No. 4 Men’s Lacrosse Falls 16-13 to Colgate in Patriot League Semifinal

Friday, May 2

West Point, NY

4:00 PM

Army West Point

12-2

Colgate

9-7

Colgate

ARMY

No. 4 Men’s Lacrosse Falls 16-13 to Colgate in Patriot League Semifinal

May 02, 2025 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The No. 4-ranked Army West Point men's lacrosse (12-2, 7-2 Patriot League) fell 16-13 to the Colgate Raiders (9-7, 5-4 Patriot League) on Friday in a back-and-forth Patriot League semifinal matchup at Michie Stadium.

In a tightly contested semifinal matchup, the No. 1 seed Black Knights fell 16-13 to the No. 5 seed Raiders. The momentum changed hands many times throughout the contest but a late surge from Colgate pushed the visitors into a late lead that held through the final whistle.

Junior attackman Gunnar Fellows notched five points in the contest from a team-high four goals and an assist – earning his seventh hat trick of the season. He recorded a game-high 14 shots and landed a whopping 10 of them on goal, the most shots on goal in a single game by an Army player this season.

Army senior attackman Jackson Eicher made program history with his first goal of the game as he set a new Army record for most goals in a single season with his 52^nd goal of the year. With three goals against the Raiders, Eicher earned his tenth hat trick of the season and totals 54 goals in his 2025 campaign as the new program high.

Junior goalkeeper Sean Byrne stood between the posts for the Black Knights for all 60 minutes of action, tallying 11 saves against 42 shots faced, the second highest tally of shots he has faced this season.

Senior faceoff specialist Will Coletti was a force to be reckoned with at the faceoff x, earning 19 faceoff wins and collecting a season high 12 ground balls.

Colgate's Matt LaCombe was a gamechanger as he recorded a career-best and Patriot League season-high 24 saves to ward off Army's 37 shots on goal – the second most shots on goal in a game this season by the Black Knights.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Raiders jumped out to an aggressive pace as the first of two semifinal games set to take place in Michie Stadum got under way.

With the momentum falling heavily in Colgate's favor early in the first quarter, the visitors scored three goals in the first five minutes of action to take an early lead.

Army ripped three goals in quick succession to bring things tied at 3-3, led by Jackson Eicher with his 52^nd goal of the season – a new program record for the Black Knights for goals in a single season.

Eicher then turned around and added an assist to his tally as he set up Gunnar Fellows for his 32^nd goal of the season minutes before Brayden Fountain found Aiden Weisenborn to tie things up for the Black Knights.

The Raiders took advantage of the hectic first period energy to surge ahead to a 6-3 lead with a trio of goals in the back half of the first quarter.

The two teams clashed aggressively in the opening minutes of the second quarter and the 6-3 advantage held for the Raiders until Dylan D'Agostino found the back of the net nine minutes into the second frame.

Colgate regained their three-goal lead a minute and a half later as Liam Connor found paydirt for the Raiders, but Eicher cut the lead down to two goals just one minute after Connor as he snagged the rebound from Hill Plunkett's shot and sent it home to the top right corner of the net to give Army its fifth goal of the game.

Despite aggressive attempts from both teams, the Raiders' 7-5 lead held through until halftime.

Gunnar Fellows broke open the second half scoring for Army just over two minutes into the return to play to bring Army within one goal of the Raiders.

The Black Knights drew even with Colgate just over thirty seconds shy of the 10-minute mark as Finn McCullough snuck a shot part Matt LaCombe as he bounced it off the turf in front of the netminder's feet.

Colgate retook a one goal lead ninety seconds later with a crush in front of Sean Byrne that brought the game to an 8-7 advantage for the Raiders.

Fellows returned the favor two minutes later, haunting the Raiders' doorstep and making good on a behind-the-back pass from Eicher to tie things up at 8-8.

Army took its first lead of the game as Will Coletti earned his third goal of the season as he won the faceoff and charged Colgate's net, evading a defender and delivering on the follow through to fire a shot high past LaCombe to the back of the cage.

Eicher picked up on Coletti's momentum and brought the Black Knights to double digits with his tenth hat trick of the season on a shot that slipped in the bottom right corner of the net.

The Raiders kept things close with two back-to-back goals to bring the game tied at 10-10 with two minutes left on the clock.

Colgate grabbed the momentum as the fourth quarter began, picking up a man-up goal in the first 15 seconds of action as they made good on an Army penalty that carried over from the end of the third quarter, extending it to a two-goal lead 15 seconds later with a goal tight to Army's crease.

The Raiders pressed their advantage with its third goal in three minutes before the Black Knights could find their feet in the fourth quarter.

Fellows notched his fourth goal of the game two seconds shy of the 11-minute mark to pull Army within two goals, followed by Finn McCullough two minutes later to keep it a two-goal game after the Raiders responded to Fellows' goal.

The Raiders notched their fifteenth of the game with five and a half minutes left in regulation as the skies opened up and a downpour fell to bring the game to a 15-12 lead for the visitors.

Freshman attackman Brayden Foutain found the back of the new with just over two minutes left on the clock to bring Army to 13, but a final Colgate goal with a minute and 16 seconds left on the clock held the advantage in Colgate's favor through the final whistle.

BLACK KNIGHT BULLET POINTS

Seven different Black Knights scored goals in the contest, led by Gunnar Fellows with four and Jackson Eicher with three.
Eicher's first goal of the game marked a new single season goals record for the Black Knights as he passed Tom Cafaro's record of 51 goals in a season, set in 1971, tallying 54 goals in his 2025 campaign by the end of the contest.
Eicher led the Black Knights in points (6) and assists (3). He stands second in the nation for points per game with 6.07.
Sean Byrne's 11 saves mark his eighth game this season with double-digit saves.
Gunnar Fellows recorded a game-high 14 shots and landed 10 of them on goal – the most shots on goal in a single game by an Army player this season.
Nine different Army players each recorded a caused turnover in the contest – Jackson Eicher, Grant Masterson, Hill Plunkett, AJ Pilate, Kyle Atherton, Christian Fournier, Brayden Fountain, Ryan Nixon, and John Sullivan.
The Black Knights led the Raiders in shots (56-42), shots on goal (37-27), fewest turnovers (13-21), successful clears (19-18), ground balls (35-30), and faceoff wins (20-12).