Lehigh hosts No. 9 Villanova on Senior Night
4/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Mountain Hawks men’s lacrosse team will return to action on Tuesday evening when Lehigh plays host to No. 9 Villanova at the Ulrich Sports Complex on Senior Night. Lehigh will be looking to break its two-game losing streak, after suffering consecutive losses to Colgate and Bucknell on the road. The Mountain Hawks most recent setback came on April 16 when they fell to Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Villanova meanwhile is entering this matchup coming off of three consecutive wins, including this past Saturday when the Wildcats defeated St. John’s by a score of 12-10 at home.
Dante Fantoni and Cameron Lao-Gosney continue to lead the Mountain Hawks offense with 20 goals apiece, while Adam Johnston (18), Brian Binenemann (16), and Roman Lao-Gosney (12) have each contributed double digit goals. David DiMaria leads in assists (18), and Will Scudder leads in ground balls with 60 and he ranks second in the Patriot League in face-off win percentage at .590. Senior Even Guerrero (23) and junior Rich Bradley (13) lead the team in caused turnovers, while in goal, freshman Dan Carr has sent back a total of 92 shots, while sophomore Connor Murphy has turned away 39.
Villanova has only three losses this season and enters this game with three consecutive wins. Kevin Cunningham leads the Wildcat offense with 34 points, including 11 goals and 23 assists, while Paul Webber is the team leader with 21 goals. Nolan Vihlen has taken all but five of the face-offs for Villanova and won 124-of-244 (50.8%), and he also leads the team in ground balls with 48. Cunningham also leads the Wildcats in caused turnovers with 19, and in goal Dan Gutierrez and Billy Hurley have split the time fairly evenly. Gutierrez has sent back 41 shots in his 317 minutes, while Hurley has denied 59 in his 342 minutes.
Lehigh and Villanova will be meeting for the 27th time with the Wildcats holding a 15-11 lead. Lehigh’s last win in the series came in 2008 with a 9-8 victory at home.
Lehigh and Villanova will get things started at 7:00 on Tuesday evening from the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game will be shown live on Lehighsports.com.
Story written by Michelle Hutchinson
