April 25, 2008

by Ken McMillan, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Colgate awards a game ball following every men's lacrosse match to the Raiders' outstanding player. Somehow, coach Jim Nagle had never awarded one to Brandon Corp, the two-time Patriot League player of the year.

What was he waiting for?

Corp finally has his tiny reward following his five-goal effort against Navy on Friday evening. But more importantly, Corp and the Raiders have another opportunity to play for the Patriot League championship.

Third-seeded Colgate erased an early 3-0 deficit by scoring seven consecutive goals over a 21-minute span of the first half and rolling to a 12-9 victory over the second-seeded and No. 14-ranked Midshipmen before 500 fans at Army's Michie Stadium.

This is the second year in a row that Colgate has reached the Patriot final. Last year, Navy put an end to Colgate's run with a 15-9 triumph in Annapolis, Md.

"We're happy to be in the same position as where we were last year," Nagle said.

Colgate heads into Sunday's 2 p.m. final with Bucknell, an 8-7 semifinal winner over top-seeded Army, on a five-game win streak. Colgate won at Bucknell, 11-9, a week ago, denying the Bison the top seed and home-field advantage for the tournament.

"It's a championship game, and you can't take them for granted," Corp said of Bucknell. "They are a dangerous team. We have beaten them three times in a row. We have to come with our 'A' game."

That has hardly been a problem of late for the Raiders (9-5). Since dropping three in a row to Duke (15-7), Navy (8-3) and Army (13-9), Colgate has responded with victories over Lehigh (5-3), Binghamton (9-7), Lafayette (15-4), Bucknell and Navy.

Corp's six-point effort was complemented by Matt Lalli's five-point night (2g, 3a), two goals from Kevin Colleluori and one goal from Ian Murphy.

"We've competed against those guys for four years, and that's the best I've seen Colgate play," Navy coach Richie Meade said. "They did a very good job offensively."

Navy has surrendered 33 goals in the last three games after allowing an average of 4.91 over the first 11.

"It's very tough, no two ways around it," said Navy's Jordan DiNola, the Patriot League's defensive player of the year. "We come into a game trying to hold teams to less than six or less than five. To give up 12 today is disappointing. We were pushing out, trying to create turnovers...They are able to spread the field and stick-work the ball around our defense."

Navy shot out to a quick lead on goals from Tim Paul, Joe Lennon and Sean Standen in the opening four minutes. Apparently, that wasn't enough to rattle the Raiders, who managed to tie the score on goals from Colleluori, Lalli and Corp by the end of the first quarter.

"One thing Coach Nagle always says is to try and have a next-play mentality," Lalli said. "That means, if you have a great play or you go on a good run, treat it the same way as if the other team went on a good run. You always want to keep an even keel and a level head, not get down or up."

Lalli's tally two minutes into the second quarter gave Colgate a lead it would never surrender. Corp followed with three extra-effort goals in a span of 6:36. He split two defenders on the first, came from behind the net and scored from the right side on the second and converted a quick feed from Lalli for the third.

"I just had a good day," Corp said.

"Corp is a very talented player," DiNola said. "There were a couple times where he got the ball and was open. He is a great shooter. We knew he was going to dodge and push the ball a lot, and there were a few times where he was able to get underneath our defense and get some good shots off."

The offensive explosion even surprised Nagle, who was counting on winning with eight or nine goals.

"We weren't coming in thinking that was the kind of game we could win," Nagle said of the 12-goal outburst. "Things in that second quarter just erupted for us. Our shots were just dropping tonight and the guys were feeling good.

"Our game plan was actually to try and shorten the game up a little bit, because we thought they were a little deeper than us. We were able to do that and score."

Navy's Nick Mirabito stopped the scoring run with his 21st goal seven seconds before halftime. Patrick Moran and Shane Durkin scored in the third to pull the Midshipmen within one, but Colgate's E.J. Atamian forced a turnover and Nick Monastero scored off a great pass from Corp to restore the two-goal lead with 5:12 left in the third.

"That was the critical part of the game," Meade said. "That took a lot of wind out of our sails..I really felt had we tied the game at 7-7, having come back that far, that would have changed the momentum."

Colgate would score the next two goals to pull away.

"They actually beat us in the six-on-six situations, which has not happened to us very often in the last couple years," Meade said.

Navy (9-5) has dropped its last three to Army, Johns Hopkins and Colgate, and may have fallen out of contention for the NCAA tournament.

"The way the NCAA is this year, there is so much parity," Mirabito said. "You don't know. There are so many teams on that bubble. The only definite way in was this tournament. Losing in the first round, there's not much we can do with it now."