This past weekend, the men’s lacrosse team played one of its most exciting games in recent memory as the Leopards pulled off a buzzer-beater, 10-9 overtime win against the Colgate Raiders.
The Raiders wasted no time from the opening whistle, winning the faceoff and scoring six seconds into the game.
Colgate was up 5-2 at the end of the first quarter, as junior attacker Peter Lehman and senior midfielder Ryan Duncan each contributed a goal for the Pards. Lehman’s goal pushed him past 100 total points for his career, a stat he accomplished faster than almost any other Leopard in the history of the program.
The Raiders led 7-2 with just under five minutes to go in the first half when Lafayette senior attacker Macklin Fitzpatrick netted his first goal of the season to bring the Leopards within four. Then, Lehman found the back of the net twice to make it 7-5 at intermission.
“I think that we were able to come out with a win because we were resilient and did not panic after they went up on us in the first half. We stayed the course and believed in our game plan,” Lehman said.
Lehman didn’t slow down in the second half, scoring both of the Leopards’ goals in the third quarter. Lafayette went into the fourth quarter down 8-7.
For his career-high, six-goal effort Lehman was named to the Division I United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Dynamic Team of the Week. As a member of the Preseason All-Patriot League Team, Lehman has scored 10 more goals than the next closest Leopard and is tied for fourth most in the Patriot League.
It was a roller coaster in the fourth quarter, as Duncan found the back of the net to even the score at 8-8 in the opening minutes. Colgate then found the back of the net at 12:46. Lehman evened the score once again with just under nine minutes left, as Lafayette stood their ground to take the Raiders to overtime.
Colgate had a chance to win with about one minute left in overtime, but freshman goalkeeper Joe Doherty was able to make the save. The rookie’s impressive performance, including 11 saves, earned him his second Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honor of his career.
Finally, in the dying seconds of the game, the Leopards had possession with one last chance. Sophomore attacker Nick Rossi had the ball behind the goal and looked to pass. He then charged towards goal, spun around a defender and from just outside the crease whipped the ball top right past the head of the Colgate goalkeeper.
Not lost in the exciting ending, junior attacker Charlie Cunniffe recorded a career-high four assists on the afternoon.
The victory marked the Leopards’ first Patriot League win of the season, their first home conference win under head coach Pat Myers as well as the program’s first home conference win in five years.
Despite the impressive victory, the Maroon and White still have some aspects of their game to work on to ensure a successful rest of the season.
“We can continue to get better in many ways. Continuing to play as a full unit will be key for us going forward,” Lehman said.
The Leopards will keep this in mind as they return to Fisher Stadium tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. to host the Boston University Terriers.
“We will work to clean up mistakes made in last weekend’s game going into BU and buying into the game plan that the coaches always do a phenomenal job of drawing up,” Lehman said.
