The Lehigh men’s lacrosse team lost to Cornell University on the Hawks’ Senior Day 13-12 despite a five-goal performance from senior attackman Reid Weber.
The game was ultimately decided in the last 1:07 when Cornell, down by two, scored three goals to steal the game from Lehigh (6-7, 4-3 Patriot). Freshman attackman Colton Rupp scored a goal with one tenth of a second remaining on the clock to put the Big Red ahead of Lehigh. Prior to that, freshman midfielder Clarke Patterson cut the lead and tied the game with back-to-back goals in the final minute.
On the other side of the ball, Weber led the charge for the Mountain Hawks throughout the majority of the game. Weber had five goals and one assist, leading both teams with six points. Another contributor for Lehigh was freshman attack Tristan Rai, who added three goals. Rai is second on the team in goals this season, posting 30 goals in 13 games played.
One thing Lehigh noticeably struggled with throughout the game was faceoffs. The Mountain Hawks recorded only two faceoff wins in the first half out of 14 attempts, and then in the second half they failed to win a single faceoff. However, Lehigh’s defense played a key part in balancing this out to compensate for the lack of faceoff wins.
“Defense of effort in the restricting lines is outstanding,” coach Kevin Cassese said. “We caused 23 turnovers so that’s something to take away.”
The Mountain Hawks have one more Patriot League game remaining before the start of the league tournament. They have lost three straight games including this most recent one, but only one of them has come from a Patriot League opponent. The Mountain Hawks next game will be against the Bucknell University Bison on April 22, and this game will potentially affect where they will stand going into the upcoming tournament.
Going into the next game, Cassese said the team needs to work on playing more complete games, especially if it wants to compete against a Bucknell team that is 8-4. The Mountain Hawks failed to play consistently throughout the course of the game against Cornell, scoring only one goal in each the first and fourth games.
They were able to stay in the game though by scoring six goals in the second and four in the third.
“We have played really really good, and really really bad, and we just have to harness the good and run with it,” Reid Weber said regarding the team’s consistency.
Despite the loss, Cassese and the Mountain Hawks have their sights set on the next game at Bucknell. If Lehigh beats Bucknell, it can finish as the fourth seed in the Patriot League Tournament.
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