(Ithaca, NY – March 6, 2013) Rookie Lauren Gorajek recorded a season-high four points, including her third-straight hat trick, but it wasn’t enough as the Colgate women’s lacrosse team fell to 14th-ranked Cornell, 17-5, on Wednesday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field.
The Raiders (2-3) also got a pair of goals from Brooke Flanagan, which was a career-high for the senior. Jennie Berglin got the start in net and made 11 saves with 10 coming in the first 30 minutes.
The Big Red (3-0) remained undefeated thanks to six goals from Lindsay Toppe, all which came consecutively in the first half. Caroline Salisbury finished the day with four goals, while Rachel Moody had three points on a goal and two assists. Courtney Gallagher earned the win with six saves.
Cornell jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with Salisbury scoring the first two of the contest, while Toppe tallied the first of six in the half. The Raiders were able to cut the lead to 3-1 with Gorajek scoring her eight of the season with 23:50 remaining in the opening half.
Toppe then took over and including her first goal she ended scoring six-straight goals to help the Big Red earn an 8-3 lead at the half. Brooke Flanagan was able to tally her second of the year with a nice spinning shot after coming from behind the net. Flanagan’s tally made it 5-2 and then Gorajek followed with her second of the day and eighth in the last three games.
The Raiders had a tough first half holding onto the ball as they turned the ball over 12 times. Cornell was successfully doubling Colgate on its offensive possessions, resulting in turnovers. Jennie Berglin did her best to keep the Raiders in the game with 10 saves in the opening 30 minutes. She made a couple of big stops on back-to-back free-position attempts to keep Colgate in the game midway through the half.
The Cornell run continued with four-consecutive goals to build up a 12-3 advantage in the first 8:20 of the final half. Salisbury tallied the first two and Emily Tripoli and Moody had the other two. Gorajek got one back with a free-position goal with 18:29 left, which was her 10th of the season and gave her the hat trick.
The Big Red then scored five of the final six goals of the game to earn the 17-5 win. Flanagan added her second of the day with 10:50 left with an assist to Gorajek.
Cornell had the shot advantage at 34-19 and won the ground ball battle by a 28-15 margin. Turnovers hurt the Raiders as they committed 19 on the day, while Cornell had 10.
Colgate will be back in action on Saturday against Bucknell at 12 p.m. at Tyler’s Field for its Patriot League opener.