Bucknell University
Colgate
Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Wins Patriot League Regular-Season Title, Will Host PL Tournament after 19-11 Win at No. 13 Colgate
4/18/2009 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 18, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Behind a season-high five goals from freshman Charlie Streep (New Canaan, Conn./Loomis-Chaffee), the 18th-ranked Bucknell men's lacrosse team exorcized three years of frustration against Colgate and clinched the Patriot League regular-season title Saturday afternoon against the 13th-ranked Raiders at Andy Kerr Stadium.
The biggest prize for the Bison is the right to host the Patriot League Tournament for the first time. Bucknell, which went unbeaten in Patriot League play for the first time since 2001 and for the third time overall, will play in the first semifinal game against an opponent to be determined next Friday, Apr. 24, at 3 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. No. 2 Colgate will face No. 3 Navy in the second semifinal at 5:45 p.m., with the championship game to be played on Sunday, Apr. 26 at 3 p.m. Each of the three tournament games will be televised live on CBS College Sports.
Bucknell and Colgate entered Saturday's game with matching 5-0 records, meaning the No. 1 seed was up for grabs. The Raiders had won each of the last five meetings over the last three seasons, including victories in the 2008 Patriot League championship game and the 2007 semifinals. But after an even first 20 minutes of play, the Bison outscored Colgate 12-2 over the next 30 minutes to take command.
Streep made one final push for Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors by pouring in five goals in the regular-season finale. Streep, who now has 23 goals on the season, scored three of Bucknell's first four goals, including two quick ones in the first quarter after the Bison spotted Colgate an early 2-0 lead. Streep also scored with one second left in the first half to give Bucknell a 9-7 edge going to the locker room.
Five other Bison scored two goals, including senior Joe Mele (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenburg Memorial), who became the fourth player in Bucknell history to score 100 career goals. Mele also had two assists for a four-point game. Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes) and Mike Danylyshyn (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) both had two goals and one assist, while Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) and Chris Palmer (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) scored twice each.
The 19 goals were Bucknell's most ever against a ranked opponent, and it was the team's biggest output against any foe since a 19-5 win at Lafayette in 2004. It was the Bison's most goals ever in Hamilton, and it was their most against Colgate since a 21-3 verdict in 1979 in the very first meeting between the two teams.
Bucknell's offense has been clicking of late. Last week the Bison scored 18 goals on 39 shots against Lehigh, and in this one they needed only 36 shots to amass 19 goals. Bucknell scored 17 or more goals in four of its six league wins this season.
Kevin Colleluori had four goals and Brandon Corp three goals and two assists for the Raiders (9-4, 5-1), who had their eight-game winning streak come to an end. Colgate's only previous losses had been to top-10 teams Duke, North Carolina and UMBC, the last of those coming all the way back on Feb. 28.
This was an offensive slugfest from the opening draw, as Corp put Colgate on the board just 2:25 in, and Zack Craumer added another one just 1:20 later. But Streep scored twice in a span of 1:25 to tie it, and the track meet was on.
Two straight goals by Colleluori put Colgate up 6-5 early in the second quarter, then the Bison scored three in a row to take the lead for good. Perry Menzies (Upperco, Md./Hereford) started the run with an unassisted goal to tie the game at 6-all at the 8:54 mark. Danylyshyn scored 3:20 later to put the Bison in front, then Mele's unassisted score with 3:05 left in the half gave them their first multi-goal lead at 8-6. Collelouri made it 8-7 with 2:18 left, but Bucknell won the draw and Streep stuck one in with one second left in the period to make it 9-7 at the half.
The third quarter was all Bucknell. The Bison scored on six of their eight shots in the period, and by the time the buzzer sounded they had turned their 9-7 lead into a commanding 15-8 advantage. After a good save by Nick Sciubba (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Salisbury School), one of his 13 in the game, Brandon Buchmayr (Darien, Conn./Darien) scored at the other end to make it 10-7. Later in the period Buchmayr assisted on Palmer's goal for a 12-7 lead.
Corp cut it to 12-8, but just nine seconds later off the draw Jake Clarke (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich) fed freshman pole Jason Neithamer (Alexandria, Va./St. Stephen's & St. Agnes) for a score, the first of Neithamer's career. Palmer and Doug Buckley (Wantagh, N.Y./Chaminade) both scored in the final 4:13 of the quarter to give the Bison the 15-8 lead.
Winter's unassisted goal at 9:53 of the fourth quarter gave Bucknell a nine-goal advantage at 17-8.
Colgate outshot the Bison 38-36, while Bucknell had a 27-26 edge in ground balls. For the second straight game, the Bison won by an eight-goal margin despite being outdone on faceoffs. Colgate won 22 of the 33 draws, but Bucknell was able to cash in a couple of quick-strike goals on their faceoff wins. Clarke won 11 draws in the game and finished with 10 ground balls and two assists. In the first quarter Bucknell scored just seven seconds after a Raiders goal with Clarke passing to Brandau, and in the third period the Neithamer goal came nine seconds after a Colgate score.
In the process, Clarke shattered the Bucknell single-season ground ball record. He entered the game ranked sixth nationally in that category and now has 89 on the season. The previous school mark was 82 by Alex Rudis in 1999.
Bucknell went 2-for-3 with an extra man and is now 12-for-17 (.706) in the last six games. Colgate's EMO unit was 1-for-1, ending the Bison man-down unit's streak of 11 straight kills.
The victory was the 35th for Bucknell's 10-man senior class, tying the school record set by the Class of 2008.
With an even 100 career goals, Mele joins Justin Zackey (138), Tom Cusick (117) and Chris Cara (111) as the only players in Bucknell history to reach the century mark.
Bucknell previously went unbeaten in Patriot League play in 2001 (6-0) and 1996 (5-0). Both of those seasons were before the Patriot League instituted a postseason tournament, so next season the Bison will get to host the event for the first time.
Bucknell's first-round opponent will be determined by Saturday night's Lehigh-Lafayette game in Bethlehem, Pa. If Lehigh wins, it will garner the No. 4 seed and face Bucknell in the semifinals. If Lafayette wins by two or more goals, the Leopards are in the tournament for the first time. If Lafayette wins by exactly one goal, Army is the No. 4 seed.
