Lehigh University
No. 8/13 Army
Lehigh comes up just short versus No. 8 Army
3/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
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WEST POINT, N.Y. – Senior David Gaunt scored three goals, including two of the extra-man variety, but Lehigh could not hold onto a two-goal lead in the third quarter, and fell to the No. 8/13 Black Knights of Army 7-6 on Wednesday evening at Michie Stadium. With the loss, the Mountain Hawks fall to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in Patriot League play, while the Black Knights improve to 5-1 overall and remain unbeaten in league action at 3-0.
Gaunt opened the scoring with a man-up goal off of a feed from senior Alec Hooff at the 8:36 mark of the opening quarter, but the Black Knights would tie the game at one when Justin Bokmeyer scored on a pass from Brooks Korvin with 3:13 remaining. That is all the scoring there would be for the first quarter, but both teams quickly got on the board in the second, starting when senior Steve Marino took a pass from classmate Mike Zurfluh and beat Army keeper Adam Fullerton to put Lehigh in front 2-1 with 14:49 to go in the half. Army came right back with a score of its own though, as Alex Rhoads scored off another assist from Brooks, which came just 1:18 after Lehigh took the lead.
The Mountain Hawks would again take the lead when Zurfluh scored an unassisted goal at the 8:58 mark of the quarter, but Brooks got into the scoring column himself as he scored with 5:30 to go in the half, tying the score at three. The back-and-forth scoring continued, as Gaunt netted his second goal of the evening with 4:13 left in the half, which sent Lehigh into the intermission with a 4-3 advantage.
Gaunt completed his hat trick when he netted a bouncing goal just 28 seconds into the third quarter putting the Mountain Hawks ahead 5-3. Marino assisted on what was Gaunt’s second man-up score of the contest. Ryan Chase sliced Lehigh’s lead in half at the 8:40 clip of the quarter, with a goal off of a feed from Justin Bokmeyer, making the score 5-4. A penalty on Gaunt gave the Black Knights the EMO, but Lehigh was the team that took advantage, as Hooff netted his third score of the season to put the Brown and White in front 6-4.
Korvin quickly answered back though, as he netted his second score of the evening just seconds later, and brought the Black Knights to within one at 6-5. Jason Peyer then tied the game at six, as he scored with just ten ticks left on the clock, and set the stage for the final 15 minutes of play.
Chase gave Army its first lead of the game at the 8:12 mark of the fourth as he blasted the game-winning shot past Lehigh goal keeper Eric Spirko putting the home team in front 7-6. From there, Lehigh had several opportunities on the offensive end, but could not get the one goal it needed to tie the score.
Lehigh unleashed 20 shots on the evening, led by Gaunt’s five, while Army recorded 29 led by Bokmeyer’s nine. The Mountain Hawks were solid in the face-off X, winning nine-of-16, with all nine wins going to freshman Kyle Gentile. Lehigh also held Army in check on its EMO, allowing the Black Knighs just one goal in ten extra-man situations. Spirko finished the game with 11 saves in goal for the Brown and White, while also scooping up two ground balls, and Gentile scooped up a team-best seven ground balls.
Lehigh returns to action on Saturday when the Mountain Hawks travel to
