Balanced effort leads Lehigh to 13-8 season-opening win over NJIT

Saturday, February 3

Bethlehem, Pa.

12 p.m.

Lehigh University

1-0

NJIT

0-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
NJIT	3	2	1	2	8
Lehigh	3	3	5	2	13

Balanced effort leads Lehigh to 13-8 season-opening win over NJIT

2/3/2018 5:35:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – All six of the Mountain Hawks' starting midfielders and attackmen tallied multiple points while sophomore Conor Gaffney won 11-of-12 second-half faceoffs and freshman James Spence made nine saves in goal to lead the Lehigh men's lacrosse team to a 13-8 season-opening win over NJIT on Saturday afternoon. Juniors Mickey Fitzpatrick posted his first-career hat trick while classmate Andrew Pettit tallied a game-high five points behind three goals and two assists. The Mountain Hawks 4-3 early in the second quarter, but went on a 7-1 run to create separation and pick up their eighth season-opening victory in their last nine tries.

"I want to give credit to NJIT," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "They're much improved from a year ago. A lot of credit goes to their coaching staff and their players for sticking with it. They had us on the ropes early; they took a one-goal there in the second goal then we had a huge goal from Mickey to get us tied again and it was a one-goal game at halftime."

Along with Fitzpatrick and Pettit, senior John Mehok also set a career high with three points (career-high tying two goals, one assist). Junior Tristan Rai tallied a goal and two assists, senior Ian Strain tied a career-high three assists and junior Lucas Spence posted a goal and assist.

(2/3/2018) Men's Lacrosse vs NJIT - Season Opener

Gaffney finished 18-of-25 with 12 groundballs while freshman long-stick midfielder Teddy Leggett impressed in his collegiate debut, recording four goals and two assists. Junior Eddie Bouhall had five groundballs and a caused turnover while classmate Craig Chick recorded three groundballs and two caused turnovers.

Mehok and Rai opened the scoring with two quick goals before the game was five minutes old. The teams traded goals before the Highlanders went on a 3-0 run to take a 4-3 lead with 12:40 remaining in the second quarter. The Mountain Hawks answered with a three-goal surge of their own, beginning with Fitzpatrick's first of the game (at 10:03). He was followed by Mehok's second (at 8:23) and Pettit's first (at 0:43). NJIT responded with 15 seconds on the clock to pull within 6-5 at the half.

Lehigh gained control early in the second, scoring the first four goals of the stanza. The run included Pettit's second, a goal from sophomore Andrew Eichelberger, along with Fitzpatrick's second and third goals as the Mountain Hawks took a 10-5 lead with 7:44 remaining in the third quarter.

Each side scored three goals the rest of the way, including the first-career goal from sophomore Austin Pierce, a man-up tally with 13:36 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"I was proud of our guys for answering," said Cassese. "I thought the first five to ten minutes of the third quarter was huge for us. We got some good defensive stops today. Conor Gaffney showed up big, we got some great wing play from some of our poles like Craig Chick, Teddy Leggett and Matt Douglas, and our offense was able to find the net, which was hard to do because their goaltender was excellent."

For the game, Lehigh held a commanding 48-20 edge in shots and 41-25 advantage in groundballs. Spence stopped seven of ten shots over the middle two quarters to finish with nine saves for the game. Kirst. NJIT's Nick Marzullo was stellar, making 16 stops.

The Mountain Hawks are now set to hit the road next Saturday, Feb. 10 when they travel to Mercer. Opening faceoff in Macon, Ga. is set for 3:30 p.m.

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