Lehigh University
Bucknell
Dominating effort puts Lehigh in title game
11/14/2003 9:57:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Lewisburg, PA – Lehigh will move into the Patriot League Tournament Championship game on Sunday with a convincing 2-0 victory over Bucknell on Friday afternoon. With the shutout, Lehigh sets a school record with ten on the season, as the defense played as well as it has in any game all year. The Mountain Hawks, ranked tenth in the Mid-Atlantic Region, controlled the ball for the entire game and really dominated the action at West Fields. With the victory, Lehigh moves to 9-3-7 overall, and sets up a match with archrival Lafayette on Sunday in Lewisburg, which is scheduled to begin at 1:00. As he has done all season, senior Steve Fisher carried the offensive load for the Mountain Hawks, as he put in both goals on the afternoon, giving him ten on the season. Both teams struggled to produce anything on the offensive end in the first half, even though the Mountain Hawks were controlling the ball with relative ease. Each team ripped off five shots in the half, but to no avail, as the score was deadlocked at zero going into halftime.
The second half began with more of the same, as the Mountain Hawks continued to hold onto the ball, and gave themselves several scoring opportunities. Following a corner kick by junior Kyle Hartman, Fisher headed in a ball at the 51:18 mark to give Lehigh the 1-0 lead.
The Mountain Hawk defense continually stifled Bucknell and showed why they are ranked first in the Patriot League in shutouts (10), goals allowed (12) and goals against average (0.63). As time wore down, Fisher sealed the victory by netting his second goal, with just ten seconds remaining in the contest. Junior goalkeeper Sam Bishop recorded six saves on the afternoon, as he moves into the record books with those ten shutouts on the year. Bison goalie Adam Edwards turned back nine shots on the day. The Mountain Hawks out shot Bucknell 15-12 for the game, but that does not tell the story of how dominating a performance this was by Lehigh.
The game on Sunday will pit one of the league's most potent offenses against the clamping "d" of Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks have not beaten their archrivals since back in 1997 when they picked up a 3-1 win in Easton. The game will be broadcast live via cell phone on the Lehigh website beginning at 1:00.
