No. 19 Raiders Ride Late Goals to Win
Colgate Captures Fourth Straight with 10-9 Victory at Binghamton
By John Painter
(Vestal, NY – March 15, 2014) Colgate picked up some new-found scoring when it mattered most, and then produced a closing defensive stand to escape with a 10-9 win over Binghamton here Saturday.
Eric Foote, Cameron Williams and Justin Kirchner scored consecutive goals in a four-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter to rally the No. 19 Raiders from an 8-7 deficit. For the sophomore Williams, it was his first career goal; Kirchner found the net for the first time since March 2012.
“We need that,” Colgate head coach Mike Murphy said. “We can’t be a one-man band. We have to be able to generate offense from multiple people. Getting multiple goals out of Eric Foote is key for us, and getting some good production out of that midfield line with Justin Kirchner was good.
“We need to continue to get production there.”
Murphy called it a really good team win. Colgate jumped to a 4-1 advantage after one quarter and led 5-3 at intermission. But Binghamton rallied with a four-goal third to carry a 7-6 edge into the final stanza. It was 8-7 when the Raiders reverted to their first-quarter form and pushed their winning streak to four games.
“That was two pretty good teams slugging it out,” Murphy said. “We found some ways to score on them; they found some ways to score on us. At the end of the day it was who was going to make one more play or one fewer mistake, and we did a good job of buckling down at the end there defensively and showed some moxie.”
Defense Clamps Down
After Binghamton’s Matt Springer scored his fifth goal of the day with 52 seconds left to make it 10-9, the Bearcats won the faceoff and fired a shot high of goal with 15 seconds to play. Binghamton retained possession and Colgate called timeout.
But after play resumed, Bobby Lawrence forced an errant pass that went nearly to the midfield stripe. Binghamton ran down the ground ball but even then couldn’t get a shot on goal and the Raiders had another impressive defensive stand to their credit.
“The defense today did what we had to do to get the win,” first-year goalkeeper Brandon Burke said. “We weren’t worried too much. We just tried to stick together as a team and keep the focus on us.
“We just had to grind it out and that’s what we did.”
Burke posted a season-high 15 saves against 33 Binghamton shots — 24 of which were on goal. The Potomac, Md., product had his hands full against a dynamic Bearcats attack.
“Brandon was great and did the things he needs to do,” Murphy said. “He’s probably the player of the game for us with some nice doorstep saves to take acouple off the board.
“He also got a great hockey assist off a save and clearing play that caught them napping a little bit. We did a good job of winning those little battles of transition from offense to defense and defense to offense.”
Quick Strike
That “hockey assist” came midway in the second quarter when Burke stopped what looked like a sure goal from Binghamton’s Michael Antinozzi. Not only did Burke make the save but he found a streaking Brendon McCann across midfield. McCann worked his way toward the goal before feeding Kevin Adams, who scored his second of the game to make it 5-3 Raiders with 7:52 remaining.
That’s how it stood at the halftime break.
The teams traded goals to begin the third before Binghamton put three in a row on the board to grab a 7-6 lead. Ryan Walsh completed a hat trick to start the fourth quarter but Binghamton answered to stay in front.
Finally, Foote, Williams and Kirchner all found the net unassisted to lift the Raiders. Foote scored with 7:18 to play, Williams with 4:47 and Kirchner with 3:33 showing.
“It was fun; first time I’ve scored since high school,” Williams said. “The guy pressed out and probably threw a check he shouldn’t have and got out of position. There was a lot of field in front of me and the goal came at a good time.”
Kirchner said the same about his second of the day. The senior registered Colgate’s lone tally of the third period, but his game-winner was the one to remember.
“It’s been a little bit of a (dry) run since sophomore year, getting back from a couple of injuries,” Kirchner said. “People have me scouted as a heavy righty, so I sensed he was overplaying me to my right hand and kind of took the opportunistic shot to my left. And it happened to go at a good time.”
Climbing the Charts
Foote, Adams and a double from Walsh accounted for Colgate’s four-goal burst in the opening stanza. Walsh’s hat trick was his third of the season and 16th of his career. He jumped into a tie for ninth on Colgate’s all-time goals chart with 91.
“A lot of my work today was off other people’s dodges, which is good because you score goals any way you can,” Walsh said. “The offense was better today but we still have a lot of improvement to do. We still haven’t played a complete game.”
Binghamton outshot Colgate 33-31, but the Raiders picked up 32 ground balls to 31 for the hosts. Faceoffs were 13-10 in favor of Alex Kinnealey and Colgate. There were only three extra-man opportunities in the game, with Colgate 1-of-1 and Binghamton 1-of-2.
Colgate was 21-of-22 on clears to Binghamton’s 19-of-19. Colgate finished with 14 turnovers to Binghamton’s nine, and Burke made 15 saves to 13 for Bearcats goalkeeper Max Schefler.
