April 16, 2010
HAMILTON, N.Y. - The No. 17 Lafayette men's lacrosse team travels to Colgate on Friday night looking to secure the first Patriot League tournament berth in school history.
Leopard fans recall last year's 2009 season, when Lafayette traveled to archrival Lehigh on the final game of the regular season, needing to win by two or more goals to lock its place into the tournament. This time, with three games remaining in the regular season, the scenario is much simpler, win and they're in.
The Leopards boast the fourth-best scoring offense in the nation, led by senior co-captain Steve Serling and junior Tom Perini, both with 27 goals each. Junior Stefan Bauer paces Lafayette with 20 assists in 2010.
Lafayette is one of two schools in Division I lacrosse to have at least seven players with 10 or more goals in 2010.
The Lafayette defense is led by senior goalkeeper Vinny DePasquale with 124 saves going into Friday night's contest. Junior Cesar Munoz and senior Stewart Inman pace the Leopards in ground balls with 61 and 46, respectively.
Lafayette is 5-0 in road games in 2010. The Leopards are currently tied atop the Patriot League standings with Army, who defeated Bucknell 7-6 in overtime on Saturday night. The Black Knights and Navy are the only teams to clinch a Patriot League tournament berth thus far. They meet on Saturday at the "Day of Rivals" in Baltimore, Md.
The Raiders improved to 2-8 overall, 1-3 in Patriot League play following a 12-4 win over Lehigh on Saturday. Ben McCabe and Peter Baum lead Colgate up front. McCabe has 25 points off 20 goals and five assists, while Baum has 21 goals and one assist. Patrick Campbell leads the team with nine assists, while Michael Crown headlines the defense with five points, 37 groundballs and 13 forced turnovers.
Jared Madison and Tim Harrington have split time between the pipes with Madison leading the way with a 8.66 GAA and .566 save percentage, while Harrington has a 10.54 GAA.
NOTES:
Lafayette's final two home games (Army on April 20 and Lehigh on April 24) will be held at state-of-the-art Fisher Stadium. Face-off is set for 7 p.m. for both contests. Fans interested in watching the game vs. Lehigh from Fisher Stadium's VIP Suite are encouraged to visit the GoLeopards.com Auctions on the front page of GoLeopards.com. The GoLeopards.com auction for the Army game has already been sold.
