Lehigh University
Yale
Mountain Hawks fall to tough Yale squad 8-6
3/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh hung tough with No. 17 Yale on Saturday afternoon, tying the game at six with 7:58 to play, but the Bulldogs scored the game’s final two goals to outlast the Mountain Hawks 8-6 at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Freshman Dante Fantoni did all he could to keep the Mountain Hawks in it with three scores and an assist, while three other Lehigh players scored one goal each but it was not enough as the Brown and White falls to 2-4 following the setback. Yale received four goals from Gregory Mahony as the Bulldogs remain unbeaten at 4-0.
“Overall I’m disappointed with the effort we put forth today,” Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese said afterwards. “This was the first time this year that we got out-battled. I don’t think we’re necessarily the most talented team and so I expect us to come out with a bit of a chip on our shoulder but today we did not do that.”
He then commented on the play of a tough Yale squad. “They were opportunistic and made the most of their opportunities. Bottom line is they just battled harder than we did. We were forced to play catch-up once again and that is something that needs to be addressed. It’s tough to play when you’re on your heels and until we learn to compete and battle for 60 minutes we’re going to be in this situation.”
Lehigh was credited with 17 shots on the afternoon, led by Fantoni’s five and Cameron Lao-Gosney who took four. The Mountain Hawks scooped up 30 ground balls, led by Will Scudder with five and Evan Guerrero with four. Scudder won six-of-12 face-offs on the day but Lehigh had a tough time in the X overall, winning just 7-of-18 face-offs. Blaise Fullen led the Brown and White with three caused turnovers and Ben Kelley caused two. Freshman Dan Carr stopped 12 shots in goal for Lehigh and also recorded an assist.
Mahony took 14 of Yale’s 31 shots on the day, and also led the Bulldogs with seven ground balls. Max Rodman won 11-of-18 face-offs on the afternoon, while Nick Tsouris caused four turnovers and Brendan Gibson led the visitors with six ground balls. In goal for Yale Jonathan Falcone sent back six shots in 60 minutes of work.
Fantoni got things started for Lehigh with a goal just 20 seconds into the game but Yale answered with three straight scores, including two from Mahony to claim a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes of play. Brendan Douglass opened the second quarter with another Bulldogs score to put the visitors up 4-1 before Brian Bienemann stopped their run with a goal at the 5:09 mark of the quarter. That proved to be the final goal of the half however and the teams retired for halftime with Lehigh trailing 4-2.
David DiMaria opened the third quarter with a goal off a feed from Fantoni to bring Lehigh within a single goal but Gibson and Douglass netted back-to-back scores to close out the quarter and send the teams into the final 15 minutes of play with Yale on top 6-3.
Lehigh began the fourth quarter with a goal by Fantoni two minutes in, and the freshman added his third score of the day three minutes after that to bring the Mountain Hawks within a single goal. Cameron Lao-Gosney then tied the score at six with his sixth goal of the season at the 7:58 mark, setting the stage for an exciting finish. Yale found the back of the net twice during those final minutes however and Lehigh’s offense was not able to generate any additional scoring sending the Mountain Hawks to a second straight loss that came down to the final minutes.
“Dante Fantoni had a terrific day for us,” Cassese added. “He showed tremendous toughness and did a great job in scoring those two goals early in the fourth which got us right back in the game. I was very impressed with the day he had.”
Lehigh returns to action on Monday, when the Mountain Hawks host Detroit Mercy. Game time is set for 3pm from Banko Field in Bethlehem and all of the action will be broadcast live on Lehighsports.com.
Lehigh - Yale Post-Game Extra
