Lehigh loses last-second 13-12 heartbreaker to Cornell

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men's lacrosse outscored Cornell 10-5 over the middle two quarters, but was outscored 4-1 in both the first and fourth as the Big Red scored the game-winning goal with just 0.1 seconds remaining to hand the Mountain Hawks a heartbreaking 13-12 defeat on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon in Goodman Stadium. Lehigh led 12-9 with less than two minutes on the clock, but Cornell scored at the 1:19 and 0:18 marks, setting the stage for the game-winner. With the loss, the Mountain Hawks fall to 6-7 overall heading into a big Patriot League showdown at Bucknell next Friday. With a win, Lehigh would clinch the No. 4 seed and a home game in the league quarterfinals.

(4/16/2016) Men's Lacrosse vs. Cornell, 4/16/16

Senior Reid Weber led the Mountain Hawks' offense with a career-high tying five goals and six points, eclipsing 100 career goals in the process. Defensively, freshman Craig Chick tallied seven groundballs and seven caused turnovers to reach 17 groundballs and 15 caused turnovers over the last two games.

"We had a slow start; Cornell came out of the gates and was flying high," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "I thought we had a little bit of a hangover from the Princeton game, but once we made a couple adjustments, our kids settled in and we played a great middle of the game. I thought our second and third quarters were about as well as we've played around here in a long time. Unfortunately, we seemed to just run out of gas in the fourth quarter. Cornell made a bunch of plays down the stretch and ended up making one more than we did."

Along with Weber's five goals, freshman Tristan Rai scored three goals for his sixth-career hat trick. Freshman Andrew Pettit marked his return to the lineup with a career-high two goals while junior Ian Strain tallied a goal and assist. Senior Chris Appell scored his second goal of the season as well. Senior Ray Mastroianni and junior Matt Raposo each dished two assists.

"Reid is our energy guy," said Cassese. "We go as Reid goes and I thought Reid brought it today. When we were trailing early, he really stepped up and he brought a lot of energy to our offense and to our team. That kid has worked so hard and is an embodiment of a Lehigh Lacrosse player. Sometimes it's not the prettiest, but you just get it done. You roll your sleeves up and you go to work. That's what he's all about. I'm proud of him and proud of his classmates as well. I'm sorry we couldn't get the victory for them on Senior Day."

For the game, Lehigh caused 20 of Cornell's 23 turnovers, led by Chick's seven, and career highs from three other freshmen: Eddie Bouhall (4), Matt Rimol (2) and Pettit (2). The caused turnovers helped offset struggles at the faceoff X as Cornell won 25-of-27 on the afternoon.

After the Big Red took a 3-0 lead, the Mountain Hawks responded with three of the next four goals, first from Weber and two straight from Rai in the span of 42 seconds. The second pulled Lehigh within 4-3 with 12:54 left in the second quarter.

The Big Red took a 5-3 lead, but Lehigh answered with a 4-0 run, behind a goal from Pettit then three consecutive from Weber. Weber's tally at 8:45 gave him 100 career goals and the Mountain Hawks a 6-5 lead. He finished the natural hat trick with 5:40 left in the second quarter to give Lehigh its first lead at 7-5.

The Mountain Hawks continued to hold a lead for much of the ensuing third quarter as well. Cornell made a run to even the score at eight at 11:37, but the Mountain Hawks scored three of the next four and four of the next six goals. Lehigh took an 11-9 lead into the fourth quarter and led, 12-10 with 6:47 on the clock following Pettit's second goal of the afternoon. That score held until Cornell's final three-goal run in the final 1:19.

Final shots were 35-28 in favor of Cornell while the Big Red held a 48-26 edge in groundballs. Cornell was 11-of-15 on clears while Lehigh was 20-of-23.

"We played better than we did in the last game," said Cassese. "I've always said that our team prides itself on not dropping two in a row and not having two poor performances in a row. While we lost the game today, I thought we played a lot better, we'll look at the positives and figure out how to put it together for Bucknell next week."

Lehigh now heads to Bucknell next Friday for the regular season finale. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m.

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Lehigh loses last-second 13-12 heartbreaker to Cornell

Next Event

Team Stats

Reid Weber

Tristan Rai

Andrew Pettit

Chris Appell

Players Mentioned

Chris Appell

Eddie Bouhall

Craig Chick

Ray Mastroianni

Andrew Pettit

Tristan Rai

Matt Raposo

Matt Rimol

Ian Strain

Reid Weber

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Lehigh loses last-second 13-12 heartbreaker to Cornell

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Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Reid Weber

Tristan Rai

Andrew Pettit

Chris Appell

Players Mentioned

Chris Appell

Eddie Bouhall

Craig Chick

Ray Mastroianni

Andrew Pettit

Tristan Rai

Matt Raposo

Matt Rimol

Ian Strain

Reid Weber

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