The No. 15 men’s lacrosse team gutted out a hard-fought 10-9 victory in double overtime against the Army Black Knights last Sunday at Andy Kerr Stadium. The Raiders never led until the final play, and only got to overtime by scoring two goals in the final minute.

Junior attackman Zack Craumer tallied the gamewinner, dunking the ball past Army net minder Tom Palesky for the goal with 1:04 left in the second extra period. Moments before it looked as if the Raiders were going to win the game, running a play that left Craumer open on the doorstep, but Craumer fired a behind the back shot wide.

“We ran the exact same play on the game winner,” Craumer said. “It was a slide-pick play, and the Army defense made the same mistake twice as they doubled [senior attackman Kevin] Colleluori. That left me wide open, and [senior attackman] Brandon [Corp] found me and I put it in the net.”

The Raiders were able to force overtime with a furious rally in the final minute of the fourth period. Trailing 9-7 with less than a minute to go, sophomore midfielder Rob Bosco drove down the ally to beat Palesky with his left hand from about 10 yards out. The Raiders then won the ensuing face-off, and it appeared that they would tie the game up when senior attackman Brandon Corp found fellow senior attackman Kevin Colleluori wide open on the crease, but Colleluori fired his shot wide from point-blank range after being slashed on his head. On the ensuing man-up sophomore attackman Ben McCabe scored on a nice 10-yard bounce shot on from the right wing with less than 10 seconds left to force the extra period.

“When Coach [Jim] Nagle took the timeout with less than a minute to go, we were all a bit nervous in the huddle,” Craumer said. “But coach reminded us that we could win the game, and we went out there and did it.”

Army’s defense suffocated the Raider attack in the first half, as Colgate was limited to only a single goal. The goal came from Colleluori, who stole the ball from Palesky after Palesky got the rebound off of junior middie Ian Murphy’s shot that glanced off the crossbar.

“In the first half we weren’t taking good shots, or running our offense, and once we did in the second half we were able to finish.” Craumer said. “The two quick goals to start the half really helped us build momentum.”

The Raiders were able to quickly tie the game up in the second half, as Corp was able to find a cutting Rob Bosco for a goal less than a minute into the second half. Colgate then scored 50 seconds later as Corp scored an unassisted goal. Corp finished with four points on the day with a pair of goals and assists, extending his point scoring streak to 42 games. He is now third on Colgate’s all-time career scoring list with 172 points, and he was also earned the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season for his efforts against Ohio State and Army. Furthermore, he leads Division I lacrosse in points per game.

Other notables for the Raiders were senior Nick Monastero, who finished with four points on a goal and three assists, one of those assists coming on the game-tying goal by Ben McCabe. Craumer tallied another goal and an assist outside of his game-winning goal for three points on the afternoon. Junior goalie Tim Harrington posted 12 saves, including a couple huge game-saving saves in overtime, and was named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week for the first time this season. Harrington is also the first Colgate goalie to ever beat both Army and Navy in a single season. Corp also racked in an award, winning the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week award.

With the win, the Raiders jumped to No. 15 in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media poll and the USILA Coaches Poll. Colgate’s next game is this Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. If Colgate wins that and a home game against Bucknell later this month, the Raiders will host the Patriot League Tournament during Spring Party Weekend, and what a scene that will be.