#8/9 Army Welcomes Colgate for League Clash

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The No. 8/9 Army West Point men's lacrosse team looks to remain unbeaten in Patriot League play as the Black Knights welcome Colgate to Michie Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. faceoff.

For the first time, the Black Knights will be playing live on Twitter. Saturday's game can be viewed on computers, tablets and other mobile devices through the Twitter applications or online. The game can also be seen live on the Patriot League Network powered by Campus Insiders and on the radio in the Hudson Valley on 1260 WLNA and 1420 WBNR.

HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION • None
RADIO • 1260 WLNA/1420 WBNR
VIDEO • Twitter • Patriot League Network (Free)
LIVE STATISTICS • GoArmyWestPoint.com
GAME NOTES • Army
TWITTER • ArmyWP_MLax
INSTAGRAM • ArmyWP_MLax

THE OPENING FACEOFF
• The Black Knights and the Raiders are facing off for the 40th time since the first meeting back in 1923.
• It is the 19th meeting at West Point with Army leading 14-4 in the series on the banks of the Hudson.
• Army is coming off a 10-4 road win at Holy Cross last Saturday to move to 3-0 in the Patriot League for its sixth win in a row.
• The Black Knights will look to go 4-0 in a league season for the second straight year and win seven in a row for the first time since 2005.
• Colgate comes to West Point with a 3-5 mark and a 1-2 record in the Patriot League.
• The Raiders dropped a midweek tilt at Cornell by a 15-6 score and haven't played a league game in a couple of weeks.

ARMY WIN NO. 100
• Head coach Joe Alberici became only the third coach in program history to reach 100 wins at West Point.
• He joins F. Morris Touchstone and Jack Emmer as Army head coaches to reach the milestone.
• He has won 108 overall career games as a head coach with 100 coming at Army and eight at SUNY Oneonta in 1994.

DEFENSE IS KEY
• Army comes into Saturday's game as the second-ranked defense in the nation, allowing only 6.25 goals per game.
• This has also allowed the Black Knights to be second in the country in scoring margin as well at 6.50.
• The defense starts with the goalie and AJ Barretto ranks third nationally with a 6.52 goals against average.
• Army has allowed six or less goals in six of its eight games with the two double-digit outings coming against teams that are now in the top 10 nationally in Syracuse and Rutgers.

FACEOFF WEAPON
• Dan Grabher has proved to be one of the best faceoff specialist in the nation this season.
• He has won three Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week awards so far this year with the last one after winning 25-of-33 draws last week, including 15-of-16 against NJIT on March 13.
• Grabher has 387 faceoffs in his three-plus years on the Black Knights and recently reached 100 wins for the third straight year.
• He currently ranks sixth all-time in career faceoff wins with 387 and is four away from Derek Sipperly '12 for fifth all-time.
• He is third in the nation with a .669 faceoff percentage and fifth in ground balls per game at 8.25 entering Saturday's contest.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
• Colgate has had an up and down season in 2017 so far with a 3-5 record with wins over Bucknell, Hobart and Siena.
• The Raiders lost their first two games of the year and have traded wins and losses since bowing to Marist and Binghamton.
• They are scoring almost 10 goals a game while giving up just under 12 goals per contest.
• Sam Cleveland is tops on the team with 23 points on 12 goals and 11 assists, while Griffin Brown has 14 goals to lead the way for the Raiders.
• Former Patriot League Rookie of the Year Anthony Abbadessa has 22 points on 11 goals and 10 assists.
• In net, another league rookie of the year, Brandon Burke has a 11.90 goals against average and a .485 save percentage.
• Colgate's head coach Mike Murphy was an assistant under Alberici at Army for eight seasons and is 3-3 against his former boss.

SERIES HISTORY
• This is the 40th meeting between Army and Colgate
• The last meeting was in Hamilton with the Black Knights scoring an 11-7 win to stop a two-game winning streak by the Raiders.
• The teams have played each other three times in the Patriot League Tournament, including the 2015 title game and Colgate has the 2-1 advantage in those postseason games.
• The Black Knights are 15-4 all time against Colgate at West Point, but the Raiders have won the last two meetings at Michie Stadium.

#8/9 Army Welcomes Colgate for League Clash

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Players Mentioned

AJ Barretto

Dan Grabher

Army West Point Athletics