LEXINGTON, VA.- The Colgate University men's lacrosse team picked up their third victory of the 2002 season with a 18-3 win over VMI Tuesday night.  The Raiders 3-2 record is their best start since the 1994 season when they were also 3-2 five games into the year.

The Keydets led 3-2 after the first quarter behind two goals from John Eddy including one with just 12 seconds left in the period to give VMI the lead.  

But the Raiders went on to score four, eight and four goals in the second, third and fourth periods, respectively, while holding the Keydets scoreless throughout the remainder of the game to earn the victory. 

Senior Joe Parker (Crofton, Md.) led the way for Colgate with a three goal and three assist performance on the night.  Freshman Jason Vasas (Fairport, N.Y.) and sophomore Chris Michaels (Pennington, N.J.) each added three goals for the Raiders while Ian Franke (Duxbury, Mass.), Scott Herbst (Short Hills, N.J.) and Nick Gerken (Wilton, Conn.) each tallied two goals.

Other goal scorers for Colgate were Jeff Vander Meulen (Liverpool, N.Y.), John Albright (Falls Church, Va.) and Gabe Abromovitz (Needham, Mass.).

VMI goalkeeper Brian Ward made 11 saves while Raider keeper Chris Hettler (Liverpool, N.Y.) saved nine shots.

The Colgate men's lacrosse team next travels to Villanova University Saturday, March 23.  Face-off is set for 1:00.

Colgate 18, VMI  3
Colgate  2   4   8   4  -  18
VMI       3   0   0   0  -  3

GOALS:  COLGATE: Parker 3, Vasas 3, Michaels 3, Franke 2, Herbst 2, Gerken 2, Vander Meulen, Albright, Abromovitz VMI: John Eddy 2, Niven
ASSISTS: COLGATE:  Parker 3, Franke, Herbst, Gerken, Watts  VMI: Erwin, Niven
SAVES: COLGATE: Hettler nine saves  VMI: Ward 11 saves
SHOTS: Colgate 43, VMI 19
GROUNDBALLS: Colgate 54, VMI 26
FACEOFFS: Colgate 12, VMI 13