Saturday, April 13
Bethlehem, Pa.
3 p.m.
Lehigh University
vs
St. Bonaventure
Photo by: Ryan Milke
No. 17 Lehigh returns home to host St. Bonaventure Saturday
4/12/2019 11:55:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Following back-to-back losses for the first time since February, the No. 17 Lehigh men's lacrosse team remains home on Saturday to host St. Bonaventure at 3 p.m. The game follows the Mountain Hawk women vs. Holy Cross at noon. Now 7-5 on the season, Lehigh is coming off a tough 13-12 defeat against Robert Morris on Wednesday.
A preseason top 20 team and the defending NEC Champions, the Colonials struggled to start the season, entering Wednesday 3-7 riding two straight wins. Two of their seven losses were to nationally-ranked High Point (in overtime) and Georgetown. In the end, Robert Morris picked up a victory over Lehigh in the first-ever meeting between the two sides. The Mountain Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 42 seconds in and led 6-4 after one quarter of play. The Colonials used a 5-0 run to begin the second half, turning a 8-6 Lehigh lead into an 11-8 Robert Morris advantage. Lehigh had a late rally, scoring three times in the span of 1:40 (goals from junior Ryan Klose at 3:53, freshman Tommy Schelling at 2:43 and senior Alexander Tumminello at 2:13) to pull within 13-12 with 2:13 still remaining. Tumminello had a pair of shots with just over a minute to go looking to pull even, but goalkeeper Alex Heger made his 17th and 18th saves of the day to help seal his team's victory.
Wednesday marked just Lehigh's second loss of the season against an unranked team, the other being Hofstra on Feb. 9. Both were slim one-goal defeats. The Mountain Hawks have struggled a bit in nonleague play, falling to 2-4 (compared to 5-1 in league play). Lehigh remains in a strong position in the Patriot League, holding the inside track at a top-two seed and bye into the Patriot League Semifinals.
Junior Conor Gaffney was a big bright spot for the Mountain Hawks Wednesday, winning 24-of-29 faceoffs with a career-high tying 16 groundballs (just one from tying a Patriot League record). The 24 faceoff wins set a school record and was just six from tying an NCAA record. The effort began against Robert Morris' Trey Arnold, who entered the day top 10 among active players in the nation for career faceoff wins (402). Arnold finished the day 0-of-12, as one of four Colonials that Gaffney went up against. Gaffney won 10-of-11 faceoffs in the first quarter and 14-of-16 in the first half. With his 16 groundballs, he is up to 105 on the season and 302 in his career. His 105 GBs are tied for sixth in Patriot League history with three regular season games and at least one postseason contest still remaining. Gaffney needs 28 more groundballs to break the league record of 132 held by Colgate's Robert Grabher (132). Gaffney need just 12 groundballs to break the Lehigh program record for career GBs, held by Ryan Snyder (313).
Junior Christian McHugh set career highs in goals (2) and points (3) on Wednesday, with his assist coming on a goal from classmate and fellow short-stick defensive midfielder Parker Kent. Seniors Mickey Fitzpatrick, Alexander Tumminello and freshman Tommy Schelling all scored twice as well, while senior Tristan Rai had three assists. Senior Lucas Spence didn't score for a second straight game after 16 goals his previous eight contests. Spence did dish two assists for a second straight contest and owns multiple points in nine of 10 games played this season.
Defensively, sophomore Teddy Leggett set a career high with eight groundballs, one game after tying his career high of seven at Loyola. The Mountain Hawks collected 56 groundballs for the game, tied for a season high and Lehigh's third game this year with 50+ GBs. Lehigh stands second nationally in groundballs per contest, averaging 40.83.
A first-year program, St. Bonaventure is 0-11 on the season, with its closest calls coming at Manhattan (15-12) and Monmouth (7-5). Last time out, the Bonnies dropped a 16-8 final against Canisius. Sean Westley leads St. Bonaventure with 25 points (12 goals, team-leading 13 assists). Matthew DeGirolamo owns a team-leading 14 goals while Cian Collins is second on the Bonnies with 17 points (10 goals, seven assists). Nick Conklin leads St. Bonaventure with 37 groundballs and 20 caused turnovers. The Bonnies struggle in the faceoff circle, winning just 24.9 percent as a team. Two goaltenders have split time, with Brett Dobson owning the best save percentage (54.1) and Ben Mazur tallying the best goals against average (14.84).
Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between Lehigh and St. Bonaventure.
