Syracuse men’s lacrosse falls to Colgate in season opener

The No. 11 Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse team fell 12-9 to Colgate University in the Orange’s season opener in the Carrier Dome.

The Orange appeared confident coming into the game. Even the team’s recent history suggested the home team would come out with a victory, as Syracuse had won the last six meeting between the two schools.

Early on, even before the first goal, it looked like the Orange would continue this trend and extend the streak to seven. As the Raiders struggled to keep hold of the ball, the Orange landed a number of devastating hits on their opponents, sending them to the turf on multiple occasions within the first few minutes of the game.

The Orange wanted to send a message: this was going to be a physical game and winning in the Dome as a visiting team would be no easy task. Syracuse looked like it was going to bully its way into an easy win.

But then the first goal went to Colgate. And the second. And the third. And Syracuse was doomed from then on out. The Orange were able to manufacture some quick offense at the very end of the first quarter, but the Raiders would go on to score the next four goals of the game. Colgate’s Nicky Petkevich finished with four goals, while Duncan Hoskinson ended with a hat trick. Goalkeeper Connor Mullens finished with 11 saves.

It also took until midway through the fourth quarter for Syracuse to pull within one of Colgate — 10 to 9 — the closest they would come to tying the game up, before the Raiders scored another two goals and put the game away for good.

Though it must be somewhat intimidating for any visiting team to play in the Carrier Dome against a program that has been so great historically, the Raiders had plenty of support to keep their minds off of it. Located approximately 40 miles away in Hamilton, New York, Colgate is practically a next-door neighbor to Syracuse, as was evident by the number of fans in the stands wearing maroon. And they made themselves heard, enthusiastically cheering, shouting, and jumping in the stands each time the Raiders scored or even just made some kind of play on the ball. The Colgate players fed off of this energy, unexpectedly making the Carrier Dome a very difficult place to play for the Orange that would ultimately result in a somewhat surprising check in the loss column.

Syracuse’s Nate Solomon and Brendan Curry each came away with three goals, in addition to one each from David Lipka, Brett Kennedy and Andrew Helmer. SU goalkeeper Drake Porter finished with 14 saves.

While the outcome of this game was disappointing for the Orange, the team is already looking to the future.

“One loss doesn’t define the whole season,” said Solomon, when describing what he and the team’s other leaders told the rest of the locker room immediately following the game.

A loss to start the season is not ideal, but it is also not a death sentence. The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team will look to bounce back as they play the University of Albany next Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Dome.