Bethlehem, PA – On a night where 31 fouls were called and seven cards were handed out, and Lehigh honored its senior class, the Mountain Hawks hung out for a dramatic 1-0 victory over archrival
Lafayette on Saturday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex. With the win Lehigh improves to 9-5-2 on the season and 3-2-1 in Patriot League play, while the Leopards fall to 11-4 overall and 4-2 in league action.
Lehigh scored the only goal of the evening when sophomore John O’Reilly took a pass from Joe Verdi and found the back of the net following a scramble in front of the goal to put the Mountain Hawks in front 1-0 at the 22:40 mark. The Brown and White had many scoring chances for the rest of the half, but was unable to capitalize and so the two squads retired for halftime with the home team in front 1-0.
During the second half, tempers flared between the two squads as the number of fouls mounted and players began to step up the level of physical play. However, no matter how physical the game was, Lafayette was unable to solve Lehigh’s stifling defense. The Mountain Hawks came into tonight’s contest with the fifth best goals against average in America and the Mountain Hawks did not disappoint, as they limited the number of shots the Leopards had.
Lehigh unleashed 16 shots on the night, while Lafayette got off nine shots of its own, many of which were contested or under duress, but none that found its way into the net. In goal for the Mountain Hawks freshman Charlie Sales continued to impress, as he sent back one shot and picked up his fourth shutout of the season. Lafayette keeper Mike Tortora stopped 11 Mountain Hawk shots in a game in which Lehigh had four corners to the Leopards seven.
Head Coach Dean Koski was excited to get the win, knowing the magnitude of this victory. “Getting the win was the important thing tonight for us. We knew it wasn’t going to be pretty out here with the wet conditions and it was not pretty, but we got the result. I think we played very well in the first half and then Lafayette came back and played well in the second half.”
Lehigh returns to action on Tuesday when the Mountain Hawks travel to Brooklyn to take on Long Island University. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:00.
Photos copyright 2004, Lehigh Athletics/Chris Christian.
