Lewisburg, PA – Lehigh battled for three quarters, but let up three goals in the fourth quarter, which led to a 12-7 victory by No. 15 Bucknell on Saturday afternoon in a steady rain.
With the loss, the Mountain Hawks are now 5-4 overall and 0-3 in league action, while the Bison improve to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in league play.
Lehigh jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Greg Morin and Jeff King just 54 seconds into the contest. Brian Gargan then cut the Mountain Hawk lead to one with a score at the 11:32 mark. Morin then scored his second goal of the contest with 9:47 left in the quarter, but Bucknell scored the game’s next two goals and with 4:35 left in the quarter, the game was tied at three.
Jeff Wiener opened the second quarter scoring for Lehigh, but the Bison reeled off the game’s next three scores to lead 5-4 with 2:49 left in the half, which is what the score would be heading into halftime.
Patrick Christensen scored the second half’s first goal 1:55 in, and the home team was up 7-4. Alec Hoof and Christensen exchanged goals in the next two minutes to make the score 8-5 in favor of Bucknell. Blake Best and Andrew Lucas then made the score 8-7 with two scores in 46 seconds and it appeared as though Lehigh was set to go ahead. But Bucknell scored two goals in the last three minutes of the quarter and added three more in the fourth to win going away, 12-7. Morin finished with two goals and three assists, while Hoof handed out two helpers.
In goal for Lehigh, freshman Eric Spirko sent back eight Bison shots on the day, while Bucknell goal keeper Matt Baran had 13 saves for the game. King scooped up nine ground balls for the game, while Jeff Davis registered five ground balls.
Lehigh returns to action next Saturday, April 9, when the Mountain Hawks play host to Patriot League foe Colgate. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 from the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast live on lehighsports.com.
