No. 19 Lehigh wraps up regular season with road showdown at No. 11/12 Bucknell Friday night

Friday, April 20

Lewisburg, Pa.

7:30 p.m.

Lehigh University

Bucknell

No. 19 Lehigh wraps up regular season with road showdown at No. 11/12 Bucknell Friday night

4/18/2018 12:16:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Game Notes | Watch Live (PLN) | Live Stats | Purchase Tickets to Tuesday (4/24) PL Quarterfinals

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Coming off two straight losses to teams currently in the top 10 of both national polls, the Lehigh men's lacrosse hits the road to face another challenging opponent as it squares off against No. 11/12 Bucknell in the regular season finale Friday night. Opening faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on the Patriot League Network. The Mountain Hawks enter Friday with a 5-2 league mark while Bucknell stands 6-1. Lehigh knows that with a win Friday, it would enter the upcoming Patriot League Tournament as the No. 3 seed. With a loss, it would be the No. 4 seed.

Bucknell can get as high as the No. 2 seed with a win Friday, but would need help from other games. Regardless of Friday's result, the Mountain Hawks know they will be home for the Patriot League Quarterfinals for the first time since 2014. They could still host any one of four teams next Tuesday night - Colgate, Boston University, Holy Cross or Army West Point. Those four teams are currently tied for fifth place, each with identical 2-5 league marks.

Lehigh looks to get back on the right track following a 12-10 loss to No. 9/11 Cornell on Saturday. The loss was the Mountain Hawks' fourth straight at home, all coming against nationally-ranked teams or teams that would go on to be nationally ranked in the ensuing weeks. Lehigh scored just over a minute in vs. Cornell, but the Big Red broke a 2-2 tie with four straight goals, which proved too much for the Mountain Hawks to overcome. Lehigh pulled back within 6-4 and then later within 12-10, but couldn't get any closer. The game came four days after Cornell earned a top-10 win over Syracuse, beating the Orange 13-8 final.

Junior Lucas Spence led Lehigh's offense with four goals and a career-high tying four groundballs. He has multiple points in all 13 games this season, currently standing second on the Mountain Hawks in goals (27) and points (45). Classmate Tristan Rai added two goals and an assist while Andrew Pettit scored twice. Lehigh's defense hung tough after a tough beginning; Cornell scored six goals in the game's first 17:16, but was held to just six over the remaining 42:44. The Mountain Hawks held the Big Red to their fewest goals in six games, since they scored 11 on Mar. 17 vs. Yale. Cornell had been averaging 18.6 goals over its previous five games entering the day. Lehigh held the Big Red scoreless for a stretch of 13:29 bridging the second and third quarters. It was the longest stretch Cornell had been held scoreless since the same Mar. 17 Yale game when it was shut-out for 14:44. Lehigh held Cornell to by far its lowest shot total of the season (23). The Big Red's previous lowest was 30.

Junior Craig Chick finished with four groundballs and two caused turnovers, reaching 111 in his career to move into 10th place in NCAA history. Classmate Eddie Bouhall caused two turnovers, as did freshman Teddy Leggett and senior Ian Strain. The trio of Chick, Leggett and Bouhall are up to 73 combined caused turnovers this season, most among any trio in the nation. Leggett added four groundballs to reach 53 on the season. In head coach Kevin Cassese's 11 seasons at Lehigh, Leggett, Chick and current assistant coach Casey Eidenshink are the only three non-faceoff specialists to eclipse 50 groundballs in a season (Eidenshink with 50 in 2015 and Chick with 59 in 2016 and 58 in 2017). Leggett and Chick have each done so as freshmen.

Lehigh's extra-man has continued to impress. After a 3-for-3 effort vs. Cornell, the Mountain Hawks have now converted seven in a row and 15 of their last 18. They are now up to 67.6 percent on the season (23-of-34), which would be second in NCAA history. The Mountain Hawks have gone four full games without a failed extra-man opportunity, the last coming exactly one month before Friday's game at Bucknell (Mar. 20 at Hofstra when Lehigh was 3-of-5).

While the Mountain Hawks have lost four straight at home, they take a four-game road winning streak into Friday's contest at Bucknell. In that stretch was a pair of wins over nationally-ranked opponents, defeating No. 12 Army West Point on Mar. 12 and No. 18/19 Hofstra on Mar. 20. Most recently, the Mountain Hawks picked up a hard-fought, last-second win at Boston University on Mar. 31 with junior Mickey Fitzpatrick scoring the game-winning goal in the final minute.

Bucknell is riding a five-game winning streak to improve to 10-3 on the season, 6-1 in Patriot League play. In that stretch, the Bison beat three nationally-ranked teams, including wins at No. 6 Loyola and No. 3 Yale. Will Sands leads the Bucknell in assists (46) and points (66) while three others have tallied 30+ points: Sean O'Brien (39 points: 35 goals, four assists), Connor O'Hara (38 points: 34 goals, four assists) and Reed Malas (33 points: 21 goals, 12 assists). Defensively, Lukas Munoz owns a team-leading 18 caused turnovers while faceoff specialist leads the way with 43 groundballs, winning 47.1 percent of his draws (132-of-280). Christian Klipstein has started all 13 games in goal, recording a 9.01 goals against average and 0.503 save percentage.

Lehigh defeated Bucknell 9-6 in the 2017 regular-season in a must-win for both teams, with the winner advancing to the Patriot League Tournament. It snapped a three-game Bucknell winning streak over the Mountain Hawks to pull Lehigh within 36-15 in the all-time series. Prior to the 2015 season which saw Bucknell win 9-8 (overtime) in the regular season and 13-8 in the Patriot League Quarterfinals, the Mountain Hawks had won four consecutive against the Bison. Lehigh's four-game streak began with a hard-fought 9-8 win during Lehigh's 2012 Patriot League Championship season and included an 11-7 road win to clinch the No. 1 overall seed in 2013. The Mountain Hawks defeated Bucknell 11-5 in the 2013 championship game.

Following Friday's game, the Mountain Hawks will host a Patriot League Quarterfinal Game on Tuesday, Apr. 24. Opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are available at LehighTickets.com by clicking here.

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