Mountain Hawks drop Patriot League opener at Holy Cross

Saturday, February 25

Worcester, Mass.

12 PM

Lehigh University

2-2, 0-1PL

Holy Cross

1-3, 1-0PL

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Lehigh	1	3	2	2	8
Holy Cross	5	4	3	2	14

Mountain Hawks drop Patriot League opener at Holy Cross

2/25/2017 2:58:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - Holy Cross jumped out to a 9-1 lead, Lehigh scored five of the next six goals, but the Crusaders answered, defeating the Mountain Hawks 14-8 in the Patriot League opener on Saturday. Sophomore Andrew Pettit scored Lehigh's first four goals and finished with career highs in goals (4), assists (3) and points (7).

"All the credit goes to Holy Cross," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "They dominated us in every aspect of the game, with exception of faceoff play. They were on us early and built an incredible lead that we could not come back from. They stayed disciplined throughout the game and prevented us from coming back."

Sophomore Tristan Rai also scored three goals for his eighth-career hat trick. Freshman faceoff specialist Conor Gaffney continued the stellar start to his collegiate career, winning 17-of-22 faceoffs with 13 groundballs. Sophomore Craig Chick was all over the field, recording four groundballs and five caused turnovers while Eddie Bouhall recorded four groundballs and a caused turnover.

Holy Cross scored the first four goals until Pettit got Lehigh on the scoreboard with an extra-man goal in the final minute of the first quarter.

The Crusaders came back with the next five goals until the Mountain Hawks went on a late second-quarter surge. Pettit scored with 3:45, 1:12 and 0:31 on the clock to help pull his team within 9-4 following 30 minutes of play.

Holy Cross opened the second-half scoring, but two straight Lehigh goals, from senior Matt Raposo and Rai, pulled the Mountain Hawks within 10-4 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.

However, from there, Holy Cross scored four straight and didn't let Lehigh get any closer. Rai scored two late goals, but it wasn't nearly enough as the Crusaders wrapped up the 14-8 final.

Final shots were 41-36 in favor of Lehigh while Holy Cross held a 30-29 edge in groundballs. Three Mountain Hawk goaltenders combined to make 10 saves on the afternoon. Holy Cross' Jonathan Tesoro finished with 13.

Lehigh will wrap up its long four-game road trip when it heads to Colgate next Saturday (Mar. 4) to face the Raiders. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m.

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