The Colgate men’s lacrosse team suffered their sixth straight defeat at the hands of the No. 9 Navy Midshipmen 16-9 on Saturday afternoon. The Raiders fall to 3-8 overall and 1-5 in conference play. The Mids improved to 8-2 and 6-1 in conference play.

Colgate jumped out to an early 2-0 lead just four minutes into the contest behind goals from junior attacker Robby Dunigan and first–year midfielder Duncan Hoskinson. But Colgate would fail to find the back of the net for the next 22:05. In that time, Navy scored eight goals, three of which came from sophomore midfielder Casey Rees. The Raiders broke the scoring drought when junior midfielder Jack Stebbins scored his seventh goal of the season with 4:48 remaining in the half. The Raiders would face an uphill battle, down 8-3 at the half.

The Midshipmen were able to open their lead up when they scored two goals in the first minute of the third quarter. Navy found the back of the net twice more, completing a 12-1 scoring onslaught after falling behind 2-0 early in the first quarter. Raiders senior midfielder Tyler Rigo ended the scoring drought when he scored his eighth goal of the season. Colgate was able to cut into the lead late in the third quarter when sophomore attacker Anthony Abbadessa scored, followed by Stebbins’ second goal of the game and then another by Abbadessa on the man-up. Abbadessa’s two goals gave him 14 on the season, which leads the team. The Raiders would enter the fourth quarter still trailing by five goals at 12-7.

Navy slammed the door shut on any hopes of a Raider comeback when first-year midfielder Grayson Torain and senior attacker T.J. Hanzsche scored goals 28 seconds apart to push their lead to seven with 12:24 to play. Despite the deficit, Stebbins would complete his first career hat-trick with 11:25 remaining in the game. Navy attacker Hanzsche also completed his fourth quarter hat trick with two goals coming nearly nine minutes apart in the fourth quarter. Rigo completed the scoring, netting his second goal of the game with just 13 seconds remaining, giving the game its final score at 16-9.

Junior goaltender Brandon Burke had 10 saves on the afternoon, a few of the highlight reel variety to keep the Raiders threatening. Of note were two Raider unsportsmanlike penalties late in the first quarter by Burke and senior midfielder Cam Williams that Navy capitalized on by scoring three goals. Clearly this mental mistake shifted momentum in favor of the Mids. The Raiders were outshot 43-30, beat in the ground ball battle 39-23 and defeated in the face-off category 18-8. First–year attacker Sam Cleveland added three assists in the game, bringing his team leading total to 24 points on the season.

The men’s team will be back in action this Saturday when the Holy Cross

Crusaders come to Hamilton on Senior Day for the Raiders. The Crusaders, who are having a dismal 2-10 season, recorded their first Patriot League victory this season after defeating Lafayette 11-6 on the same day that

Colgate fell to Navy.

The weather on Saturday will finally reach the mid-60s and Colgate will look to capitalize on the good conditions. Come out to Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium to support your men’s lacrosse team. The 2016 version of Spring Coming will feature the second annual wing cook-off, sponsored by Colgate Sport’s Marketing & Promotions. Proceeds from the wing-cook off will benefit the Bob Woodruff Foundation.