Saturday, dominance, rather than parity was on display. In the first conference game of the season, Bucknell broke open the game scoring the last 10 goals of the game and held Navy scoreless for the last 51 minutes of the contest by a final of 11-2. The Bison outshot the Midshipmen 56-14, constantly peppering Navy keeper Nolan Harris who recorded 18 saves to keep the margin of victory from being higher.
Lehigh bounced back from its tough Colorado road trip to trounce VMI 18-2 in Bethlehem. The Mountain Hawks got 3 goals each from Chris Rinaldi, Kyle Stiefel, Dan Taylor and David DiMaria in the rout. The defense limited VMI to one goal in each half. Griffin Farha got the win in the cage in place of the injured Matt Poillon.
In one of the closer games, Holy Cross edged Sacred Heart 11-9. The visiting Crusaders ran out to a 7-2 halftime lead and held on after Sacred Heart put up 6 goals in the third quarter to make the last 15 minutes exciting. Holy Cross was led by hat tricks from Clay Haarmann and James Kennedy (also 2 assists). Kenny O’Connor earned the win and was credited with six saves.
Despite several opportunities Lafayette came up short to the visiting Red Foxes of Marist 8-5. The Leopards jumped out to a 1-0 in the first quarter, but Marist fought back to take a 4-3 lead at the half. The visitors dominated faceoffs (14 of 17) almost doubled up Lafayette on shots (41-21). Jake Hyatt was admirable in the cage to keep the margin of victory to three.
The hyped battle between likely Tewaarton candidate Rob Pannell and incumbent Peter Baum really never got going. In conditions more akin to a Green Bay Packer home game, Cornell lit up the scoreboard early and often with the first 11 goals of the game and dominating start to finish in a 19-3 victory in Ithaca. Pannel racked up 2 goals and 5 assists for the Big Red. Conor Braddish, Matt Clarkson and Ryan Walsh tallied goals for the Raiders.
In a more temperate climate, Army took down Division 1 (relative) newcomer Michigan 12-1. The game was held at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Garrett Thul found net 7 times and fellow attackman John Glesener had a goal and dished 4 assists. The Army defense was stingy, allowing only 18 shots. Sam Somers was credited with 12 saves. Michigan netminder Gerald Logan made an incredible 24 saves to prevent the game from being a total rout.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Mid week action begins for several squads. Colgate will not have time to stew about the loss as they travel to Hobart for a Tuesday afternoon contest against the Statesmen. Also on Tuesday, Penn traveling to Lehigh. Penn is also coming off a 15-12 road loss to Denver Saturday where Lehigh had been unsuccessful the week prior.
Expected inclement weather has accelerated one matchup. Lafayette (2-3) will now host a dangerous 1-4 Delaware team on Tuesday afternoon. The Blue Hens have lost some close games including one on a last second goal to reigning national champ Loyola.
Saturday brings another slate of great contests. All League members are in action, including two conference games:
- Lafayette at Navy, Noon
- Bucknell hosting UMass at Noon
- Army at Rutgers, 1pm
- Holy Cross at Colgate, 2pm
- Lehigh vs. Penn State, 5pm at PPL Park, Chester, PA
