2019 Men’s College Lacrosse Year In Review: #58 Colgate Raiders

With the 2019 college lacrosse season complete, it’s time to look back at how all 73 teams did during the season, along with an early look at each squad for 2020.

Note: These are not end of season rankings.

Here’s our last five Year In Review posts we’ve done:

• #63 Hartford
• #62 Furman
• #61 St. John’s
• #60 VMI
• #59 Michigan

To see all of our posts, check out the 2019 Year In Review section on the site.

Let’s continue our 2019 Year In Review!

#58 Colgate Raiders

Conference: Patriot League
2019 Record: 4-9 (2-6 in Patriot League)
Head coach: Matt Karweck (1st Season)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Griffin Brown (20)
Assists: Sam Cleveland (17)
Points: Sam Cleveland (35)
Faceoffs: Malcolm Feeney (134-of-267; 50.2%)
Ground balls: Malcolm Feeney (72)
Caused turnovers: Nick Salameda (14)
Goals against average: Connor Mullen (9.92 GAA)
Save percentage: Connor Mullen (51%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: A Sam Cleveland (18 Gs, 17 As, 16 GBs, 3 CTs), G Connor Mullen (9.92 GAA, 51% SV%, 15 GBs), SSDM Will Blumenberg (10 CTs, 36 GBs, 1 G), D Jack Donaghue (8 CTs, 17 GBs), M Matt Donovan (6 Gs, 7 As, 4 GBs, 2 CTs), D Ryan Caley (5 CTs, 10 GBs), M Duncan Hoskinson (8 Gs, 2 As, 6 GBs), SSDM Danny Healey (8 CTs, 10 GBs), SSDM John McDonald (4 CTs, 16 GBs, 1 A)
Senior scoring departing: 61 of 188 points (32.4%)
Senior starts lost: 62 of 130 (47.7%)

Season Summary

You could not have wrote a better start to the season for new head coach Matt Karweck and the Colgate Raiders. They went up to the Carrier Dome and upset Syracuse 12-9 in their season opener before beating Binghamton the next week. The Raiders then defeated Boston University after losses to Maryland and Lehigh to go 3-2 on the year and still looking like a team that could reach the Patriot League Tournament.

Nearly everything went wrong after the BU win. Colgate lost their next six games, beginning with two surprising nonconference defeats from Canisius and Hobart. After a five-goal loss to Army West Point and a blowout defeat against Loyola, the Raiders carried a two-goal lead into the fourth quarter against Navy before the Midshipmen went on a 7-0 run for the final 15 minutes en route to the win. Colgate defeated Lafayette in-between losses against Holy Cross and Bucknell to end their season.

Sam Cleveland and Griffin Brown carried the scoring for the Raiders the entire season. Cleveland led the team with 17 assists and 35 points while Brown’s 20 goals were a team-high in that category. Other notable contributions on offense came from sophomores James Caddigan, Mike Hawkins, and Bobby Goggin, junior Nicky Petkevich (who racked up 21 points in just nine games), freshman Brian Minicus, and seniors Matt Donovan and Duncan Hoskinson.

Colgate’s defensive midfielders led the way in terms of caused turnovers. LSMs Nick Salameda and Parker Baddley had 14 and 13 CTs respectively, followed by senior SSDM Will Blumenberg and his 10. Starting defenseman John Donohue also recorded 10 caused turnovers on the year and was part of a starting close unit that included seniors Jack Donaghue and Ryan Caley. Fellow senior Connor Mullen was the starting goalie for the second straight season, while junior Malcolm Feeney recorded just over 50% on faceoffs in his first season as the primary FOGO.

Looking Ahead

Year 2 of the Karweck era hopes to improve on some of the strengths the team had in 2019. Despite the loss of Cleveland, Colgate brings back plenty of talent in Brown, Caddigan, Petkevich, Minicus, Hawkins, Goggin, Brendan Jones, and Marshall Terres. That’s eight of their top 11 scorers. Look for Goggin, Jones, and Terres to try and get some increased roles, and don’t be surprised if a freshman also plays a part in the offense which has happened frequently the past few seasons.

The defense is where the majority of the holes have to be filled. Two starting defensemen, two short stick defensive midfielders, and the starting goalie all depart. Will Sidari, Charlie Messineo, Josh Karp, and Aidan Toomey are some returning options for close defense, while Matt Lupinacci could see an increased role as a shortie. With Mullen and Cyrus Scott graduating, rising sophomore Sean Collins appeared in four games last season and started in two of them (Loyola and Navy) and recorded an 18.37 goals against average and a 33.3% save percentage. Those numbers don’t look pretty, but he was the keeper that gave up 21 to the Greyhounds. He could be the favorite to be the starter entering the fall.