Tuesday, April 8
Princeton, N.J.
7:30 PM
Lehigh University
9-4
9
at
10
Princeton
6-4
1
2
3
4
OT
OT 1
F
Lehigh
1
1
4
3
0
0
9
Princeton University
0
3
3
3
0
1
10
#19/20 Mountain Hawks lose double OT heartbreaker at #15/17 Princeton
4/8/2014 10:48:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON, N.J. - Junior Kurtis Kaunas scored the go-ahead goal with 1:22 left in regulation, but #15/17 Princeton evened the score with 2.7 seconds left before scoring in double overtime to hand the #19/20 Mountain Hawks a heartbreaking 10-9 loss on Tuesday evening. Junior Dan Taylor led the offense with five goals to tie a career high while classmate Matt Poillon finished with 13 saves, including six in the first quarter.
"It was a great game. It was two teams battling hard," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "There was good energy on both sides of the ball. Both teams really wanted this game. Both teams fought tooth and nail for it and that's how you get a double overtime game. It was a great environment and great to play on national TV (ESPNU). Congrats to Princeton for getting the job done."
Tied at eight late in regulation, Kaunas scored on a delayed penalty to make it 9-8. Lehigh won the ensuing faceoff, but Princeton forced a turnover. Poillon came up with a save with less than a minute remaining, but the Tigers eventually got the ball back with just over 20 seconds on the clock. They capitalized as Kip Orban scored in an unsettled situation with 2.7 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Lehigh won the opening faceoff of both overtimes, but couldn't put away the game winner. Early in the second overtime, Kaunas had a good look that was stopped. After a timeout, Tigers All-American midfielder Tom Schreiber scored his fourth goal of the night with 2:51 on the clock to end it.
Four Mountain Hawks scored a single goal to go with Taylor's five: juniors Kaunas, Patrick Corbett and Dylan O'Shaughnessy, along with sophomore Reid Weber. Sophomore Tripp Telesco and junior Dylan O'Shaughnessy each had two caused turnovers while senior Lukas Mikelinich scooped four groundballs to lead the defense. The Mountain Hawks gave up a season-high 52 shots, but many were from the outside, allowing Poillon to gobble up many saves.
Schreiber was limited to four goals on 21 shots as only eight of his shots were on target. The Mountain Hawks allowed 10 goals to a Princeton team averaging almost 13 per game.
"We played great defense all day," said Cassese. "That's one of the top offenses in the country. Unfortunately, at the end of regulation, we couldn't seal the deal. We had an opportunity to win the game. It didn't have to go to overtime.
"We were just playing stick to it defense [against Schreiber]," Cassese continued. "We were quick to help to him and slow to leave from him. Unfortunately at the end there, we just didn't do our jobs."
Senior Ryan Buttenbaum was stellar at the faceoff X, winning 16-of-23 while scooping eight groundballs.
Neither team could find the back of the net until 1.7 seconds left in the first quarter when Taylor took a restart and brought it in front, beating Princeton goalie Eric Sanschagrin to make it 1-0 after one quarter of play.
The Tigers responded in the second quarter by outscoring the Mountain Hawks 3-1 to take a 3-2 halftime lead. Taylor scored Lehigh's goal at the 5:15 mark.
After five goals in the first half, the third quarter saw seven by itself. The Mountain Hawks scored four, including three of the first four. Taylor tallied his third less than a minute in, then after a Princeton goal, O'Shaughnessy scored off a faceoff as junior Alan Henderson made the scoop and found the long pole in the middle of the field. Taylor gave Lehigh a 5-4 lead just over one minute later.
However, Princeton scored three of the next four goals to eventually take a 7-6 lead early in the fourth quarter. A Corbett extra man goal evened the score at seven, then after Schreiber gave the Tigers an 8-7 lead, Taylor tied the score exactly a minute later, setting up Kaunas' go-ahead goal and the dramatic end of regulation and back-and-forth overtime.
"Except for the goal at the end of regulation, Matt had a great day," said Cassese. "He was standing on his head. We needed our goaltender to stand tall, and he did for the majority of the day. We needed someone on offense to step up. They were playing tough hard-nose defense on us and weren't really rotating to us. I thought Dan Taylor did a nice job forcing the issue today. I thought our guys played hard on the offensive end. We had opportunities to win the game, but didn't get the job done."
Princeton held a 52-31 edge in final shots while the Mountain Hawks had a 34-27 advantage in groundballs. Poillon's 13 saves came across Sanschagrin who finished with 10.
The Mountain Hawks return to action Saturday when they face Georgetown in the Relentless Cup at Ridley High School in Folsom, Pa. The Relentless Cup is a special fundraising lacrosse event uniting communities in support of the HEADstrong Foundation by combining interstate youth games, high school games and will be highlighted by Lehigh taking on Georgetown under the lights at 7 p.m. The Relentless Cup was introduced in 2012 as a new spring fundraising event to support the HEADstrong Foundation's fight against blood cancers.
"There were many positives tonight, but we're going to leave with a sour taste in our mouth," said Cassese. "We'll get back on the horse, lick our wounds a little bit and get ourselves rested and ready to go for the Hoyas on Saturday night."
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Â
Team Stats
LEHIGH
PRIN
Shots
31
52
Turnovers
15
10
Caused Turnovers
6
7
Faceoffs Won
16
7
Extra-Man Opps
5
1
Ground Balls
34
27
Game Leaders
Players
G
5
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
4
CT
0
G
1
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
0
G
1
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
G
1
A
0
FO
-
Pen
1-60
GB
3
CT
2
Lehigh Sports Central: Men's Lacrosse
Thursday, April 24
2025 Season Preview: Men's Lacrosse
Friday, January 31
Lehigh Sports Central: Men's Lacrosse
Wednesday, April 10
