#14/15 Villanova uses big third quarter to surge past Lehigh, 8-3

VILLANOVA, Pa. - #14/15 Villanova scored two quick goals then used a third-quarter surge to down the Lehigh men's lacrosse team, 8-3 on a rainy Tuesday evening. Junior Reid Weber tied the score at two in the second quarter, but the Wildcats scored just seconds before halftime then outscored the Mountain Hawks 4-0 in the third quarter on their way to victory. With the loss, Lehigh falls to 2-4 overall while Villanova improves to 5-1.

"I thought Villanova played great," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "All the credit goes to them. We knew on short rest, this was going to be a game that whichever team won the point of attack on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball was going to win. They controlled the ball; they won the point of attack. The first half was pretty even and so was the scoreboard, but in the second half, not so much. Unfortunately, they just wanted it a little bit more tonight and they showed it."

The loss marks Lehigh's third in a row as the Mountain Hawks will look to bounce back when they play a big early-season Patriot League contest at Navy Saturday. Seniors Kurtis Kaunas and Dan Taylor scored Lehigh's other goals while senior Lukas Mikelinich scooped a team-high three groundballs and sophomore Casey McAdam won 7-of-13 faceoffs. Junior long-stick midfielder Corey Eppley also had three groundballs and a caused turnover.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead just 2:39 into the game, but the Mountain Hawks' defense bore down to keep them scoreless for more than a quarter and a half. In the mean time, the Lehigh offense evened the score as Kaunas pulled his squad within 2-1 with 9:56 left in the first quarter.

From there, both defenses took over as neither team scored for the next 22:13. Weber broke the drought with an unassisted goal on a delayed penalty, pulling his squad even with 2:43 remaining in the stanza.

The Wildcats scored with five seconds on the clock and took that momentum into the third quarter, outscoring Lehigh 4-0 to take a commanding 7-2 advantage after 45 minutes of play. The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter for the 8-3 final.

"Defensively, Villanova was just winning its matchups," said Cassese. "After long, there weren't really a lot of places we could go with the ball in order to get a step on them and create some opportunities. Then finally in the fourth quarter when we did, their goalie made a bunch of saves. I think we helped them out with not shooting our best as well. At the end of the day, it's back to the drawing board for us. We've got to figure out how to get better, we've got to figure out how to be a little bit more intense and a little bit tougher."

Final shots were even at 32 while the Mountain Hawks held a 25-18 edge in groudballs. Senior Matt Poillon made five saves before being replaced by freshman Adam Sawicki late in the third quarter, who stopped four-of-seven shots sent his way.

The Mountain Hawks return to Patriot League play when they travel to Navy on Saturday. Opening faceoff is set for 2:30 p.m.

"We're still trying to get everybody healthy and still trying to get other guys to step up," said Cassese. "We're trying to get our chemistry where it needs to be. It's not there and I guess a positive is that it's still early March, but we're running out of ballgames here pretty soon. We're six games in and we're now in the middle of our season. If we wait too long, we're going to miss it."

Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.

#14/15 Villanova uses big third quarter to surge past Lehigh, 8-3

Next Event

Team Stats

Kurtis Kaunas

Reid Weber

Dan Taylor

Anthony Ramaizel

Players Mentioned

Corey Eppley

Kurtis Kaunas

Casey McAdam

Lukas Mikelinich

Matt Poillon

Adam Sawicki

Dan Taylor

Reid Weber

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#14/15 Villanova uses big third quarter to surge past Lehigh, 8-3

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Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Kurtis Kaunas

Reid Weber

Dan Taylor

Anthony Ramaizel

Players Mentioned

Corey Eppley

Kurtis Kaunas

Casey McAdam

Lukas Mikelinich

Matt Poillon

Adam Sawicki

Dan Taylor

Reid Weber

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