Navy surges past Mountain Hawks, 14-9

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy went on a 5-1 run in the second quarter to take a 9-3 lead, which proved too much for the Lehigh men's lacrosse team to overcome as the Mountain Hawks (4-4, 2-3 Patriot League) dropped a 14-9 final on Saturday at Navy Marine-Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen won 21-of-26 faceoffs, helping them jump out to an early lead and forcing Lehigh to play from behind all day. Sophomore Tristan Rai led the offense with five points behind three goals and two assists.

"I thought Navy dominated the game. I don't think the score was even indicative of how well they played and how poorly we played," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "It all starts and ends at the faceoff dot. Their senior (Brady Dove) was outstanding today. He created havoc for us. He put on a clinic. We're used to winning a lot more faceoffs than we did today and I thought that got us out of sorts, got us really tired on defense and got us out of character."

(3/25/2017) Men's Lacrosse at Navy, 3/25/17

Along with Rai's five points, sophomore Andrew Pettit scored twice to extend his multiple goal streak to nine games dating back to last season. Sophomore Lucas Spence also scored two goals. Classmate Craig Chick finished the day with two assists, two faceoff wins, five groundballs and four caused turnovers. Just a sophomore, Chick moved into fourth place in school history for career caused turnovers with 62.

Navy scored the only two goals of the first quarter, both from Dave Little who finished with nine goals on the afternoon. Senior Ian Strain got Lehigh on the scoreboard, pulling the Mountain Hawks within 3-1 in the second quarter, but Navy went on to open a 9-3 lead. A late second-quarter surge saw Spence score with 19 seconds remaining then Rai tally his first of the game with six seconds on the clock, pulling Lehigh within 9-5 at the half.

After trading goals to begin the third quarter, Rai and Pettit scored at 4:26 and 2:06, respectively, pulling Lehigh within 11-8 with more than a quarter remaining. However, the Midshipmen scored three of the game's final four goals to wrap up their third straight win against the Mountain Hawks.

Final shots were even at 31 while Navy held a 42-25 edge in groundballs. Sophomore Chris Kiernan made nine saves across the Mids' Ryan Kern, who tallied five.

"The one thing about the Lehigh teams that I've coached is they're always going to fight and battle," said Cassese. "It was a tough Patriot League loss. It's a tough place to play. I thought our youth, and their experience, showed today."

The Mountain Hawks will return home next Saturday, Apr. 1 to host Boston University at 3 p.m. in another big Patriot League showdown.

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Team Stats

Tristan Rai

Andrew Pettit

Lucas Spence

Parker Kent

Players Mentioned

Craig Chick

Chris Kiernan

Andrew Pettit

Tristan Rai

Lucas Spence

Ian Strain

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