April 25, 2008

WEST POINT, N.Y.--Two-Time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Brandon Corp scored a league tournament record tying five goals, including four in the first half, to lead third-seeded Colgate (9-5) to a 12-9 victory over Navy (9-5) in the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Semifinals. The Raiders advance to Sunday's championship game against fourth seeded Bucknell. The Bison upset No. 1 seed Army, 8-7, in game one.

"I want to first congratulate Colgate," said Navy head coach Richie Meade. "Offensively they handled the ball very well. Every time they got within 10 yards of the goal they scored. I was really impressed with Brandon Corp, Kevin Colleluori, Ian Murphy and Matt Lalli. We've competed against Colgate for five years and this is the best they've played against us offensively."

Navy jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 3:48 of the contest on goals by Tim Paul, Joe Lennon and Sean Standen, but then went the next 26 minutes without a goal. The Raiders took advantage of Navy's lackluster offense by tallying seven-consecutive goals to take a 7-3 lead. Nick Mirabito ended Colgate's run with a goal of his own with seven seconds left in the half to make it 7-4.

The Mids came out to start the second half and quickly cut Colgate's lead to one. Patrick Moran scored an extra-man goal off an assist from Andy Tormey 53 seconds into the third quarter to make it 7-5 and then Shane Durkin scored the first of his four goals off an assist from Sean Standen with 6:23 left in the third to make it 7-6.

Colgate, however, was able to stop the Navy run just 2:09 later when Nick Monastero scored off an assist from Corp to make it 8-6 and the Mids were never able to get to get any closer the rest of the game.

"That was a critical part of the game," said Meade. "When they came back and scored it sort of took the wind out of our sails. I think it would have changed the momentum had we been able to tie it."

Navy dominated the game everywhere but on the scoreboard as the Mids got off more shots (42-35), won more ground balls (25-22) and won the face-off battle (14 out of 25). Junior Shane Durkin, who had scored just four goals all year entering tonight's game, led the Mids with four goals while Nick Mirabito and Sean Standen each scored a goal and handed out an assist.

Navy, which had one the Patriot League Tournament every year since joining the league in 2004, has now lost three-straight contests for the first time since 2003. That year was also the last time that Navy missed the NCAA Tournament. Navy will find out if it will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament a week from Sunday when the NCAA pairings are announced.