BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Coming off an exciting Patriot League opening win over Boston University, the #20 Lehigh men’s lacrosse team heads to Baltimore for a rematch of the 2014 Patriot League Championship Game as the Mountain Hawks face #14/15 Loyola on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game features the league’s last three champions who together, have five NCAA Tournament appearances over the last three seasons.
Lehigh jumped out to a 6-2 halftime lead against Boston University Saturday, but the Terriers pulled closer in the third quarter and eventually even in the fourth. Senior Patrick Corbett answered with his career-high fifth goal of the game with 2:37 remaining to give Lehigh a 10-9 lead, which proved to be the final. Classmate Dan Taylor tallied five assists on the day, including three of Corbett’s goals. A nifty behind-the-back feed in the second quarter made SportsCenter’s top 10 plays. Taylor only fired one shot for the game, but still found a way to tally five points (all assists) and reach 20 points through three games this season (12 goals, eight assists). Lehigh won its fifth straight Patriot League opener and improved to 17-8 all-time in league openers.
Junior Reid Weber added four goals to tie a career high while freshman Nolan Apers scored his first-career goal in the fourth quarter to give the Mountain Hawks a 9-6 advantage. The attack unit of Taylor, Corbett and Weber combined for 11 groundballs as well. Defensively, junior Casey Eidenshink led the way with three groundballs and a career four caused turnovers to earn Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week laurels. Senior Lukas Mikelinich added three groundballs and a caused turnover while classmate Matt Poillon made a season-high 15 saves in goal as he and Corbett earned honorable mention on the league’s weekly honor roll.
The win marked Lehigh’s fifth straight in Patriot League openers as the Mountain Hawks improved to 17-8 all-time in their first league games. If Saturday’s games are any indication, the league schedule will be very competitive this year. Holy Cross upset Loyola, handing the Greyhounds their first-ever league loss. That propelled the Crusaders into the national rankings as four league squads are nationally ranked in the media poll – Army (14), Loyola (15), Holy Cross (19) and Lehigh (20) – while Colgate is ranked 20th in the Coaches Poll. Along with the Holy Cross upset, Colgate nearly defeated Lafayette while Bucknell edged Navy.
Lehigh and Loyola are two of the nation’s winningest programs as of late, especially the last three seasons. From 2012-14, Loyola tallied 44 wins, second nationally to only Duke in that span. Lehigh’s 39 victories were tied for third. The Greyhounds have advanced to the last three NCAA Tournaments, including winning the 2012 National Championship, while the Mountain Hawks made their first two NCAA Tournaments in 2012 and 2013 before advancing back to the league title game last season.
Loyola is 2-2 early in the season, falling to Virginia and Holy Cross while defeating Penn State and Towson. Brian Sherlock (nine goals, five assists) and Nikko Pontrello (six goals, eight assists) lead the team with 14 points apiece while Zach Herreweyers owns a team-leading 13 goals and Tyler Albrecht has 10 goals and three assists. Pat Frazier and Jack Carrigan each led the team in caused turnovers with six apiece while Ryan Fournier leads the way with 21 groundballs. Pat McEnerney has seen the majority of time in goal and owns a 10.90 GAA and .385 save percentage.
Saturday marks the 10th-ever meeting between Lehigh and Loyola and third in the last calendar year. The teams played last Mar. 1 for the first time since 1998, then played again on Apr. 27 in the Patriot League Championship Game. The sides first met in 1942, a 12-1 Loyola victory.
The Mountain Hawks return home next Saturday (Mar. 7) to host Bucknell in a big Patriot League matchup. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m.
