Friday, April 27
Baltimore, Md.
7:30 p.m.
Lehigh University
vs
Navy (Semifinals)
Mountain Hawks face No. 11/13 Navy in Patriot League Semifinals Friday night
4/26/2018 10:20:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Coming off its first Patriot League Tournament win since 2014, the fourth-seeded Lehigh men's lacrosse team is set to square off against second seed and No. 11/13 ranked Navy in the Patriot League Semifinals Friday night. Opening faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The game will be the second semifinal of the day played at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex, following No. 6 Boston University against No. 1 Loyola at 4:30. Lehigh is coming off an impressive 11-6 win over fifth-seeded Colgate on Tuesday night as the Mountain Hawks opened leads of 7-1 and 11-3 to cruise to victory.
Sophomore Andrew Eichelberger gave Lehigh an early 1-0 lead Tuesday, then two goals in the final 29 seconds of the stanza gave the Mountain Hawks a 3-0 advantage. Lehigh went on to score eight of the next 10 goals then Colgate scored three goals in the final five minutes, but it wasn't nearly enough. The win snapped a four-game home losing streak for the Mountain Hawks and four-game losing skid in the Patriot League Tournament, dating back to their previous in 2014. Prior to Tuesday, Lehigh's previous home win was also against Colgate on Mar. 3 by a 10-7 final. After that game, the Mountain Hawks dropped four straight home contests, all against teams currently ranked in the top 13 of this week's USILA Coaches Poll.
Junior Andrew Pettit helped lead the offense Tuesday with a career-high tying five goals. It also tied a Patriot League Tournament single-game record, previously held by five different individuals. All five goals were assisted as Lehigh assisted on eight of its 11 goals on the evening. Junior Tristan Rai added a goal and three assists while senior John Mehok had a goal and career-high tying two assists. Junior Lucas Spence recorded a goal and assist to continue his streak of multiple points in every game this season.
Sophomore Christian McHugh set a career high with three caused turnovers while tying a career-high two groundballs. Junior Craig Chick finished with five groundballs and a caused turnover while classmate Eddie Bouhall recorded two groundballs and two caused turnovers. Sophomore Erik DiGirolamo was strong with a career-high three groundballs and a caused turnover. Lehigh has given up 13 goals over two full games against Colgate this season. In the Raiders' other 12 games of 2018, they're averaging 13.33 goals per contest.
Meanwhile, sophomore Conor Gaffney won 10-of-18 faceoffs against Colin Orr, who entered the day over 60 percent on the season. Freshman James Spence was stellar in goal, stopping 11-of-15 shots sent his way. He made eight first-half saves, allowing just one goal to help the Mountain Hawks take a commanding 6-1 lead into the locker room.
On Friday, Lehigh will play in the Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since a thrilling 12-11 win over Army in 2014 when Reid Weber scored the game-winning goal with 3.7 seconds remaining. That game was also played at Loyola. Lehigh has been in the Patriot League Tournament consistently since. With Army not making the league tournament this season, the Mountain Hawks are now the only program to reach each of the last eight Patriot League Tournaments. Lehigh last played Navy in the Patriot League Tournament in 2014 when the third-seeded Mountain Hawks defeated No. 6 seed Navy, 10-6.
Navy has won five straight games to finish the regular season 9-4, including 7-1 in Patriot League play. The streak began with the Mids' 10-7 win at Lehigh and they followed by beating Holy Cross (5-4), Colgate (12-10), Army West Point (9-8) and Syracuse (13-12). Four Navy players have 30+ points, led by 32 (nine goals, 23 assists) from Ryan Wade. Meanwhile, three Midshipmen each have 30 points - Jack Ray (team-leading 23 goals, seven assists), Christian Daniel (20 goals, 10 assists) and Greyson Torain (18 goals, 12 assists). Michael Strack leads Navy's defense with 14 caused turnovers, along with 33 groundballs while Joe Varello has won 59.6 percent of his faceoffs (149-of-250) with 72 groundballs. Varello and Gaffney were each named first team All-League due to a tie, but Varello was named the Faceoff Specialist of the Year due to more first-place votes.
Navy has won four straight against Lehigh to take a 33-6 lead in the all-time series. Most recently, the Mids won 10-7 earlier this season, 14-9 last year and 12-7 in 2016. Prior to Navy's four-game streak, Lehigh had won the previous five meetings between 2011 and 2014. Five of Lehigh's six all-time wins vs. Navy came in that four-year span. The only other victory came in 1913 by a 4-3 final. In 2011, Lehigh defeated Navy 14-10 in Bethlehem to beat the Mids for the first time in 98 years and snap a 26-game losing streak in the series. The first-ever meeting was in 1910, a 4-2 Navy victory.
