The last time Lehigh’s men’s soccer team won a game in the Patriot League Tournament was on Nov. 12, 2004. After tonight’s game, that record will remain intact.
Lehigh came into the quarterfinal with five straight games without a loss, including three inside the Patriot League. But, the team fell to Bucknell University in a 4-0 blowout tonight at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
The game was the team’s biggest loss of the entire season and its first multi-goal loss in almost a month. The loss means Lehigh will be eliminated from the playoffs, making tonight its final game of the season.
“I’m obviously disappointed for the guys and the seniors in particular,” head coach Dean Koski said. “This was their last game and for us to come out in a Patriot League game, and for us to kind of fall flat, that’s my fault.”
The first half hour of the game was very back and forth, with both teams struggling to get much on offense. In the 30th minute, though, Bucknell scored its first goal of the game off a free kick — the ball deflected off a Lehigh player and went into the net, technically counting as an own goal.
Lehigh powered down the field and fired back with a chance of its own, but the cross was blocked by a Bucknell player and the Bison gained possession. Shortly after, the Bison scored their second goal of the game, which officially came in the 32nd minute.
After that, the Mountain Hawks appeared to struggle on offense, and they couldn’t seem to get their shots to go on goal. Lehigh actually had more total shots in the game, beating Bucknell 13-12. But Bucknell’s 6-3 advantage in shots on goal proved to be a big reason why it was able to win the game.
Freshman forward Doyle Tuvesson led the Mountain Hawks with six total shots. Junior forward/midfielder Jamie Luchini also had four shots, two of which were on goal.
Lehigh started to get some opportunities on offense towards the beginning of the second half, but it continued to fail to convert them. Luchini had one opportunity where he got the ball past all the defenders, but a Bucknell player blocked him at the last second to prevent him from taking a shot.
Lehigh also had a couple good crosses and through balls, but they either were nowhere near a teammate or were blocked by the Bucknell defense, which was playing well all game.
Bucknell continued its domination after scoring its third goal of the game in the 65th minute. The goal was off a free kick that sailed into the far corner of the net away from the goalie.
Lehigh had another good chance at scoring shortly after, but the Bucknell goalie was just able to make the save in time to keep the shutout alive.
It seemed as though the score would remain 3-0 until the end, but Bucknell was fouled inside the box and converted on the ensuing penalty kick in the 90th minute to extend the lead to 4-0.
Koski took full responsibility for the lopsided loss.
“Whatever we did this week didn’t work, and that’s not their fault, that’s my fault,” he said.
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