Army Clinches North Division with Win Over Colgate

Friday, April 30

West Point, NY

2 PM

Army West Point

7-3, 5-2Patriot

Colgate

2-6, 2-4Patriot

Colgate

Army

Army Clinches North Division with Win Over Colgate

April 30, 2021 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The 11th-ranked Army West Point men's lacrosse team clinched the Patriot League North Division title and the second-seed in the upcoming conference tournament with a 13-11 victory over Colgate on Friday afternoon on Senior Day.

With the win, Army extended its home winning streak to double digits with its 10th consecutive victory at Michie Stadium. Mark that dates back to the 2019 season.

The Black Knights (7-3, 5-2 Patriot League) saw Brendan Nichtern tie a career high with eight points on three goals and five assists to lead a group of nine different goal scorers on the day. Gunner Philipp and Nickolas Edinger scored twice in the win and Stevie Grabher was 14-of-27 at the faceoff in the victory. He also scooped up a career best 15 ground balls as well.

"Today was a big one for us," Nichtern said. "Specifically for the offense, it was important we found our groove going into the tournament. We had an awesome week of practice, just playing with an unselfish mentality and playing with constant ball movement. Playing in a close fourth quarter game will give us experience in that situation because we will be there in one of our upcoming games."

Wyatt Schupler stopped 13 shots for the Black Knights to earn another win. Kyle Beyer had a good day on defense with three caused turnovers and in addition to his two points, Aidan Byrnes, finished with five ground balls. Army was also impressive in the riding game, forcing nine failed clears by the Raiders.

"This is a huge win for us," head coach Joe Alberici said. "To get the victory we would get a bye and we looked at as a playoff game and Colgate came out and looked at it as a playoff game as well, so no quit in the them and I give them credit and they played really hard. I was very proud of our guys. I thought they really responded in the fourth quarter after things weren't going our way in the third."

The game was a competitive one from the start with a 3-3 tie through the first 12 minutes of the contest. Nicholas Garofano, Byrnes and Nichtern found the back of the net in the early moments. The teams then traded four goals in the final two minutes of the quarter including Jacob Morin's tally with three seconds remaining in the frame to give Army a 5-3 lead after the first 15 minutes.

The scoring slowed in the second quarter with Army building a 7-3 lead with 9:45 left in the half. Nichtern added his second and then Andrew Kelly tallied his fourth of the season. Colgate got one back with seven minutes left, but the Black Knights had a 7-4 advantage going into the locker room.

The Raiders came out and put home the first three goals of the third quarter to even the game at 7-7 with 3:18 left in the frame. Edinger stopped the run with his 18th of the season with an assist to Nichtern to give Army some breathing room at 8-7 after three quarters.

The teams went back-and-forth the entire fourth quarter as Army scored two goals and then Colgate would answer with two more. The Raiders got back within one at 12-11 with 1:42 on the clock. Grabher responded at the faceoff and scooped up the ground ball to give Army the ball up one. After two timeouts by the Black Knights, Nichtern clinched the win with the hat trick to give Army the division title with the 13-11 win.

"Brendan Nichtern was a dominate player for us," Alberici said. "He had a huge one for us at the end. We cleared everyone out and let him go and he made the play. Very happy with the win, but certainly have some things to work on, but it's nice to have that bye."

The Black Knights will now wait for the winner of the Patriot League Quarterfinal between Loyola and Navy. Lehigh is this year's host of the Patriot League Semifinals and Championship.

HIGHLIGHTS & NOTES

The Black Knights honored their senior players and managers prior to the game as part of senior day ceremonies.
Army's firsties finished their careers with a 17-5 home record.
The Black Knights finish the 2021 home campaign 4-0 at Michie Stadium
Army will enter the 2022 season now on a home winning streak of 10 games, dating back to the 2019 season.
The Black Knights will be defending their 2019 Patriot League Title next week.
Nichtern's eight points tied a career high and it was the third time in his career he has reach eight points in a game.