After losing their first two games of the season to Hofstra and Vermont, the Men’s La­crosse team rebounded on Saturday with a 13-8 win over Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hamp­shire. The game concluded the Raiders’ season-opening three-game road trip, and sophomore midfielder Peter Baum had a career day, tally­ing six goals off of only seven shots against the Big Green. Senior co-captain Andrew Mould extended his scoring streak with two goals and an assist, and senior attackman Ben McCabe, last season’s leading scorer, also chipped in two goals. Fellow senior co-captain Rob Bosco, ju­nior John Donnally and first-year Jimmy Ryan rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece from the midfield. Senior co-captain Greg Per­kins, senior Will Treichler, and freshman Bobby Lawrence anchored the defense for the Raiders.

The Big Green notched the first goal of the game, but the Raiders responded quickly, with Baum scoring two goals in a span of seven sec­onds, the second of which came off a pass from senior midfielder Jim Carroll. In addition to assisting Baum’s second goal, Carroll scooped 10 groundballs – more than any other player in the game – and won 13 of 21 draws at the face-off circle. Mould scored an unassisted goal just over a minute after Baum’s second tally, but Dartmouth countered with a late first-quarter goal to bring the score to 3-2 entering the second quarter.

Ryan snuck one past the Big Green goalie just 40 seconds into the second quarter, but the Big Green netted their third goal three minutes later to come within one again. Although the two teams traded goals to begin the second quarter, Baum scored his third and fourth goals to end the half, at the 5:15 and 3:30 marks, respectively. The second came off a feed from Bosco, and the Raiders entered the half with comfortable 6-3 lead.

Apparently unsatisfied with the three-goal cushion, the Raiders opened the third quarter with two goals, the first an unassisted marker from Donnally and the second from Baum off a feed from junior attackman Patrick Camp­bell. Dartmouth scored with 4:14 remaining to come within four of the Raiders, but McCabe answered just 13 seconds later with his first of the game off a pass from senior Dave Tuc­ciarone. His second goal came just under two minutes later, giving Colgate a 10-4 advantage entering the final quarter.

Dartmouth came out firing to start the fourth quarter, however; they launched a three-goal run, coming within three of the visiting Raiders with 11:22 to play. Bosco responded, scoring an unassisted marker to give Colgate a four-goal lead. Dartmouth scored again with a goal at the 5:40 mark, but the Raiders quelled the Big Green surge with two more tallies to close the game. Mould found Baum for his sixth goal of the game and also notched the final goal of the game for the Raiders.

The Colgate offense shined, especially in light of Baum’s performance, but the Raiders were also stellar on defense and in transition. They faced 42 shots from the Big Green but junior Jared Madison made 10 saves and the defense was able to force enough poor shots to seal the win. Pos­session was also key to the Colgate victory – the Raiders were an exceptional 22 of 24 on clears and won 51 groundballs to Dartmouth’s 33. Baum (6 goals, 2 assists) and Mould (6 goals, 1 assist) stand as the team’s leading scorers through the first three games.

Then, on Monday the men were back in ac­tion at home when they faced and defeated Rob­ert Morris. The Colonials came out to great start, taking the first face-off and scoring at 14:03 to

take the first lead. Colgate responded well as sophomore Michael Thomas picked up a pass from senior co-captain Robert Bosco and scored to tie the game. The Colonials shot back, firing two more successful shots within two minutes of the Colgate goal, and another just moments after. The Raiders quickly responded. Bosco posted his second assist as he passed to junior Jeff Ledwick, who netted the ball at the 1:30 mark. However, Robert Morris continued to fire away and tallied a pair of goals in the last moments of the quarter.

In the Colgate spirit, however, the Raiders scored back-to-back goals in the 13th minute of the second period to bring the score to 6-4 and continued to play aggressively into the third quarter. First-year Jimmy Ryan scored a man-up goal and another to give Colgate the its first lead in the competition.

The two teams traded offensive attacks and tough defensive maneuvering up until the fourth period but Robert Morris came out with a trio of goals in the first two minutes of play and a fourth at the 11:50 mark. Colgate could not stand to lose, however, and they pushed the Colonials to their defensive limits, eventually taking the lead with only 44 seconds left when Baum shot and scored to win the game.

The team will next play at Hobart on March 5 at 1 p.m.