By Eric Brod
Senior Writer
Despite facing deficits of 4-1 and 5-2 in Saturday’s regular season finale against No. 16 Colgate, the No. 12 Orange and Blue men’s lacrosse team rallied for a 12-7 victory, capping off an undefeated 6-0 season in league play and securing the right to host the Patriot League Tournament.
The Bison offensive attack was led by Mike Danylyshyn ’11, who tied his career highs with four goals and five points in the contest, and Todd Heritage ’14, who recorded yet another hat trick.
“We knew what we had to do and we executed, and my teammates did a great job of finding me when I was cutting, setting me up perfectly for great shots,” Heritage said. “Our coaches did an amazing job of preparing us during the week.”
The game started off poorly for the Bison when Colgate won the opening faceoff and scored just 34 seconds in. The Raiders eventually extended their lead to 5-2, but after that Colgate did not score again for over 38 minutes of game time. Nick Gantsoudes ’12 and Heritage each scored a goal in the final minute of the first quarter, cutting the deficit to 5-4. A goal from Danylyshyn in the second half brought the Bison even at 5-5 going into halftime.
The Bison came out of the locker room scorching, completely dominating the third quarter as they stormed back to take a commanding 9-5 lead that was extended to 11-5 early in the fourth quarter. Colgate closed the gap to 11-7, but Gantsoudes tallied the final goal of the contest to cap an impressive regular season for the Bison.
Goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 was solid in goal again, recording 10 saves in the contest.
The season was one of the best in program history, reaching the 12-win plateau for only the second time. After completing an undefeated season in the league, the team will host Lehigh tonight in the Patriot League Tournament semifinal match. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
“I know it will be an amazing atmosphere and that the energy will be high and those are the types of games that I love to play in,” Heritage said.