2008 Woodie Awards
Women's Lax Takes Down American
Jeff Fein
Issue date: 4/22/05 Section: Sports
The Raider women's lacrosse team went 1-1 in its two-game weekend road trip to Washington, D.C. And while the Raiders didn't have the perfect weekend they had hoped for, but they won the game that mattered.
Colgate fell to George Washington in the second game of its D.C. double-header, but its 13-8 victory over American on Saturday put the team in position to clinch its second consecutive Patriot League regular season title when it hosts Holy Cross tomorrow at noon. In beating perennial contender American for the third consecutive time, the Raiders established themselves as the top dog in Patriot League women's lacrosse.
"It was a big win for us," head coach Katrina Silva said. "In as competitive a league as the Patriot League, every win is fun. Another one is even better."
Junior Katie McVeigh and sophomore Tara Casey led the Raiders with five points apiece in the victory. Junior tri-captain Kelly Winning added three goals and an assist in the hotly contested rematch of last year's Patriot League championship game.
Plagued by slow starts for most of the season, the Raiders came out energized on Saturday, scoring three of the first four goals. Casey found classmate Megan Janson less than five minutes into the contest to give Colgate an early lead. After an American score, Winning put in an unassisted goal at the 17:42 mark of the opening half to give the Raiders a lead that they would never relinquish.
The two Patriot League powerhouses traded goals until the final 90 seconds of the opening half, when Casey scored two goals in 40 seconds to give the Raiders an 8-5 advantage. American's Sarah Milewski improbably cut into the Raider lead with a goal with one second left on the clock.
"American seems to do that every time we play them," Silva said of the last-second goal. "It was a bummer, no doubt about it. It wasn't a momentum swing, but we knew that our defense had to step up in the second half."
Unassisted scores in the second half from McVeigh and Winning kept the Eagles at bay, but the game was still in question with 10 minutes to play and the Raiders holding a 10-8 advantage.
Colgate fell to George Washington in the second game of its D.C. double-header, but its 13-8 victory over American on Saturday put the team in position to clinch its second consecutive Patriot League regular season title when it hosts Holy Cross tomorrow at noon. In beating perennial contender American for the third consecutive time, the Raiders established themselves as the top dog in Patriot League women's lacrosse.
"It was a big win for us," head coach Katrina Silva said. "In as competitive a league as the Patriot League, every win is fun. Another one is even better."
Junior Katie McVeigh and sophomore Tara Casey led the Raiders with five points apiece in the victory. Junior tri-captain Kelly Winning added three goals and an assist in the hotly contested rematch of last year's Patriot League championship game.
Plagued by slow starts for most of the season, the Raiders came out energized on Saturday, scoring three of the first four goals. Casey found classmate Megan Janson less than five minutes into the contest to give Colgate an early lead. After an American score, Winning put in an unassisted goal at the 17:42 mark of the opening half to give the Raiders a lead that they would never relinquish.
The two Patriot League powerhouses traded goals until the final 90 seconds of the opening half, when Casey scored two goals in 40 seconds to give the Raiders an 8-5 advantage. American's Sarah Milewski improbably cut into the Raider lead with a goal with one second left on the clock.
"American seems to do that every time we play them," Silva said of the last-second goal. "It was a bummer, no doubt about it. It wasn't a momentum swing, but we knew that our defense had to step up in the second half."
Unassisted scores in the second half from McVeigh and Winning kept the Eagles at bay, but the game was still in question with 10 minutes to play and the Raiders holding a 10-8 advantage.