Men’s soccer trounces Fairleigh Dickinson, scores first win after four straight losses

Lehigh men’s soccer defeated Fairleigh Dickinson University 4-0 despite a lightning delay to improve to 7-7 overall record.

Coming in to the home game against Fairleigh Dickinson, Lehigh had lost four straight games and was in need of a win to bounce back. After scoring just one goal in the Oct. 18 game against Loyola University (MD), Lehigh exploded for four goals on a cold night at the Ulrich Sports Complex.

The first goal of the game arrived in the 16th minute when freshman midfielder/defender David Zipkin drilled a cross into the box from the right side that junior forward/midfielder Kyle Chin buried into the far corner for his first goal of the season.

Lehigh controlled the tempo after this point, but in the 35th minute lightning struck nearby and a delay was put into effect. The delay lasted about 50 minutes.

“We did a pretty good job coming back mentally prepared for the second half of the first half,” junior midfielder Ryan Bertrando said.

It was Bertrando who won the ball from the Fairleigh Dickinson left back and provided the cross that freshman forward Doyle Tuvesson finished off for the second goal in the 78th minute. His shot took a massive deflection that sent the keeper the wrong way as the ball landed in the corner of the net. Tuvesson now has four goals on the season.

Tuvesson’s goal was the first of a three-goal spurt in the span of nine minutes for Lehigh. Sophomore defender Gianfranco Giammatteo scored a brace of goals in the 81st and 87th minutes and junior forward/midfielder Jamie Luchini provided the assist for both goals.

“Once we got that second goal I think we relaxed a little bit,” head coach Dean Koski said.

Giammatteo’s first goal was especially impressive. He finished off a cross by half sliding and volleying the ball into the net. Giammatteo’s two goals were his first and second of the season.

After the game, Luchini said he was happy to contribute to the win.

“As long as I can contribute to the team scoring goals, if I’m making the goals or assists, I’m happy with that as well,” he said. Luchini has four total assists this season to go along with four goals.

Head coach Dean Coski was proud of his team’s performance after the game.

“When you score four goals, that’s a good night,” Koski said. He was also pleased with the defensive effort as well because they kept a clean sheet. But as any coach would say, there are always areas that can be improved upon.

“The area we really have to get better at is taking care of the ball,” Koski said, highlighting the team’s possession as an area for improvement.

Fairleigh Dickinson is not in the Patriot League, and since it was also a midweek game Bertrando said that the team took the opportunity to rest some starters and give some new faces a start. This decision paid off for the team because they were able to give starters some vital rest for some important upcoming Patriot League games.

Lehigh’s next opponent is fellow Patriot League member Army who boast a 5-5-4 record. Lehigh will face Army at home Saturday and will hope to carry its momentum from this victory into that game.