Blow-out victories. Overtime thrillers. Superb individual performances.
 
The Colorado College men's lacrosse team experienced a little bit of everything during the 2018 season.
 
Add in the program's first national ranking, the return of the Locker-Stabler Cup and a sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, it becomes obvious why 2018 will be remembered as one of the most successful and exciting seasons in 54 years of Tiger Lacrosse.
 
The first indication that there was a special quality about this year's squad occurred in the 11-8 victory over Berry College in the second game of the season. Trailing 8-6 early in the second half, the CC defense did not allow a goal during the final 26 minutes and the offense reeled off five consecutive scores to secure the come-from-behind win.
 
It proved to be the first of nine victories in which the Tigers trailed at some point in the game and one of three when they trailed in the second half.
 
Colorado College displayed its ability to score in droves in its first home game of the season against Otterbein University. After falling behind 4-2 seven seconds into the second quarter, the Tigers exploded for eight consecutive goals and went on to post a 15-10 victory over the Cardinals.
 
The fireworks began in earnest five days later when CC torched Wittenberg University, 21-8. The Tigers raced to a 14-1 lead and surpassed the 20-goal mark for the first of three straight games.
 
Colorado College erupted for a season-high 24 goals in the blowout win over The College of Wooster, and then scored 18 in a row in the 21-2 thrashing of Kean University.
 
During that four-game home stand, CC outscored its opponents 81-27 and established itself as one of the most powerful attacks in the country.
 
The offense cooled when the Tigers ventured to Philadelphia over spring break, thanks in part to a Nor'easter that forced the cancellation of the game at Vassar College scheduled for March 21.
 
However, the 14-7 neutral-site victory Babson College demonstrated the team's ability to win games by shutting down an opponent, a trait that would become increasingly valuable during the month of April.
 
Victories over MIT and Williams College helped Colorado College climb into the top five of the RPI, but its postseason fortunes were in serious jeopardy when it returned to the East Coast for games at Elizabethtown College and Montclair State University.
 
On April 20 at Elizabethtown, CC erased a three-goal fourth-quarter deficit to escape with a 7-6 victory when junior midfielder Aaron Maslow scored with 57 seconds remaining in overtime.
 
Two days later, the Tigers overcame a seven-goal second-half deficit to steal a 12-11 victory at MSU when sophomore attacker Coby Petau scored on a one-timer off of a feed from senior attacker Robbie Stern with just two seconds to go in the first overtime.
 
Thanks in part to those two come-from-behind overtime victories, Colorado College earned the program's first-ever top-20 ranking from the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. Not only were the Tigers were ranked No. 20 in the Division III poll, they climbed to No. 4 in the Laxpower.com RPI rankings.
 
A few days later, Petau struck for five goals and set up one more to lead CC to a 14-10 victory over Whittier College and take possession of the Locker-Stabler Cup for the seventh time in eight years.
 
While helping the Tigers finish the season with a 7-0 record at Washburn Field, Stern scored three goals and added an assist to celebrate Senior Day in grand fashion. In eight career games against the Poets, he scored 24 goals and dished out seven assists.
 
After finishing the season with a 13-1 record, Colorado College was shipped to No. 8 Cabrini College for the second round of the NCAA Tournament and dropped a 21-10 decision to the Cavaliers.
 
Stern led the Tigers with two goals and an assist and paced the team with personal single-season highs of 50 goals, 23 assists and 73 points. With his final goal, he became only the third player in program history to produce 50 goals in a single season, joining Dick Bufkin, who scored a school-record 62 goals in 1998, and Austin Davie, who notched 51 in 2016, in the exclusive group.
 
He completed his career ranked seventh in program history with 129 career goals, 11th with 179 points and 18th with 50 assists. 
 
That performance led to Stern being named an honorable-mention All-America honors by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association, and thanks to his 3.48 grade-point average, Stern was one of only 76 Division III student-athletes to be named a USILA Scholar All-American.
 
Stern also was named to the all-West Region second team by the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association, while senior defender Riley Hoffman and junior midfielder Tyler Borko were honorable-mention selections.
 
Hoffman led the Colorado College defense with a personal single-season high 24 caused turnovers and was tied for eighth with 18 ground balls. During the 18-14 victory over Williams, Hoffman produced a career-high five caused turnovers and matched his season best of three ground balls.
 
Borko ranked third on the team with single-season highs of 34 goals and 50 points, and was tied for third with 16 assists. Borko also figured prominently in the win over Williams by recording single-game highs of seven goals and nine points.
 
Looking ahead to the 2019 season, the Tigers will return eight starters and 34 veterans from this year's squad that posted a 13-2 record and ranked among the Division III leaders in several statistical categories.