Ryan Walsh tallied four goals for the second straight game to lead Colgate to a 14-6 victory against Holy Cross. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
Hat Tricks for Baker, Walsh, Baum as Colgate Subdues Holy Cross
By John Painter
(Hamilton, NY – March 9, 2013) Familiar turf was just the ticket.
Colgate’s most decisive win of the year, a 14-6 pasting of Holy Cross on Saturday, snapped the Raiders’ mini losing streak at two and started their 2013 Patriot League season on proper footing. Matt Baker, Ryan Walsh and Peter Baum had hat tricks as Colgate played at home for the first time this season.
The Raiders improved to 12-0 all-time against Holy Cross in Hamilton.
“We did a good job of getting back to basics, back to our fundamentals,” Raiders head coach Mike Murphy said. “We did a good job of controlling the pace of play. Robbie (Grabher) was dominant in the face-off X, going 18-of-24 – I think he lost one in the first half and that was on a violation. So we were able to control the ball.”
Walsh’s scoring total of four goals marked his second straight year with that number against Holy Cross. And with seven goals this week, Walsh is now second on the team at 13 – one behind Peter Baum – and is the only Raider with a goal in all six games this season.
“Ryan was good getting to the goal, kind of putting his head down and doing what he needed to do,” Murphy said. “And it was good to see Matt Baker get off a little bit because he had been struggling with his shooting.”
Controlling the Pace
After Colgate allowed an opening tally, Walsh answered just seven seconds later with his first of the day. Grabher had the assist with 9:23 showing on the clock. Connor Brown clanked one in off the left goal post to put Colgate on top for good, and then Baker found the upper corner with a man-up goal to make it 3-1 Raiders.
The score was 3-2 Colgate after one.
But by midway in the second period Colgate found its legs. The Raiders scored three goals – the last two just six seconds apart – to begin pulling away from the Crusaders. Jimmy Ryan took advantage of a Holy Cross turnover to bounce the first one home, and then Baum tracked down a deflected shot and fired in his first while running away from goal to make it 5-2 Colgate.
Grabher then captured the ensuing face-off and went straight toward the Holy Cross net. When the defense failed to slow him down, Grabher simply fired and scored with 4:21 left before half.
“What we needed to do was control pace of play,” Murphy said. “We were a little helter-skelter in the Hobart game – up two a handful of times but never able to get control of that game.
“We did a better job of that against Holy Cross.”
Baum One Point Away
Colgate scored the first five goals of the third quarter to complete an 8-0 run and make it 11-2. Walsh’s spin move and low bouncer found its way past Crusaders goalie Michael Ortlieb at 14:04, and then Geoffrey Sullivan scored his first career goal just 47 seconds later off a running shot to his right.
Baum made it three straight Colgate goals in the half without losing possession when he rifled one home from straight away center field to make it 9-2 with 10:52 showing. Baker’s second of the game came at 6:26, just after a Holy Cross penalty had ended, and then Walsh completed the his hat trick by scoring a man-up goal from all alone in front of the net. Baum had the assist, one of his three for the afternoon.
The senior captain now has 199 points for his Colgate career, one shy of the school record held by Derek Laub (1990-93).
“I was happy with the way Peter played,” Murphy said. “He did a really good job of facilitating the offense. Three and three is a good day for Pete, and those are the things we’re going to need from him as teams start to slide to him early.
“Our guys have to be ready to can those shots when he gets them the ball.”
30-Minute Stretch
Holy Cross finally found the net with 2:49 left in the period to end a Raiders defensive stretch of nearly 30 minutes on the game clock without allowing a goal.
“Defensively, we did a good job eliminating their big players,” Murphy said. “They have been scoring goals and were coming off a great win over Rutgers.
“We played very good complementary lacrosse in terms of the offense protecting the defense, and then if the offense had a breakdown we didn’t give them anything easy coming back the other way.”
The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter. Baker scored off a give-and-go from Clarkson to complete his hat trick, and then Walsh added No. 4 with 4½ remaining. Baum joined the hat-trick train with his third of the day at the 4-minute mark exactly.
Conor Murphy went the distance in net for his first win of the season, finishing with six saves.
“We gave them a few too many opportunities in the fourth quarter and got a little sloppy,” Murphy said. “We have to be able to clean that up.”
More Quality than Quantity
In addition to Baum’s three assists, Grabher and Clarkson added two apiece. Grabher won 18 of the 24 face-offs against four different Holy Cross specialists.
Holy Cross received two goals apiece from Clay Haarmann and John Hannan, while James Kennedy and Jack Curran also scored for the Crusaders. Holy Cross is now 3-3.
“Holy Cross had been getting some really good goaltending, but we stayed patient, we stayed the course,” Murphy said. “The plays we needed to make, we made them.
“Offensively in the second half, with Rob continuing to win at the face-off, the field really got tilted our way. We were able to be patient and take some good shots.”
The Raiders outshot Holy Cross 36-21 and claimed 33 ground balls to just 15 for the Crusaders. Turnovers were 13-13. Extra-man opportunities were 2-of-5 for Colgate and 1-of-1 for Holy Cross.
“We probably took our fewest number of shots this year but we were getting quality shots and quality looks at the cage, and we were burying our shots as well,” Murphy said.
Colgate, now 4-2, had lost its two previous games at Cornell and Hobart to end a five-game road schedule to start the season. Included in that stretch was a 13-7 win at Vermont that was the Raiders’ largest winning margin of the year before Saturday.
Colgate returns to action Tuesday afternoon against Binghamton. Start time from Andy Kerr Stadium is 4 p.m.
“I know Binghamton will be coming in looking to get some revenge off last year’s Colgate victory,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to be for a very good Binghamton team that just knocked off Delaware at Delaware.”
Colgate 14, Holy Cross 6
Holy Cross (3-3): Clay Haarmann 2-1, John Hannan 2-0, James Kennedy 1-0, Jack Curran 1-0, Pat Coan 0-1, Matt Smith 0-1. Totals: 6-3.
Colgate (4-2): Ryan Walsh 4-0, Peter Baum 3-3, Matt Baker 3-0, Robert Grabher 1-2, Jimmy Ryan 1-0, Connor Brown 1-0, Geoffrey Sullivan 1-0, Matt Clarkson 0-2. Totals: 14-7.
Saves: Holy Cross 12 (Michael Ortlieb); Colgate 6 (Conor Murphy).
Halftime: Colgate 6-2.