Saturday, April 13
Bethlehem, Pa.
3 p.m.
Lehigh University
8-5
17
vs
3
St. Bonaventure
0-12
1
2
3
4
F
St. Bonaventure
0
1
1
1
3
Lehigh
6
6
1
4
17
No. 17 Mountain Hawks cruise past St. Bonaventure, 17-3
4/13/2019 9:44:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The No. 17 Lehigh men's lacrosse team led 4-0 before the game was four minutes old and wouldn't look back, downing visiting St. Bonaventure, 17-3 on Saturday afternoon. The Mountain Hawks opened an 8-0 advantage before the Bonnies scored, and it could have been more without St. Bonaventure goaltender Ben Mazur, who made 13 first-half saves. Saturday marked Lehigh's largest margin of victory since the 2016 season opener (a 21-4 win over NJIT) and fewest goals allowed since a 12-3 win over Georgetown in April of 2014.
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Sophomore Matt Ilchuk and freshman Tommy Schelling led the offense with three goals apiece, good for their first-career hat tricks. Schelling added two assists for a career-high five points. Junior Conor Gaffney was stellar in the faceoff circle, winning 13-of-13 with 11 groundballs. He is now up to 313 career groundballs to tie Ryan Snyder's program record. Gaffney finished the week 37-of-42 facing off for an incredible 88.0 percentage, upping his season percentage to 69.8, which is good for third nationally.
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"The guys played hard," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "We did a good job of adjusting to the various defenses that St. Bonaventure showed us. Faceoff-wise, we did a really nice job, which has been a constant theme for us – Conor Gaffney and the other guys in there, and our wing play as well. They gave us a ton of possessions, allowed us to figure out what they were doing on defense and our offense was able to crack through."
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Despite seeing minimal to no action with Lehigh's reserves seeing significant time, the Mountain Hawks' starting attack and midfield combined for 17 points. Along with Schelling's five points, senior Tristan Rai had two goals and two assists while junior Andrew Eichelberger recorded two goals and an assist. Senior Alexander Tumminello scored as well, giving him 11 straight games with a goal.
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Saturday also saw the first-career goal from sophomore Matt Douglas and the first-career points from sophomore Denny Nealon and freshman Matt Marker – both fourth-quarter assists. Defensively, the Mountain Hawks caused 15 of St. Bonaventure's 21 turnovers, led by three from sophomore Teddy Leggett, who also had four groundballs. Junior Erik DiGirolamo tallied a career-high two caused turnovers.
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Rai and freshman Cole Kirst opened the scoring, giving Lehigh a 2-0 lead just 1:16 into the contest. The Mountain Hawks tacked on their third and fourth goals at the 11:39 and 11:26 marks, scored by Rai and Douglas, respectively.
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The goals kept coming. Schelling's first of the afternoon would give Lehigh an 8-0 advantage early in the second quarter. After the Bonnies scored their first midway through the stanza, the Mountain Hawks staged a 4-0 run, with two more goals from Schelling, to give Lehigh a 12-1 halftime advantage.
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St. Bonaventure scored man-up to start the third quarter, but the Mountain Hawks reeled off the next four goals – scored by juniors Austin Pierce and Ryan Klose, then two from Ilchuck in the span of 55 seconds. Ilchuk would go on to add his third of the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
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Final shots were 56-19 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 52-22 edge in groundballs, their second straight game and fourth game this season with 50+ GBs. Four Lehigh goaltenders combined for eight saves, with sophomore James Spence making two in the first half, junior Colin Kirst making four in the second half and senior Chris Kiernan making two in the fourth quarter. Freshman Michael Venezia also saw his first-career action, playing the final 2:49.
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The Mountain Hawks will 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.
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"We've got to continue to get better," said Cassese. "It's nice to finish off this week with a win, but our record over the last eight days is 1-2 and that's unacceptable. We need to come back on Monday with an even higher level of focus. We need to get back to work and continue to get back to the roots of our program. Today was a step in the right direction, but we still need to get better."
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.Â
ÂGallery: (4/13/2019) Lehigh vs. St. Bonaventure, 4/13/19
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Sophomore Matt Ilchuk and freshman Tommy Schelling led the offense with three goals apiece, good for their first-career hat tricks. Schelling added two assists for a career-high five points. Junior Conor Gaffney was stellar in the faceoff circle, winning 13-of-13 with 11 groundballs. He is now up to 313 career groundballs to tie Ryan Snyder's program record. Gaffney finished the week 37-of-42 facing off for an incredible 88.0 percentage, upping his season percentage to 69.8, which is good for third nationally.
