Lehigh Drops 2-0 Result At Old Dominion

Friday, August 28

Norfolk, Va.

7:00 PM

Lehigh University

0-2-0, 0-0-0

Old Dominion

3-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Lehigh	0	0	0
Old Dominion	1	1	2

Photo by: Tommy Herstich

8/28/2026 11:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – Lehigh men's soccer played on the road for the first time this season on Friday evening against the Old Dominion Monarchs. After inclement weather delayed the start of the game by an hour and a half, the Mountain Hawks fell in a 2-0 result to the Monarchs.

"I liked the way that we played," said Ingrassia Family men's head soccer coach Dean Koski. "I thought we played with energy and fight. I thought we played the way we wanted to play and I was pleased with a lot of performances from our guys and their effort. We were the victim of VAR, and it's a blessing and a burden in college soccer."

Friday night's game finally began at 8:30 p.m. despite being slated to start at 7 p.m. due to inclement weather in the Norfolk area. The Monarchs (3-0) took ahold of the lead early when ODU's Noah Dietze scored off a corner kick in the ninth minute. The ball was headed out of goal by a Lehigh (0-2) defender, but it was determined that the ball crossed the goal line before it could be cleared away.

The Mountain Hawks and Monarchs both found chances in the second half, with ODU narrowly outshooting Lehigh 7-5. Goalkeeper Anton Kinnunen kept the Mountain Hawks in the game with three saves in the frame. However, ODU's Jason Purks scored on a penalty kick in the 84th minute that sealed the victory for the Monarchs.

Junior Shea Coughlin led Lehigh with two shots while senior Trey Sheeler, junior Paul Smajlaj, sophomore Bridger Baltes, first-year Massimo Talarico, first-year Alex Junquera and first-year Vito Braun also recorded shots for the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh only used two substitutes for the entire game.

"We had a couple of players with injuries and we have to get our starters game fit, and the only way you can get game fit is to suffer through games like this in the heat and get 80 to 90 minutes out of your starters," said Koski. "It will benefit us later in the season when we get into to Patriot League play, so we intentionally shortened the bench knowing that we had some injuries and knowing that we wanted to get some guys more minutes."

Kinnunen made six saves for the Mountain Hawks in Friday's loss.

"I thought Anton played well tonight," said Koski. "He managed the box the way he needed to manage the box. He played the way we need him to play and I feel good about his performance."

The Mountain Hawks return to the pitch on Tuesday, September 1 at 6 p.m. on the road against the Fairfield Stags.

"I'm hoping to see continued growth," said Koski. "Our challenge is always can you get better than the previous game and can you get better in practice. If we can continue to do that and improve the things we need to improve upon, we'll be fine when we get into Patriot League play."

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