Following Saturday's game, the Mountain Hawks return home next Saturday (Apr. 20) to host Bucknell at 12 p.m. on Senior Day. The showdown vs. the Bison will be televised nation-wide on CBS Sports Network.
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Saturday's forecast. ☀️, upper 70s, an afternoon of lacrosse and a FREE @knoebels ticket book to the first 100 fans. Don't miss it.
— Lehigh Lacrosse (@LehighLacrosse) April 12, 2019
Purchase tickets: https://t.co/RWsVGiJZ31 pic.twitter.com/uta7FA1NVd
A preseason top 20 team and the defending NEC Champions, the Colonials struggled to start the season, entering Wednesday 3-7 riding two straight wins. Two of their seven losses were to nationally-ranked High Point (in overtime) and Georgetown. In the end, Robert Morris picked up a victory over Lehigh in the first-ever meeting between the two sides. The Mountain Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 42 seconds in and led 6-4 after one quarter of play. The Colonials used a 5-0 run to begin the second half, turning a 8-6 Lehigh lead into an 11-8 Robert Morris advantage. Lehigh had a late rally, scoring three times in the span of 1:40 (goals from junior Ryan Klose at 3:53, freshman Tommy Schelling at 2:43 and senior Alexander Tumminello at 2:13) to pull within 13-12 with 2:13 still remaining. Tumminello had a pair of shots with just over a minute to go looking to pull even, but goalkeeper Alex Heger made his 17th and 18th saves of the day to help seal his team's victory.
Wednesday marked just Lehigh's second loss of the season against an unranked team, the other being Hofstra on Feb. 9. Both were slim one-goal defeats. The Mountain Hawks have struggled a bit in nonleague play, falling to 2-4 (compared to 5-1 in league play). Lehigh remains in a strong position in the Patriot League, holding the inside track at a top-two seed and bye into the Patriot League Semifinals.
Junior Conor Gaffney was a big bright spot for the Mountain Hawks Wednesday, winning 24-of-29 faceoffs with a career-high tying 16 groundballs (just one from tying a Patriot League record). The 24 faceoff wins set a school record and was just six from tying an NCAA record. The effort began against Robert Morris' Trey Arnold, who entered the day top 10 among active players in the nation for career faceoff wins (402). Arnold finished the day 0-of-12, as one of four Colonials that Gaffney went up against. Gaffney won 10-of-11 faceoffs in the first quarter and 14-of-16 in the first half. With his 16 groundballs, he is up to 105 on the season and 302 in his career. His 105 GBs are tied for sixth in Patriot League history with three regular season games and at least one postseason contest still remaining. Gaffney needs 28 more groundballs to break the league record of 132 held by Colgate's Robert Grabher (132). Gaffney need just 12 groundballs to break the Lehigh program record for career GBs, held by Ryan Snyder (313).
Junior Christian McHugh set career highs in goals (2) and points (3) on Wednesday, with his assist coming on a goal from classmate and fellow short-stick defensive midfielder Parker Kent. Seniors Mickey Fitzpatrick, Alexander Tumminello and freshman Tommy Schelling all scored twice as well, while senior Tristan Rai had three assists. Senior Lucas Spence didn't score for a second straight game after 16 goals his previous eight contests. Spence did dish two assists for a second straight contest and owns multiple points in nine of 10 games played this season.
Defensively, sophomore Teddy Leggett set a career high with eight groundballs, one game after tying his career high of seven at Loyola. The Mountain Hawks collected 56 groundballs for the game, tied for a season high and Lehigh's third game this year with 50+ GBs. Lehigh stands second nationally in groundballs per contest, averaging 40.83.
A first-year program, St. Bonaventure is 0-11 on the season, with its closest calls coming at Manhattan (15-12) and Monmouth (7-5). Last time out, the Bonnies dropped a 16-8 final against Canisius. Sean Westley leads St. Bonaventure with 25 points (12 goals, team-leading 13 assists). Matthew DeGirolamo owns a team-leading 14 goals while Cian Collins is second on the Bonnies with 17 points (10 goals, seven assists). Nick Conklin leads St. Bonaventure with 37 groundballs and 20 caused turnovers. The Bonnies struggle in the faceoff circle, winning just 24.9 percent as a team. Two goaltenders have split time, with Brett Dobson owning the best save percentage (54.1) and Ben Mazur tallying the best goals against average (14.84).
Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between Lehigh and St. Bonaventure.
Following Saturday's game, the Mountain Hawks return home next Saturday (Apr. 20) to host Bucknell at 12 p.m. on Senior Day. The showdown vs. the Bison will be televised nation-wide 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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