Seeking to carry over its momentum from last weekend’s victory over Marist, the Raider men’s lacrosse team, led by first-year Brandon Corp, returned to league play with a strong 11-6 win over Holy Cross on Saturday. The win improved the Raiders’ record to 7-2 overall, and was their second win in three Patriot League contests this year, putting the team in a three-way tie for second-place in the league with Lehigh and Army.

Corp notched the first hat-trick of his career in the win, while sophomores Trevor Marticke and Matt Lalli each netted two goals. The loss left Holy Cross still in search of its first win of the season, lowering their record to 0-8 and 0-3 in the Patriot League. Despite the level of competition, the team was happy with the win.

“We are always excited to get a win over a Patriot League team, especially on the road,” assistant coach Mike Borsz said. “We are dreaming big with the goal of being Patriot League champions and we cannot afford to take anyone lightly. We had a good team effort and we were able to sub some of our more inexperienced guys into the game. All in all it was a good effort from all involved.”

Corp started the scoring with a goal five minutes in, followed by senior Reid Diamond’s tally six minutes later to give the Raiders an early 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second period, Corp once again found the back of the net before the Crusaders could beat senior goaltender Andrew Jarolimek. The Raiders went into halftime with a 4-1 lead when senior Brian Robinson scored to close the half.

Holy Cross scored early in the second half, followed by four scoreless minutes before Colgate responded in tremendous fashion, scoring seven consecutive goals, including five goals in the last six minutes of the third quarter. Holy Cross ended the game on a four-goal run, but the game was already out of reach – the final score ended at 11-6.

With his three goals, Corp was named the Patriot League Rookie of the week for the second time in three weeks. For the season, the Chittenango, NY, native has amassed 12 goals this season, which places him in fourth on the team.

“Brandon has showed tremendous athleticism and skill on the field,” Borsz said. “He has been given those opportunities because of the nine other guys on the field with him. We have been playing some of the best team offense Colgate has seen this year. We are working for a great shot – not a good shot – and Brandon and every other guy has done a good job of running an unselfish offense set to that principle.”

Borsz also cited the team’s upperclassmen for setting good examples for the rest of the team.

“I cannot give enough credit to our seniors who have worked to create that unselfish style,” he said. “[Senior] Rob Trasolini especially has done a good job for us quarterbacking the offense and accepting his leadership role while still being a scoring threat in the offensive half of the field.”

The Raiders have a tough week ahead of them, playing against Patriot League foe Lehigh on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Tyler’s Field and then traveling to Binghamton on Tuesday. Both teams have defeated ranked teams this year and both also have received votes in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Coaches’ Poll.

Lehigh is one of the three teams tied with Colgate for second-place in the Patriot League. Therefore, Saturday’s contest against the Mountain Hawks will undoubtedly be very important for the ultimate outcome of the season.

“Lehigh has some good skilled players who are more than capable of putting together a good game, but we must stick to our own game plan of playing together on both sides of the field,” Borsz said. “We will have to be patient and possess the ball on the offensive end and play as a unit down on the defensive end. Lehigh has a solid defensive unit, but we also possess the highest scoring offense in the Patriot League and feel we match up nicely in that category.”

Colgate will have only two days off between its two contests, as compared an entire week that the team has been accustomed to for most of this season. The coaching staff understands the difficulties of playing games so close together, but does not expect it to affect the Raiders’ play, especially since both teams are going to be playing under the same circumstances.

“There is a slight disadvantage to having only two days to prepare for the next contest, but the guys have done a great job of coming to play and being ready for each contest so far,” Borsz said. “As of right now we are focusing on Lehigh and that task at hand and hopefully being one step closer to reaching our goal of being Patriot League champs.”