A slow start doomed the Centre men's lacrosse team in its season opener, as the Colonels fell 11-4 to former conference rival Colorado College on Sunday at Farris Stadium.

Joe Lencewicz (Gates Mills, Ohio) led Centre with two goals, both of them coming in a span of less than two minutes as he helped pull the Colonels within three early in the fourth quarter. Matt Hughes (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Austin Zehnder (Prospect, Ky.) also found the net for Centre while Colorado College's Henri Halle led all players with three goals.

The two teams met in each of Centre's first two years of competition when both schools were part of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Tigers, who never lost a regular season conference game in the four years the SCAC sponsored lacrosse, won each of those two meetings. In the two years since the teams last met, Centre turned itself into a power as well, also making the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.

Though the teams entered their 2015 meeting on more equal footing, the contest produced a similar result. The Colonels struggled to find a rhythm early, falling behind 5-0 without registering their first shot attempt until the 9:00 mark of the second quarter.

Centre went to the half still trailing 5-0 and having been outshot 26-2, but the Colonels were able to get back in the game in the third quarter. Hughes got Centre on the board with a goal in the first minute of the half, and though the Tigers answered with two goals to go up 7-1, Zehnder closed out the quarter with a goal on an assist from Wes Hardman (Narragansett, R.I.).

As the fourth quarter opened, Lencewicz scored his two goals on assists from Eamon DeLay (Hempstead, N.Y.) and Seth Gray (Louisville, Ky.) to cut the margin to 7-4. Unfortunately for the Colonels, those would prove to be their final goals of the game, as Colorado College would score four unanswered in the closing minutes.

Overall, Colorado outshot Centre 49-12 while holding a 38-19 advantage in ground balls and a 12-6 edge in face offs. Bryce McCoy (Hudson, Ohio) made 17 saves in goal for Centre while Chase Murphy had three stops for the Tigers.

Colorado College evens its record at 1-1 on the season, while Centre opens at 0-1. After a week off, the Colonels are back in action when they host Hanover on Feb. 28.