colleluori and Corp are now tied for the lead in goals on the team with 29 each. Corp now only trails Bryant’s senior attackman Zack Greer by a mere point for the overall lead in points this season across the nation. The Raiders were without junior middie Ian Murphy against Binghamton, who was injured against Lehigh but looks to return before the Patriot League Tournament starts on the 24th.

Binghamton scored the first two goals of the game, and did not relinquish the lead until midway through the fourth quarter. Every time the Raiders would tie up the game, Binghamton would quickly answer with a goal of their own. Despite being down 2-0 early, the Raiders were able to tie up the game with a late flurry of goals including a goal from sophomore middie Ben McCabe with .7 seconds remaining in the first quarter when he beat senior Binghamton goalie Larry Kline low from about 12 yards out. Colgate found itself down early on in the fourth quarter 7-6, but Corp took the ball from behind the net and scored unassisted to tie the game. Binghamton responded with another goal, but once again, Corp scored unassisted and wowed the crowd with his athletic prowess. Zielinski gave the Raiders their first lead of the game with his sixth goal of the season when he took the ball around the restraining line and faked a split dodge, which sent the Binghamton middie crashing to the ground. Zielinski then set his feet and fired a laser into the top right corner past Kline. The Raiders have always been a fourth-quarter team, and today was no exception as Colgate tallied five goals in the fourth.

“There was a lack of energy on our part throughout the whole game, but when we decided to turn it on in the fourth we got things going. Luckily we only needed one solid quarter to get it done,” Zielinski said.

Tim Harrington had another double-digit save game, his fourth in his last five games, with eleven saves.

The No. 15 Raiders hit the road to face Lafayette on Saturday at 3 p.m.