Following its season-opening victory, the Raider men’s lacrosse team overcame an early fourth period deficit on Saturday afternoon to defeat Sacred Heart, 12-10 in a game that was marked by extremely streaky scoring on both sides. Senior midfielder Brian Robinson upstaged everyone by leading the way for the Raiders with a career-best five goals.

Sacred Heart opened the game with a goal in the first minute of play. However, in a manner that would be indicative of what was to come for the half, the Raiders responded by scoring four unanswered goals. Nevertheless, the Pioneers managed to squeak a goal past senior goaltender Andrew Jarolimek with one second left in the first period to keep the game close.

The second period was nearly identical, with Sacred Heart opening and closing the period with a goal. However, Colgate managed to sandwich three goals between the Pioneer tallies, putting the score at 7-4 heading into halftime.

Sacred Heart halted the trend in the second half by scoring two goals in the final minute of the third quarter to cap an unanswered four-goal outburst from the Pioneers that gave the team a one-goal edge. The Raiders then came back with consecutive goals at the start of the final period to regain the lead and, after Sacred Heart briefly tied the game, Colgate’s offense took over to secure the 12-10 win.

“It was a definitely a good team and a good win for us,” head coach Jim Nagle said. “I think that we are continuing to improve each week. It was a hard fought game and Sacred Heart is a team that usually only has about a .500 record, but plays an incredibly tough schedule; so it’s a good win for us, even if it may not be perceived as a tremendous win.”

Robinson scored one goal in the first quarter and two each in the second and fourth periods to give him five nets. Sophomore attacker Matt Lalli had a goal and an assist, while seniors Reid Diamond and Robert Trasolini, juniors Brendan Hurley and Rob Ryan, sophomore Trevor Marticke and first-year Nick Monastero all scored goals for the Raiders. Monastero’s tally was the first of his Colgate career.

On Saturday, the Raiders will travel west to Colorado to play the 20th-ranked University of Denver. Denver, which coincidently also sports the nickname of Pioneers, is coming off a huge upset over then 13th-ranked University of North Carolina. Even though the Raiders are going to be playing in the “Mile High City,” Nagle is not concerned about the effects of altitude on the team’s performance.

“We won’t have any extra preparation [for the altitude], since the altitude studies have all been researched at 6,200 feet and Denver is only 5,000, so it doesn’t have a major impact on your play,” Nagle said. “We are going to be out there for three days, so we should be pretty well adjusted by the time game time is there. It’s a good opportunity for us; they just beat North Carolina last weekend so they should be ranked fairly high.”