Lehigh Falls in Regular Season Finale at Holy Cross

Saturday, November 4

Worcester, MA

1 p.m.

Lehigh University

11-6-1

Holy Cross

6-8-3

Team	1	2	Final F
LEHIGH	0	0	0
Holy Cross	0	1	1

Lehigh Falls in Regular Season Finale at Holy Cross

11/4/2017 6:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Mountain Hawks capped off the regular season Saturday with a 1-0 loss at Holy Cross. The Crusaders punched their ticket to the Patriot League postseason with their second-straight win over the Mountain Hawks and shutout the league's top offense for the first time in over a month.

Nic Cestaro broke the scoreless tie and netted the game's lone goal in the 83rd minute. Cestaro came sliding in on the backside of the play and put a foot on Arno Rupp's low cross from the left end line. Cestaro's shot was the seventh of the half for Holy Cross and the fourth on goal for the Crusader offense.

It was a conservative and quiet start to the first half for both sides, but the field started to tilt in favor of Holy Cross as the half wore on. The Crusaders had the first quality chance of the game, but were denied by Will Smith who made a pair of sensational saves in the 34th minute. Rupp had a good look on a close right angle shot, which was funneled out to the middle by Smith. The Lehigh keeper quickly reset his feet and turned away a Tyler Bell attempt from eight yards out in the middle.

"This was in many ways a playoff game for Holy Cross. They had strong intentions today and we did not," said head coach Dean Koski. "Today was not about who the better soccer team was, but rather which team wanted to compete harder."

The Lehigh backline had a strong effort all day long, limiting Holy Cross's quality looks on net. Conversely, the LU offensive unit struggled to find the connections in the attacking third and create quality chances. Lehigh's best opportunity came in the 77th minute. Bratislav Petkovic ripped a shot from the middle, 18-yards out, but Henry Stutz sprawled to his right to snare the shot. Stutz managed to hang on to the save, which prevented a follow-up attempt by Mark Forrest who was lingering in the area for a potential put-back chance.

The Mountain Hawks will have a chance for redemption over Holy Cross as the two teams will meet again on Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament.

"We underachieved today in many areas, which is a wake-up call for us heading into Tuesday's game," said Koski. "I have confidence we can regroup and get back to form. If we play up to our capabilities, I feel very good about our chances."

The Mountain Hawks will enter the tournament as the fourth seed and will play host to the fifth-seeded Crusaders. Kickoff at the Ulrich Sports Complex Tuesday night is set for 7 p.m.