“It was a good road win for us, but we’ve got to get better moving forward,” Murphy said. “We’ve got to get more consistent for 60 minutes. We played maybe 35-40 good minutes, but there was too much of a lull in that second and third quarter to let a very talented team hang around and take a lead.”
Most Goals Since Vermont
Colgate’s scoring total was its best since a 13-3 win last month over Vermont, which plays alongside Binghamton in the America East Conference. Murphy improved his record to 6-0 against America East foes.
“I’m happy with the way we were able to play offensively,” Murphy said. “Getting to 10 (goals) has been a little difficult for us. And I’m happy for our seniors. They go out 3-1 against Binghamton after losing during their freshman season.”
Colgate improved to 6-1 this season, while Binghamton is now 2-4.
Upcoming for the Raiders is yet another Central New York rivalry when eighth-ranked Cornell (6-0) visits for a Tuesday afternoon clash. Start time from Andy Kerr Stadium is 4 p.m.
“It’s a quick turnaround against an unbelievable Cornell team,” Murphy said. “They’ve got some great players and with what they are as a program, it is a big challenge for us.”
Raiders Split On Second Day at George Mason
Wilson Hits First Career Home Run; Raiders Beat Akron, 6-4, But Fall to Binghamton, 4-2
By Kat Castner
(Fairfax, Va. – March 15, 2014) On Saturday afternoon Colgate took down Akron 6-4 for its third-straight victory and fourth overall but fell to Binghamton 4-2 in the nightcap to hand them their first loss of the weekend.
“It was really nice to see us come out and play good softball two days in a row,” Colgate head coach Melissa Finley said.
“The come-back win in game one was a great team effort and a dramatic way for Gillian (Murray) to earn her first career win.”
The Raiders rallied in the seventh inning of game one to come from behind after having lost their lead in the fourth. With one out in the final inning, Katie Bushee reached first thanks to an error, which in turn sparked a three-run inning and victory for Colgate.
In game two, Binghamton jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage but Colgate answered in the second inning with a two-run blast from rookie Alex Wilson to cut into the lead. That hit was Wilson’s first career home run. Unfortunately, an insurance run from the Bearcats in the fourth ultimately secured the win.
“We played very well defensively in both games and I thought we also did a good job of putting the ball in play and making things happen,” Finley added. “We just couldn’t get that timely hit when we needed it in the second game.”
Colgate (4-10) saw Tara Grennan go 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two walks during her two games. Bushee added four hits and two runs in her eight at bats, while Haley Fleming notched three hits, two runs and an RBI.
Both starting pitchers allowed six hits and four runs with Gillian Murray completing game one and Megan Carnase going four innings in game two.Brigit Ieuter came in for relief in the game against Binghamton giving up just two hits during her two innings of work.
In the opening game against Akron, Fleming started a Raider rally after reaching first thanks to an error. On the ensuing play, Marisa Dowling singled down the right field line to advance Fleming to second. Tera Vaughn shifted the base runners 60 feet with a ground out before a Grennan double to right center, scored them for the early 2-0 Colgate edge.
Akron cut the Raider lead to 2-1 when they recorded a single and double in the bottom half of the inning.
The Raiders extended their edge back to two runs in the top of the second following back-to-back doubles. With two outs in the inning Bushee found a gap in left center before advancing to third on a wild pitch. On the next at bat Fleming doubled up the middle to score Bushee and to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Zips notched a big fourth inning, registering three runs to take over the lead at 4-3.
But Colgate would answer in the top of the seventh inning after Bushee again reached base thanks to an error with one out. She was able to steal second before a Fleming single up the middle moved her to third. A Dowling ground out, scored Bushee and advanced Fleming to third after the senior had stole second during the same at bat. Vaughn and Grennan earned consecutive walks prior to Wilson reaching on an error, which scored two more Colgate runs and secured the victory.
In the nightcap, the Bearcats jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the first.
Colgate made it a one-run game in the top of the second thanks to Wilson’s homer to left center. Her hit also scored Vaughn, who had reached base with a single on the previous at bat. The Raiders had a chance to tally more runs in the inning when they found themselves with the bases loaded and two outs but weren’t able to convert on the opportunity.
The Bearcats recorded an insurance marker in the fourth and despite Colgate having runners in scoring position two of the final three innings, they held on to earn the 4-2 win.
The Raiders close out the Cherry Blossom Tournament on Sunday when they face host George Mason at 10 a.m. Colgate defeated the Patriots 6-3 on Friday in their first meeting of the weekend.
NOTES: Colgate’s win over Binghamton on Friday snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Bearcats … Also Colgate’s win over George Mason on Friday was its first win over the Patriots in the last four outings.