Â
"The guys played hard," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "We did a good job of adjusting to the various defenses that St. Bonaventure showed us. Faceoff-wise, we did a really nice job, which has been a constant theme for us – Conor Gaffney and the other guys in there, and our wing play as well. They gave us a ton of possessions, allowed us to figure out what they were doing on defense and our offense was able to crack through."
Â
Despite seeing minimal to no action with Lehigh's reserves seeing significant time, the Mountain Hawks' starting attack and midfield combined for 17 points. Along with Schelling's five points, senior Tristan Rai had two goals and two assists while junior Andrew Eichelberger recorded two goals and an assist. Senior Alexander Tumminello scored as well, giving him 11 straight games with a goal.
Â
Saturday also saw the first-career goal from sophomore Matt Douglas and the first-career points from sophomore Denny Nealon and freshman Matt Marker – both fourth-quarter assists. Defensively, the Mountain Hawks caused 15 of St. Bonaventure's 21 turnovers, led by three from sophomore Teddy Leggett, who also had four groundballs. Junior Erik DiGirolamo tallied a career-high two caused turnovers.
Â
Rai and freshman Cole Kirst opened the scoring, giving Lehigh a 2-0 lead just 1:16 into the contest. The Mountain Hawks tacked on their third and fourth goals at the 11:39 and 11:26 marks, scored by Rai and Douglas, respectively.
Â
The goals kept coming. Schelling's first of the afternoon would give Lehigh an 8-0 advantage early in the second quarter. After the Bonnies scored their first midway through the stanza, the Mountain Hawks staged a 4-0 run, with two more goals from Schelling, to give Lehigh a 12-1 halftime advantage.
Â
St. Bonaventure scored man-up to start the third quarter, but the Mountain Hawks reeled off the next four goals – scored by juniors Austin Pierce and Ryan Klose, then two from Ilchuck in the span of 55 seconds. Ilchuk would go on to add his third of the fourth quarter to round out the scoring.
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Final shots were 56-19 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 52-22 edge in groundballs, their second straight game and fourth game this season with 50+ GBs. Four Lehigh goaltenders combined for eight saves, with sophomore James Spence making two in the first half, junior Colin Kirst making four in the second half and senior Chris Kiernan making two in the fourth quarter. Freshman Michael Venezia also saw his first-career action, playing the final 2:49.
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The Mountain Hawks will 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.
Â
"We've got to continue to get better," said Cassese. "It's nice to finish off this week with a win, but our record over the last eight days is 1-2 and that's unacceptable. We need to come back on Monday with an even higher level of focus. We need to get back to work and continue to get back to the roots of our program. Today was a step in the right direction, but we still need to get better."
Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.Â
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Catching up with @CoachCassese following today's victory over St. Bonaventure. pic.twitter.com/B1KumdskAO
— Lehigh Lacrosse (@LehighLacrosse) April 13, 2019
ÂWe caught up with Matt Ilchuk following today's 17-3 win over St. Bonaventure, which included Ilchuk's first-career hat trick. pic.twitter.com/282KDC1F8B
— Lehigh Lacrosse (@LehighLacrosse) April 13, 2019
Team Stats
SBU
LEHIGH
Shots
19
56
Turnovers
21
12
Caused Turnovers
5
15
Faceoffs Won
3
20
Extra-Man Opps
8
1
Ground Balls
22
52
Game Leaders
Players
G
3
A
1
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
2
CT
0
G
3
A
2
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
G
2
A
2
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
G
2
A
1
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
Players Mentioned
M
/ Men's Lacrosse
D
/ Men's LacrosseM
/ Men's Lacrosse
M/FO
/ Men's LacrosseM/A
/ Men's Lacrosse
G
/ Men's Lacrosse
A
/ Men's Lacrosse
G
/ Men's Lacrosse
A
/ Men's Lacrosse
LSM/D
/ Men's Lacrosse
A
/ Men's Lacrosse
A
/ Men's Lacrosse
A/M
/ Men's LacrosseA
/ Men's LacrosseA
/ Men's Lacrosse
G
/ Men's Lacrosse
M
/ Men's Lacrosse
G
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