Wilmington's Conor Murphy Leads Colgate Lacrosse

There couldn’t have been a much bigger stage for Conor Murphy to make his first ever start in goal for the Colgate University men’s lacrosse team. The Wilmington resident made the most of the opportunity.

Murphy got the call in between the pipes in the opening round of the Division 1 NCAA tournament on Saturday against the University of Massachusetts. Thanks to a sparkling effort by the Middlesex School graduate, the Raiders earned a 13-11 victory over the unbeaten Minutemen, the No. 1 team in the country.

“The kid was starting his first game ever, in the NCAA Tournament,” Colgate leading scorer Peter Baum said of his goalie. I can’t imagine that kind of pressure. He handled it so well.”

Though Murphy had played in six games this season, he had yet to start and was second on the depth chart behind Jared Madison. But last week Madison told his Colgate head coach that he wasn’t seeing the ball well, leading to the decision to make the goaltending change.

The move paid off immediately as Murphy made several key saves early on, and helped the Raiders fight off UMass thanks to 15 saves.

“I just tried to stay as calm as I could throughout the day and not do anything different from the routine,” said Murphy. “I felt like I’ve been playing well. Inside I felt like my teammates believed in me. I wasn’t surprised, but I wasn’t thinking it was going to be a definite thing.”

Murphy said growing up he always wanted to play for UMass, but he was not recruited out of high school.

Even Minutemen head coach Greg Cannella was impressed by the opposing goaltender who helped put an end to his team’s season.

“He played great today,” said Cannella. “He’s a Massachusetts kid. I’m sure it was pretty special for him.”

Thanks to the victory, the Raiders will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to face third-ranked Duke on Sunday.

It’s hard to believe anyone but Murphy will earn the start against the Blue Devils given the sophomore’s first round performance.

“Any time you make 15 saves, you hope you end up on the right side of the ledger. He’s been doing it the last couple of weeks,” said Colgate head coach Mike Murphy following Saturday’s game. “I’m proud of the way Conor played.”