Tuesday, April 21
Lewisburg, Pa.
7:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
Bucknell (Quarterfinals)
Photo by: Tom Sanczyk
Lehigh travels to Bucknell for Patriot League Quarterfinals Tuesday night
4/20/2015 7:15:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Game Notes | Watch Live (Free) | Taylor named Player of Year; Four All-League
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Riding three straight one-goal victories, the Lehigh men's lacrosse team begins the Patriot League Tournament when the sixth-seeded Mountain Hawks travel to third-seeded Bucknell on Tuesday. Opening faceoff for the quarterfinal matchup is set for 7 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Lehigh has won five of its last six games capped off by an 11-10 win over rival Lafayette Friday which helped clinch the program's fifth straight league tournament appearance.
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Holy Cross defeated Boston University at the same time on Friday, setting up a three-way tie for sixth place in the league standings featuring the Crusaders, Terriers and Mountain Hawks. Lehigh earned the spot due to beating both teams. The Mountain Hawks enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the league, and arguably country. Lehigh is 5-1 over its last six games, earning double-figure wins over Monmouth and Holy Cross before beating ranked teams Princeton and Stony Brook, then the Leopards on Friday.
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Friday's game was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than two goals. Lehigh trailed 9-7 with less than six minutes remaining, but the Mountain Hawks scored twice in a 58-second span beginning with junior Reid Weber at 5:18 followed by senior Dan Taylor at 4:20. Lafayette responded to take a 10-9 lead, but Taylor corralled the groundball off the ensuing faceoff and went all the way to goal to tie it at 10-10 just 12 seconds later. Weber eventually gave the Mountain Hawks the 11-10 lead at 1:27 and sophomore Ian Strain caused a big turnover to help seal the victory, and postseason berth.
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Weber and Taylor led the offense, finishing with almost identical stat lines of four goals on nine shots and six shots on goal. All four of Weber's goals came in the second half while Taylor scored Lehigh's other two second-half tallies. Junior Alex Eaton posted a goal and assist while seniors Kurtis Kaunas and Klay Heston scored as well. Freshman goalie Adam Sawicki helped anchor the defense with a career-high 17 saves. Classmate Matt Ernst won 8-of-18 faceoffs with six groundballs which included 7-of-11 in the first half. Ernst struggled in the second half, but sophomore Casey McAdam came in to win 3-of-6 down the stretch to help spark the comeback. Ernst has been integral in Lehigh's 5-1 stretch, winning 66-of-128 faceoffs (52.8 percent) over those six games.
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Taylor has continued to put himself in the record books as his four goals helped him reach 217 points for his career, passing Jeremy Boltus of Army for fourth in Patriot League history. Taylor is only eight points behind former Tewaaraton Award winner Peter Baum for third in league history.
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Tuesday will feature a rematch of a one-goal thriller as Bucknell pulled out a 9-8 overtime victory in early March. Lehigh scored five second-quarter goals to take a 7-6 lead, but could only score once in the second half. The Mountain Hawks will be searching for their seventh win in their last eight Patriot League Tournament games as they begin their quest for a third league title and NCAA Tournament appearance in the last four years. With a win on Tuesday, the current senior class would become the winningest class in program history.
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Bucknell is in the midst of an up-and-down season, entering the postseason at 8-5 and 5-3 in the Patriot League. The Bison have big wins over nationally-ranked Brown and Loyola, but have dropped some tough one-goal games against Delaware and Mount St. Mary's. Bucknell is led offensively by freshman Will Sands, who's posted 37 points behind 23 goals and 14 assists. David Dickson is second with 36 points (12 goals, 24 assists). Ryan Joseph also has 30 points (24 goals, six assists) and Sean Doyle owns 26 (21 goals, five assists). Alex Spring has led the defense with a team-leading 67 groundballs and 22 caused turnovers from the long-stick midfield position. Bucknell has struggled at the faceoff X, winning just 41.8 percent as a team (124-of-297). Veteran Sam Grinberg has been strong in goal, owning a 9.41 GAA and .518 save percentage.
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The Lehigh-Bucknell series has been extremely streaky. The Bison win this season snapped a four-game Mountain Hawks' winning streak. Before that, Bucknell had won six straight. Lehigh's string of success began with a hard-fought 9-8 win during Lehigh's 2012 Patriot League Championship season, included an 11-7 road win to clinch the #1 overall seed in 2013, continued with an 11-5 Patriot League Championship Game victory later this season and included a 9-3 road victory at Bucknell last season. In the earlier meeting this season, the Bison held Lehigh to just one goal after halftime and defeated the Mountain Hawks in overtime, 9-8. That gave Bucknell a 34-14 lead in the all-time series.
