Lehigh men’s lacrosse edges past Lafayette, clinches No. 6 seed in Patriot League Tournament

The Patriot League was arguably the craziest conference in college lacrosse in 2015, and Friday’s games were yet another example of that.

In an ugly, back-and-forth battle, the Lehigh men’s lacrosse team just beat out rival Lafayette College 11-10 in what was likely the seniors’ last game on Banko Field of their careers.

The Mountain Hawks needed much more than just a win over the Leopards Friday night. In order to clinch a spot in the Patriot League Tournament, they needed College of the Holy Cross to also upset Boston University, a game that was going on at the same time as Lehigh’s. Needless to say, Holy Cross won the game, 12-10.

Senior attackman Dan Taylor put in another four goals on the night to continue his college lacrosse career for at least one more game.

Despite the win, Lafayette seemed to control most of the game, never trailing for more than a minute at a time until junior attackman Reid Weber scored the go-ahead goal with 1:27 left in the game, his fourth of the night.

Coach Kevin Cassese said he was disappointed with the team’s performance.

“They outplayed us for 55 minutes of that game, and they really took it to us and controlled the play and controlled the emotion,” Cassese said. “I give them a lot of credit.”

While Lafayette still finished at the bottom of the Patriot League this season with just one conference win, they led for most of the game. They finished the night with a 51-35 advantage in shots and a 29-28 advantage in ground balls.

Taylor was not impressed with the way the team played either, also giving a lot of credit to Lafayette. Regardless, he was still happy with the way the night turned out.

“I’m thrilled with the result tonight, and I’m thrilled with the result of Holy Cross and Boston,” Taylor said. “We thought if we got an opportunity to go to this tournament, we’re going to make a run at it. We’re playing our best lacrosse right now.”

Freshman goalie Adam Sawicki was also a big part of the win, tallying a career high 17 saves. It was more than any Lehigh goalie in a game this season.

Despite this, Cassese was not completely satisfied with his performance.

“He made a lot of saves, but I think he also let in some timely goals,” Cassese said. “So I guess that’s what you’re going to get from a freshman playing in a tough spot, in a big rivalry game.”

Sawicki was pulled briefly in the second quarter along with the entire starting defense due to a lack of energy, according to Cassese. Instead of senior goalie Matt Poillon though, sophomore Donny Stires came in for a few minutes for Sawicki. Eventually, Sawicki was put back in the game.

“I knew that the guys that play on the scout team every day would appreciate the opportunity to step foot on the game field, and they played with the passion and the drive that our first unit should have played with from the get-go,” Cassese said.

After the results of Friday’s games, Lehigh receives the No. 6 seed in the tournament and will travel to face No. 3 seed Bucknell University. The game will take place on April 21 at 7 p.m.