Saturday, March 12
West Point, N.Y.
12:00 pm
Lehigh University
4-2, 2-1PL
10
at
13
Army West Point
4-2, 2-0PL
1
2
3
4
F
Lehigh
2
4
2
2
10
Army West Point
2
2
7
2
13
Lehigh can’t overcome third-quarter surge in 13-10 loss at Army West Point
3/12/2016 3:02:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Lehigh men's lacrosse team took a 6-4 lead into halftime, but Army West Point outscored the Mountain Hawks 7-2 in the third quarter, which proved too much to overcome as Lehigh dropped its first Patriot League game of the season, 13-10 on Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium. For the second straight week, senior Reid Weber tallied a hat trick before halftime, finishing the game with three goals and two assists. Senior Ray Mastroianni also posted his first-career hat trick in the loss. The Mountain Hawks fall to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league play while Army improves to 4-2 and 2-0 in the Patriot League.
"Congrats to Army; I thought they played a great game," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "They were typical Army. They were big, tough, physical, very disciplined and they kept coming at us in waives. We battled hard. I thought we played really well in the first half. The first five minutes of the third quarter was really tough for us. It felt like the field was slanted towards our goal and a lot of that had to do with them. Their faceoff unit did a great job and really controlled the middle of the field. We knew that Army was going to be good there, so we need to find a way to be better in between the restraining lines. We have a full week and spring break to figure that out."
Along with the goals from Weber and Mastroianni, four others tallied one goal apiece. Senior Billy Oppenheimer and junior Matt Raposo each posted one goal and one assist while freshmen Andrew Pettit and Tristan Rai scored a goal. Senior Tripp Telesco led the defense with a team-high five groundballs, along with two caused turnover. Freshman Craig Chick tallied three groundballs and three caused turnovers while senior Casey Eidenshink had four groundballs.
The Mountain Hawks opened the scoring with two quick goals, from Mastroianni just 56 seconds into the game and Weber with 11:20 remaining in the first quarter. The Black Knights answered with the next three to take a 3-2 advantage early in the second quarter, but the Mountain Hawks responded with a 3-0 run of their own. Weber scored the first two, including a highlight-reel score from behind the cage when he dove in front and backhanded a shot past Army goaltender A.J. Barretto.
The teams traded goals over the final five minutes as Lehigh took a 6-4 lead at the half.
The Black Knights turned around their fortunes in the third quarter, scoring three times in the first 2:19 to quickly retake a lead. Lehigh responded with two of the next three to pull even at eight following an Oppenheimer score at the 4:48 mark. However, the Black Knights ended the third quarter as they started it, with three straight goals to take an 11-8 lead after 45 minutes of play.
Army's lead reached 12-8, but the Mountain Hawks had one last push. Mastroianni scored at the 6:24 mark then Raposo finished a sensational individual effort just 11 seconds later, but it wasn't enough as the Black Knights closed out the 13-10 victory.
"A minimum requirement of being in this program is to continue to fight until the end," said Cassese. "I was pleased, but not surprised, that they kept fighting. At the end of the day, we played too much defense, didn't make enough plays and didn't coach them the way that we needed to in order to have a perfect ending. I'll take all the blame for that, put it on my shoulders, and find a way to get better."
Final shots were 34-24 in favor of Army while the Black Knights held a 40-22 lead in groundballs. Sophomore goaltender Adam Sawicki made five saves over the first 40:55 before being replaced by freshman Chris Kiernan, who impressed in stopping six-of-nine in his collegiate debut. Lehigh struggled in winning just 5-of-27 faceoffs on the afternoon.
The Mountain Hawks now return to action next Saturday when they head to rival Lafayette for a 1 p.m. opening faceoff.
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
ARMY
Shots
24
34
Turnovers
13
12
Caused Turnovers
11
10
Faceoffs Won
5
22
Extra-Man Opps
2
3
Ground Balls
22
40
Game Leaders
Players
G
3
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
1
G
3
A
2
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
0
G
1
A
1
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
0
G
1
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
Players Mentioned
LSM
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