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With a win, Lehigh would advance to the Patriot League Semifinals and play at the top-seeded Navy Midshipmen on Friday.
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Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Riding three straight one-goal victories, the Lehigh men's lacrosse team begins the Patriot League Tournament when the sixth-seeded Mountain Hawks travel to third-seeded Bucknell on Tuesday. Opening faceoff for the quarterfinal matchup is set for 7 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Lehigh has won five of its last six games capped off by an 11-10 win over rival Lafayette Friday which helped clinch the program's fifth straight league tournament appearance.
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Holy Cross defeated Boston University at the same time on Friday, setting up a three-way tie for sixth place in the league standings featuring the Crusaders, Terriers and Mountain Hawks. Lehigh earned the spot due to beating both teams. The Mountain Hawks enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the league, and arguably country. Lehigh is 5-1 over its last six games, earning double-figure wins over Monmouth and Holy Cross before beating ranked teams Princeton and Stony Brook, then the Leopards on Friday.
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Friday's game was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than two goals. Lehigh trailed 9-7 with less than six minutes remaining, but the Mountain Hawks scored twice in a 58-second span beginning with junior Reid Weber at 5:18 followed by senior Dan Taylor at 4:20. Lafayette responded to take a 10-9 lead, but Taylor corralled the groundball off the ensuing faceoff and went all the way to goal to tie it at 10-10 just 12 seconds later. Weber eventually gave the Mountain Hawks the 11-10 lead at 1:27 and sophomore Ian Strain caused a big turnover to help seal the victory, and postseason berth.
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Weber and Taylor led the offense, finishing with almost identical stat lines of four goals on nine shots and six shots on goal. All four of Weber's goals came in the second half while Taylor scored Lehigh's other two second-half tallies. Junior Alex Eaton posted a goal and assist while seniors Kurtis Kaunas and Klay Heston scored as well. Freshman goalie Adam Sawicki helped anchor the defense with a career-high 17 saves. Classmate Matt Ernst won 8-of-18 faceoffs with six groundballs which included 7-of-11 in the first half. Ernst struggled in the second half, but sophomore Casey McAdam came in to win 3-of-6 down the stretch to help spark the comeback. Ernst has been integral in Lehigh's 5-1 stretch, winning 66-of-128 faceoffs (52.8 percent) over those six games.
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Taylor has continued to put himself in the record books as his four goals helped him reach 217 points for his career, passing Jeremy Boltus of Army for fourth in Patriot League history. Taylor is only eight points behind former Tewaaraton Award winner Peter Baum for third in league history.
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Tuesday will feature a rematch of a one-goal thriller as Bucknell pulled out a 9-8 overtime victory in early March. Lehigh scored five second-quarter goals to take a 7-6 lead, but could only score once in the second half. The Mountain Hawks will be searching for their seventh win in their last eight Patriot League Tournament games as they begin their quest for a third league title and NCAA Tournament appearance in the last four years. With a win on Tuesday, the current senior class would become the winningest class in program history.
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Bucknell is in the midst of an up-and-down season, entering the postseason at 8-5 and 5-3 in the Patriot League. The Bison have big wins over nationally-ranked Brown and Loyola, but have dropped some tough one-goal games against Delaware and Mount St. Mary's. Bucknell is led offensively by freshman Will Sands, who's posted 37 points behind 23 goals and 14 assists. David Dickson is second with 36 points (12 goals, 24 assists). Ryan Joseph also has 30 points (24 goals, six assists) and Sean Doyle owns 26 (21 goals, five assists). Alex Spring has led the defense with a team-leading 67 groundballs and 22 caused turnovers from the long-stick midfield position. Bucknell has struggled at the faceoff X, winning just 41.8 percent as a team (124-of-297). Veteran Sam Grinberg has been strong in goal, owning a 9.41 GAA and .518 save percentage.
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The Lehigh-Bucknell series has been extremely streaky. The Bison win this season snapped a four-game Mountain Hawks' winning streak. Before that, Bucknell had won six straight. Lehigh's string of success began with a hard-fought 9-8 win during Lehigh's 2012 Patriot League Championship season, included an 11-7 road win to clinch the #1 overall seed in 2013, continued with an 11-5 Patriot League Championship Game victory later this season and included a 9-3 road victory at Bucknell last season. In the earlier meeting this season, the Bison held Lehigh to just one goal after halftime and defeated the Mountain Hawks in overtime, 9-8. That gave Bucknell a 34-14 lead in the all-time series.
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With a win, Lehigh would advance to the Patriot League Semifinals and play at the top-seeded Navy Midshipmen on Friday.
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Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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