Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh opens league play versus No. 15 Navy
3/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh returns home for the first time since February 21 on Tuesday evening when the Mountain Hawks open Patriot League play versus the No. 15 Navy Midshipmen at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Lehigh earned its first win of the season over the weekend with a come-from-behind 11-9 victory over Dartmouth in New Hampshire. The Mountain Hawks defense held the Big Green scoreless for the final 15:55 of play and received goals from nine different players to register the road victory. Navy enters Wednesday’s game looking to build off of its first league win of the season, a 14-9 victory over Lafayette on Saturday in Annapolis.
Lehigh fell behind at Dartmouth 4-0 in the first 11 minutes of Saturday’s contest, but the Mountain Hawks unleashed a 6-0 run to take a 6-4 lead into halftime. The teams traded goals throughout the third quarter with the score tied on four separate occasions, before Will Scudder gave Lehigh a 10-9 lead with 49 seconds remaining on the clock in the quarter. Kyle Gentile then added an insurance goal midway through the fourth and Lehigh’s “D” took over from there, holding Dartmouth scoreless in the final quarter.
Chris Lubin leads Lehigh with 10 goals in the early going this season, with Brian Bienemann (nine goals) and Ricky Cornetta (six goals) close behind. Cornetta is the team leader in assists with six, while Max Dahlem has handed out five. Scudder has won 35-of-62 in the X, good for a 56.5 win percentage, and he has also added 14 ground balls. Evan Guerrero leads Lehigh with 17 ground balls and he shares high honors with senior captain Dan Honeywell with 19 caused turnovers. Conor Murphy registered his first collegiate victory with the win over Dartmouth, as he tied his season high with 11 stops. For the season Murphy has sent back 25 shots in 150 minutes of action.
Navy, which will be the third ranked opponent Lehigh has played this season, enters Tuesday with a record of 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League. The Midshipmen’s two losses have come by one goal apiece to North Carolina and Bucknell, both of which came on the road. In Saturday’s victory over Lafayette, sophomore Andy Warner found the back of the net a career-best three times, while RJ Wickham stopped a career-high 14 shots in goal. 11 different players accounted for Navy’s season high 14 goals.
Tim Paul and Brendan Connors lead the Midshipmen with ten goals apiece, while Warner (seven goals), Patrick Moran (six goals) and Bruce Nechanicky (six goals) are next in line. Paul is the leader in assists with eight, while in the X, Frankie Coppola has won 35-of-72 (.486) and scooped up a team-high 17 ground balls. Wickham has stopped 23 shots in 180 minutes of action in goal for the Midshipmen, posting a save percentage of 54.8 during that time.
Lehigh and Navy have met 28 previous times, with Lehigh’s lone win coming in 1913. The Midshipmen have defeated the Brown and White 24 straight times, including a 14-3 win last season in Annapolis.
Lehigh and Navy get things going at 7:00 on Tuesday evening from the Ulrich Sports Complex. Live coverage of the game will be available at Lehighsports.com.
