The Colgate women’s lacrosse team got off to a good start this season, beating Stony Brook 10-9. The Raiders were led by strong three-goal efforts from both sophomore Courtney Miller and first-year Amanda O’Sullivan.

Just 25 seconds into the game O’Sullivan put the Raiders up 1-0 with her first collegiate goal. The goal came on a free position shot, as O’Sullivan beat the Seawolves keeper high.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” O’Sullivan said. “My teammates put me in position by getting me the ball. Once I drove to goal and got fouled I knew I was ready to take the free-position shot because we practice them everyday. We knew to shoot high on this goalie, so when I saw the top right corner open I took the chance and scored.”

Stony Brook quickly settled down, however, scoring a goal to tie the game, and after another Raider first-year, Quincey Spagnoletti, put the Raiders up one, the Seawolves tied the score again. With the score knotted at 2-2, Miller put away her first of three goals, yet once again the Seawolves were there to tie it up.

The see-saw battle took a bit of a break, however, when Colgate quickly came at the Seawolves with three unanswered tallies by seniors Meghan Lawler and Alex Kuntz, respectively, and the final goal being the second of the day for O’Sullivan. Stony Brook did sneak in a goal with 1:12 left before intermission, and the two teams headed to the locker room with Colgate leading 6-4.

The Raiders started the second half pumped and ready to go, and the Lawler’s superb passing enabled the Raiders to quickly score two goals sandwiched around one Stony Brook tally. First Lawler found Miller for her second score of the day, and then the senior found sophomore Katie Sullivan to make the score 8-5.

Just when it looked liked the Seawolves were finally done, Stony Brook came back with three goals of their own to tie the game at 8.

“Stony Brook had several very talented players, were well coached, and came at us all day long,” O’Sullivan said. “It was our first time playing together in a game so it took some getting used to, particularly on attack with Stony Brook’s defense that we hadn’t really been exposed to.”

Colgate could have been shaken by Stony Brook’s peskiness, but it only took 14 seconds before Lawler and Miller connected to put Colgate up again.

“Meghan Lawler and Courtney Miller had huge games,” O’Sullivan said. “Their performance on the field makes it very difficult for other teams to keep up with us, and both of them act as crucial leaders for our team. They’ve both done a great job at welcoming the freshman class and have made us feel at home and a part of the team.”

Three minutes later O’Sullivan added her third goal of the day to put Colgate up by two, and although Stony Brook got one back with 50 seconds left they were unable to close that two goal margin. Colgate improved to 1-0, while the Seawolves fell to 0-1.

Next up for Colgate are the No. 6 ranked Syracuse Orange, a game that should prove to be a good early test for the Raiders.