The Colgate men’s lacrosse team had a great showing just in time for Senior Day this past Friday in their second-to-last regular season game against Lafayette. Colgate continued the winning streak that they have maintained against Lafayette since 2001, winning their ninth straight home game against Lafayette. Junior attack Anthony Abbadessa had yet another strong performance. Starting the team off on the right foot, he tallied a natural hat trick with 3:04 left in the game’s first quarter, giving the Raiders a very promising start. Later on in the game, Abbadessa brought Colgate to a 10-3 lead against Lafayette once the third quarter had closed. Abbadessa matched his record collegiate high of four goals this game. Colgate men’s lacrosse head coach, Mike Murphy, offered his praise for Abbadessa’s performance on Friday.

“Anthony worked really hard in practice this week, trying to do some different things from a dodging standpoint. And he found some opportunities, which was good,” Murphy said.

First-year Griffin Brown has been an excellent new asset to the Raiders this season, and this game was no exception. Brown extended his goal-scoring streak to 12 games with a turnaround shot on Lafayette’s goal with just 1:28 to go in the game, bringing Colgate’s tally to eleven goals. Colgate gave up six goals at the end of the game, but hit a season-high of 49 shots on Lafayette goalkeeper Jonathan Anastos. Though Anastos saved a record 19 shots throughout the course of the game, it still wasn’t enough to hold the Raiders back. 

Sophomore Sam Cleveland kept his team points lead with 35 on 18 goals and a team-high of 17 assists, helping with two of the goals Friday for his seventh multi-assist game of the season. Senior midfielder Peter Donato also contributed multiple assists, marking his third game this season in which he did so. First-year Nicky Petkevich also scored two of the eleven goals on Friday, marking his fifth multi-goal game of the season, tying Cleveland and Abbadessa for second on the team. Senior goalkeeper Brandon Burke had 18 saves on two occasions this season, 11 of which happened during the second quarter of the game, just coming shy of the 19-save record set by Anastos on Friday.

This game was the seniors’ time to shine, as it was Senior Day. Eleven of the Colgate seniors were recognized before the game, including senior captain Jackson Patterson, who returned to the starting lineup on defense following his absence in the past three games due to illness.

“It was great having Jackson back out there – we certainly missed him – and it’s always great to get a win for the seniors on Senior Night. We’re just looking at it as a two-game season. We wanted to get our last Patriot League victory in the books, and we did that. We’ll take some time to heal and then get ready to play Syracuse,” Murphy said.

This is also the third game in a row that Colgate has scored double digits against their opponent. The Raiders improved their record to 5-8 at the close of the game, with just one more game against Syracuse in the regular season to go, which will take place Saturday, May 6 at 12 p.m. in Hamilton.