With a win Friday, the Mountain Hawks would advance to the Patriot League Championship Game for the first time since 2014. Lehigh would face the winner of top seed Loyola and sixth-seeded Boston University on Sunday at 12 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Coming off its first Patriot League Tournament win since 2014, the fourth-seeded Lehigh men's lacrosse team is set to square off against second seed and No. 11/13 ranked Navy in the Patriot League Semifinals Friday night. Opening faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The game will be the second semifinal of the day played at Loyola's Ridley Athletic Complex, following No. 6 Boston University against No. 1 Loyola at 4:30. Lehigh is coming off an impressive 11-6 win over fifth-seeded Colgate on Tuesday night as the Mountain Hawks opened leads of 7-1 and 11-3 to cruise to victory.
Sophomore Andrew Eichelberger gave Lehigh an early 1-0 lead Tuesday, then two goals in the final 29 seconds of the stanza gave the Mountain Hawks a 3-0 advantage. Lehigh went on to score eight of the next 10 goals then Colgate scored three goals in the final five minutes, but it wasn't nearly enough. The win snapped a four-game home losing streak for the Mountain Hawks and four-game losing skid in the Patriot League Tournament, dating back to their previous in 2014. Prior to Tuesday, Lehigh's previous home win was also against Colgate on Mar. 3 by a 10-7 final. After that game, the Mountain Hawks dropped four straight home contests, all against teams currently ranked in the top 13 of this week's USILA Coaches Poll.
Junior Andrew Pettit helped lead the offense Tuesday with a career-high tying five goals. It also tied a Patriot League Tournament single-game record, previously held by five different individuals. All five goals were assisted as Lehigh assisted on eight of its 11 goals on the evening. Junior Tristan Rai added a goal and three assists while senior John Mehok had a goal and career-high tying two assists. Junior Lucas Spence recorded a goal and assist to continue his streak of multiple points in every game this season.
Sophomore Christian McHugh set a career high with three caused turnovers while tying a career-high two groundballs. Junior Craig Chick finished with five groundballs and a caused turnover while classmate Eddie Bouhall recorded two groundballs and two caused turnovers. Sophomore Erik DiGirolamo was strong with a career-high three groundballs and a caused turnover. Lehigh has given up 13 goals over two full games against Colgate this season. In the Raiders' other 12 games of 2018, they're averaging 13.33 goals per contest.
Meanwhile, sophomore Conor Gaffney won 10-of-18 faceoffs against Colin Orr, who entered the day over 60 percent on the season. Freshman James Spence was stellar in goal, stopping 11-of-15 shots sent his way. He made eight first-half saves, allowing just one goal to help the Mountain Hawks take a commanding 6-1 lead into the locker room.
On Friday, Lehigh will play in the Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since a thrilling 12-11 win over Army in 2014 when Reid Weber scored the game-winning goal with 3.7 seconds remaining. That game was also played at Loyola. Lehigh has been in the Patriot League Tournament consistently since. With Army not making the league tournament this season, the Mountain Hawks are now the only program to reach each of the last eight Patriot League Tournaments. Lehigh last played Navy in the Patriot League Tournament in 2014 when the third-seeded Mountain Hawks defeated No. 6 seed Navy, 10-6.
Navy has won five straight games to finish the regular season 9-4, including 7-1 in Patriot League play. The streak began with the Mids' 10-7 win at Lehigh and they followed by beating Holy Cross (5-4), Colgate (12-10), Army West Point (9-8) and Syracuse (13-12). Four Navy players have 30+ points, led by 32 (nine goals, 23 assists) from Ryan Wade. Meanwhile, three Midshipmen each have 30 points - Jack Ray (team-leading 23 goals, seven assists), Christian Daniel (20 goals, 10 assists) and Greyson Torain (18 goals, 12 assists). Michael Strack leads Navy's defense with 14 caused turnovers, along with 33 groundballs while Joe Varello has won 59.6 percent of his faceoffs (149-of-250) with 72 groundballs. Varello and Gaffney were each named first team All-League due to a tie, but Varello was named the Faceoff Specialist of the Year due to more first-place votes.
Navy has won four straight against Lehigh to take a 33-6 lead in the all-time series. Most recently, the Mids won 10-7 earlier this season, 14-9 last year and 12-7 in 2016. Prior to Navy's four-game streak, Lehigh had won the previous five meetings between 2011 and 2014. Five of Lehigh's six all-time wins vs. Navy came in that four-year span. The only other victory came in 1913 by a 4-3 final. In 2011, Lehigh defeated Navy 14-10 in Bethlehem to beat the Mids for the first time in 98 years and snap a 26-game losing streak in the series. The first-ever meeting was in 1910, a 4-2 Navy victory.
With a win Friday, the Mountain Hawks would advance to the Patriot League Championship Game for the first time since 2014. Lehigh would face the winner of top seed Loyola and sixth-seeded Boston University on Sunday at 12 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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