October 7, 2000

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By Yariv Amir, Colgate Student Assistant

HAMILTON, N.Y. – Three Holy Cross goals in the last 11 minutes of Saturday night’s game against Colgate led the Crusaders to a 3-1 victory in Patriot League action.

Colgate controlled the play early in the contest, playing a possession game mostly in the offensive zone. The Red Raider pressure grew and at 35:38 senior forward Brendan Skonieczki broke the scoreless tie beating Holy Cross goalkeeper Kevin Baker high to the right side.

The play developed as sophomore midfielder Sean Nevison dribbled the ball along the goal line. As the Holy Cross defender approached him, he fed Skonieczki in the middle of the box who quickly connected for his ninth goal of the season.

Colgate held the lead for the remainder of the half, going into the break with a 1-0 lead.

Holy Cross had an opportunity to answer back early in the second half when Crusader midfielder Patrick Montgomery received a penalty kick after a Colgate hand ball in the box. Montgomery shot low to Colgate goalkeeper Jon Brunell’s right, but Brunell dove, knocking the shot away for one of his eight saves of the night, keeping the score at 1-0 Colgate.

That was the closest Holy Cross would get to evening up the score until defender Rusty Giudici beat Brunell at 79:21. The play was very similar to Colgate’s strike earlier in the game as Crusader defender Joe Foerster fed Giudici who scored from the center of the box, ten yards out.

Just 37 seconds later, Holy Cross would jump on top with what turned out to be the game winning goal. Holy Cross defender Vernon McGeorge blasted a corner kick which deflected off of Crusader midfielder Matt Ney and then off Colgate midfielder Zach Stuppy and into the Colgate net.

Colgate fought to even the score back up, sending its defenders up to join in the play. However, this plan would backfire as Holy Cross was able to block an attempted cross and turn it the other way on a two-on-one. Matt Ney took the ball at the midfield line and carried the ball all the way down the left side to the top of the box before ripping a shot to the far side that bounced off of the inside of the far post and into the net.