EASTON, Pa. – Bolstered by an eight-goal performance in the middle two quarters, Lehigh downed archrival Lafayette by a score of 9-7 on Saturday evening for the Mountain Hawks eighth straight win over the Leopards. Senior Fred Cassilly led the Brown and White on offense with a hat trick, while junior Ricky Cornetta totaled four points with two goals and a pair of assists. With the win Lehigh improves to 6-6 overall and moves back to .500 in the Patriot League at 2-2. Lafayette received two goals from Matt Mersky and falls to 2-6 overall and remains winless in the Patriot League.
Lehigh out shot Lafayette 32-22 for the game and scooped up one more ground ball than the Leopards (23-22). Senior Stuart Baxter won ten-of-17 face-offs and scooped up four ground balls, while classmate Dan Honeywell led Lehigh with five ground balls. In goal Eric Spirko stopped five shots in his 60 minutes of play.
Steve Serling led the home team with seven shots and also scooped up two ground balls while Cesar Munoz won eight-of-16 face-offs and recorded three ground balls. Lafayette keeper Jeff Canfield made 15 saves including ten in the first half.
Lafayette jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one quarter of play but the Lehigh offense came to life in a big way in the second, scoring five consecutive goals to surge in front 5-3. Cornetta scored twice during the run, and Shane Donlan, Richard Bradley and Max Dahlem found the back of the net once. The Leopards responded with two goals in the final 5:04 and the teams retired for halftime locked at five.
Cassilly and Andrew Horgan gave Lehigh the lead back for good in the third and early part of the fourth quarters, combining for four goals, including all three of Cassilly’s to put the Mountain Hawks back on top 9-5 with 8:40 remaining.
Lafayette freshman Tom Perini scored with 5:50 on the clock, but Lehigh was able to hold off any chance for a Leopard rally.
Lehigh will return to action next Saturday, April 5 when the Mountain Hawks travel to Hamilton, New York to take on the Colgate Raiders in a game with huge Patriot League tournament implications. The opening face-off is set for 1:00.
