Mountain Hawks upended by Leopards in Easton

Saturday, November 5

Easton, Pa.

7:00:00 PM

Lehigh University

Lafayette

11/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

EASTON, Pa. – After shutting out its archrival for over 73 minutes, Lehigh surrendered two quick goals, and ultimately fell to Lafayette by a score of 2-1 on Saturday evening. Sophomore Joe Clemente scored the Mountain Hawks lone goal, his second of the season, in the 30th minute, off of a feed from junior Tom Zubulake and senior Jim Stevens, but the Leopards Anthony Sepe picked a fine time for his first goal of the season, netting the game-winner in the 80th minute. With the loss, Lehigh finishes the regular season with a record of 10-4-1, and 4-3 in league action, while Lafayette improves to 12-4-1 and 5-2 in Patriot League play.

Clemente’s goal held up into halftime, and for the majority of the second half, as Lehigh had control of the match. But, in the 78th minute, a Lehigh own goal tied the score at one, and gave the Leopards life, which set the stage for Sepe’s dramatic score.

Lehigh out shot its opponent ten to nine on the evening, but did not have any corner kicks. Lafayette had two corner kicks and was whistled for ten fouls. Lehigh sophomore Chalrie Sales stopped five Leopard shots for the match, while Mike Tortora recorded four of his own in net for Lafayette. Clemente led the Brown and White, who were whistled for 12 fouls, with four shots, while Ryan McCaughey led the Leopards with three.

Despite the loss, Lehigh gets a shot at redemption rather quickly, as the Mountain Hawks will enter next weekend's Patriot League Tournament as the number-three seed, and will take on the second seeded Leopards in the semi-finals on Friday, November 11 in Washington, D.C. Top-seeded American will tangle with the fourth-seeded Colgate Raiders in the other semi-final. Game times for the tournament have not been announced yet.