HAMDEN, CONN.— Colgate fell 4-0 at No. 5 Quinnipiac on Saturday in its final regular-season game.

The first portion of the opening period was a defensive battle as neither side was able to pull ahead.

With just over six minutes remaining in the first, the Bobcats opened the scoring with a goal from Michael Lombardi off a pass from Jayden Lee. The Raiders picked up a penalty kill with just under five minutes remaining in the period after Pierson Brandon was called for hooking.

Colgate had a total of three kills on the night.

Quinnipiac began the second on another power play and was able to take advantage of it, as just 18 seconds into the period Zach Metsa doubled the Bobcats' lead when he scored off assists from Oliver Chau and Wyatt Bongiovanni.

Just over two minutes later, Lombardi passed to Joey Cipollone who found the back of the net to make it a three-goal game. Gus van Nes picked up a secondary assist on the play.

Colgate had some decent chances around the 15-minute mark of the middle frame, as Paul McAvoy and Griffin Lunn both had some good looks at goal that they couldn't quite finish off.

At the 10:22 mark of the second, Chau scored to increase the Bobcats' lead to four. The Raiders had their first power play chance of the game with 2:44 left in the period after Quinnipiac was called for interference, but they went scoreless on it.

Colgate's defense held strong in the third keeping Quinnipiac scoreless. Mitch Benson also helped with that as he made 13 saves in the period to increase his final total to 22. The Raiders had one final power play chance five minutes into the period, but
could not convert on it.

Quinnipiac finished with the advantage in shots, but not by much as the final tally ended at 26-19.

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan

"We just weren't able to generate much tonight. Between their seniors and fifth-year players, Quinnipiac is a very experienced team with a number of guys that have played a lot of college hockey. That experience was on display tonight. They capitalize on other teams' mistakes and they have done that to a lot of teams this year, including us tonight. Things got away from us in the second period but I was pleased with how we continued to battle in the third.We did have some very good looks on our power play tonight, but we couldn't find a way to get the puck past their goalie.

I am proud of how our team developed over the course of the year. We gained a lot of ground in the standings over the last month and we were in a position to earn fourth place and a buy right up until the final regular-season game. That's what I have really liked about this group. There is no quit in them. We shift our focus now to the playoffs. We are excited to be home next weekend for the first round. We expect another hard-fought series against a tough Yale team."

UP NEXT
Colgate earned the fifth seed in the ECAC Tournament and will host 12th seed Yale in the first round next weekend, starting with the first game of the best-of-three series on Friday. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Tuesday, March 1 at colgateathletics.com/tickets.