Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Colgate (PL Championship)
Bucknell Women's Lacrosse Upsets Colgate, 13-9, in PL Semifinals
4/26/2003 8:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 26, 2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Suzanne Raffaele scored three goals, setting a Bison record for scores in a career, and added two assists in Bucknell's 13-9 semifinal win over Colgate in Patriot League Championship women's lacrosse action on Saturday, April 26, at American. The third-seeded Orange and Blue defeated the second-seeded Raiders for the first time since the 1995 season, and just the third time in the 23-game history of the series.
Junior Meredith Wright also scored three times and assisted twice, in the process tying the Bucknell single-season helper record with 26 this year.
"I have never been more proud of this team," commented first-year head coach Randall Flynn. "They went out and played with the most heart I have ever seen a team play with."
Bucknell is appearing in the Patriot League
The Bison opened the game with a 3-1 lead less than six minutes in behind goals from Laura Nuss, Wright and Amy Hasler. The Raiders came storming back with three unanswered goals in a 1:18 span to take a 4-3 lead, but that was the only time Colgate would be ahead in the contest.
Nuss started a Bucknell three-goal outburst with her unassisted score at 18:29. Raffaele tallied for the first time 1:14 later, and sophomore Cora Preston netted a pass from Raffaele with 15:26 left in the first to stake the Bison to a 6-4 lead.
Colgate got within one, 6-5, with Kelly Winning's third goal of the game at 13:52, but that was as close at the Raiders would get. Raffaele punched in two more, and Andrea Paraud took a pass from Nuss to cap another three-goal spurt for BU. Rebecca Sandler scored the final goal of the half for Colgate, making it 9-6 at the break.
Preston struck again 2:30 into the final stanza to put the Bison ahead 10-6, but the Raiders got the goal back just 36 seconds later on Katie McVeigh's second of the contest. Wright gave the Orange and Blue their largest lead of the game with two unanswered scores, the first coming just 15 seconds after McVeigh's, making it 12-7 with 25:36 left in the game.
Colgate scored two of the final three goals of the game, but the Bison defense did not allow a goal in the final 14 minutes to come away with the 13-9 victory. Senior goalkeeper, Nicole Kallis, recently named the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Year, defended her title well with 12 saves.
Bucknell improves to 8-7 overall and will face top-seeded American on Sunday in the championship game at 1:00 p.m.
