The Colgate men’s soccer team continued its stellar run to open the season, going 2-0 on the weekend with wins over Siena and Albany. Now 3-0-1 on the year, the Raiders are poised for big things as the campaign rolls on.

After coming off a win in which Colgate secured the victory in extra time, the Raiders scored in the second minute of the Siena game. Junior forward Matt Schuber picked up a loose ball in the midfield, brought it quickly down to the offensive end and found senior defender Jeff Leach, who volleyed a missile into the back of the net.

“It was a great confidence boost for the team,” Schuber said. “Goals have been hard to come by, so to get one early takes some of the pressure off.”

Colgate continued to dictate the tempo of the game, but failed to score in the rest of the half. The defense, however, continued to hold up as the game went along, and as the second half waned it seemed that the Raiders might escape with a 1-0 victory. Unfortunately, however, in the 81st minute the Saints offense woke up and evened the game at one. Once again Colgate would need to go into overtime.

Like the previous two overtime games that the Raiders had played, the first extra time period went scoreless. Like the previous OT game, the second period proved more fruitful for Colgate once again. Schuber completed his solid performance, adding a goal to his previous assist and giving the Raiders a 2-1 victory.

“Siena had a long throw that we were able to clear out of the box and move up the field,” Schuber said. “I played the ball to (sophomore Mike) Reidy and we were off to the races on the counter attack. He was able to beat one defender before getting the ball back to me with just the goalie to beat. I deked him one way and then was able to slip it in. Another overtime win was great, as it is a great character test, but it would be nice to make it easier on ourselves and win one in regulation.”

Colgate listened to Schuber’s advice and did just that, beating the Albany Great Danes 1-0 in its second game of the weekend. The win was the Raiders’ first regulation win of the season.

In the first half of the game, however, it did not look as if either team would get a win at all, much less a regulation win. Neither team took many shots, and neither team got any great chances.

In the second half the Raiders decided to come alive, and took three times as many shots as they had in the initial half. None of these shots found the target though, and it seemed that once again Colgate would go to overtime.

Luckily, Reidy was there to save the day. In the 79th minute he found some open space to dribble towards the goal and ripped a shot towards the near post, just beating the diving Great Danes’ goalkeeper to give the Raiders the lead. The defense continued its strong play in the remaining ten minutes, and Colgate escaped with its third win of the year

“It’s always nice to come home after a successful weekend on the road,” Schuber said.

The Raiders return home this weekend to play their first home games of the year against Vermont and Binghamton.