Lehigh University
No. 2 Duke
Lehigh starts strong before falling to No. 2 Duke
3/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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DURHAM, N.C. – Lehigh raced out to an early 3-0 lead on No. 2 Duke on Wednesday afternoon but in the end the Blue Devils had too much offensive firepower and came away with a 16-5 victory at Koskinen Stadium. Five different Mountain Hawks scored on the afternoon, while Matt Danowski led the Blue Devils with two scores. With the loss the Mountain Hawks fall to 2-3 on the season, while the Blue Devils remain unbeaten at 4-0.
Senior Dan Honeywell scored the game’s first goal at the 13:03 mark and just 12 seconds later freshman Richard Bradley put the Mountain Hawks in front 2-0 with an unassisted score of his own. Following a Duke penalty, senior Fred Cassilly fed junior Max Dahlem for a man-up score at the 3:53 mark of the quarter as Lehigh was in front 3-0, which is how the teams would enter the second stanza.
Duke netted the quarter's first four goals to make the score 4-3, as Mike Catalino scored twice and Steve Schoeffel and Bo Carrington each added a score of their own. Junior Ricky Cornetta, the Patriot League’s reining Offensive Player of the Week, tied the game at four though, as he took a feed from Dustin Clark and sent the teams into halftime knotted at four.
The Mountain Hawks took 26 first half shots, 11 more than the Blue Devils, while the Mountain Hawks won six-of-ten faceoffs in the opening 30 minutes of action.
The Blue Devils quickly re-took the lead in the third quarter as Max Quinzani scored off a feed from Matt Danowski just 1:44 in. Danowski then netted his first score of the afternoon off a feed from Sam Payton six seconds later to put the home team in front 6-4. Ned Crotty and Carrington then scored back-to-back goals in a span of just 1:18 to put Duke in front 8-4 and another Danowski goal with 2:25 left in the quarter made the score 9-4 in favor of the home team.
Sophomore John Henry McNierney scored Lehigh’s final goal of the afternoon with 25 seconds remaining. The goal was unassisted. The Mountain Hawks took 33 shots in the game, compared to Duke’s 33, while senior Tom Allen scooped up six of Lehigh’s 31 ground balls. The Mountain Hawks were 17-of-27 in clear attempts, while Duke was near perfect at 18-of-20. In goal for the Brown and White senior Eric Spirko stopped 16 Blue Devil shots before giving way to classmate John Park who made four saves in eight minutes of work.
For Duke, Dan Loftus played the first 45 minutes and saved nine shots, while backup Rob Schroeder made one save in 15 minutes of work.
Lehigh returns to action on Saturday afternoon when the Mountain Hawks play host to the Wagner Seahawks at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Game time is set for 2:30 and live video will be available on Lehighsports.com.
