Late Goal Lifts St. Joe's Over Lehigh
from press release
BETHLEHEM, Pa. –- Lehigh dropped a 9-8
heartbreaker to St. Joseph’s on Saturday afternoon in the 2009
season opener at the Ulrich Sports Complex on the new Frank Banko
Field. The teams were tied at eight in the closing minute before
the Hawks’ Sean Evans took a pass from Alex Lopes and found
the back of the net for the game-winner. Senior Ricky Cornetta
scored two goals and handed out a pair of assists for the Mountain
Hawks while classmate Max Dahlem scored once and totaled two
helpers.
St. Joseph’s out shot Lehigh 39 to 37 and totaled 36 ground
balls to Lehigh’s 32. Junior Evan Guerrero registered nine
caused turnovers on defense for Lehigh, while senior Dan Honeywell
totaled six. Morgan Haller finished with eight saves in goal for
the Brown and White in what was his first career start, while
Guerrero led Lehigh with five ground balls.
Ryan Tessler won 14-of-20 face-offs for the Hawks and also picked
up a team-best seven ground balls. Pat Williams caused six
turnovers and R.J. Bopf caused four. In goal for St. Joseph’s
Erik Hotaling got the start and sent back ten Lehigh shots.
“"We were extremely sloppy today,"” Lehigh head coach
Kevin Cassese explained afterwards. “"We did not take care of
the ball and had too many turnovers and when you turn the ball over
that many times, you’re not going to win many ballgames.”
He continued, “St. Joseph’s just beat us today. They
deserved the win today; they wanted it more than we did. Teams in
Division I Lacrosse are too good that if you don’t come with a
full effort, you are going to get beat."”
Cassese then commented on the play of Lehigh’s freshmen.
“"I thought they played well. Our new faces played like they
were new faces. Unfortunately some of our veterans played like new
faces too.”"
St. Joseph’s got on the board first when Joey D’Avanzo
scored at the 4:53 mark of the opening quarter. Freshman Cameron
Lao-Gosney tied things up for Lehigh however with his first
collegiate score 1:51 later. Chris Lubin then took a feed from
Cornett and gave the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the day
with 1:15 left in the quarter.
Sean Evans tied the game at two when he scored for the Hawks with
11:36 left before halftime, but Brian Bienemann scored the first of
his two goals at the 7:32 mark to put the home team back on top,
3-2. Back-to-back scores by St. Joseph’s propelled the
visitors into the lead, 4-3, which is how things would remain at
halftime.
Lehigh came out firing in the third quarter, scoring the first
three goals, as Cornetta netted a pair and Dahlem found the back of
the net once to put the Mountain Hawks up 6-4 with 7:29 left in the
quarter. Scott Cullinan scored the quarter’s final goal with
6:15 on the clock, which made the score 6-5 heading into the final
15 minutes of play.
Evans opened the fourth quarter with a goal for the visitors which
tied things up at six, but Bienemann and Lubin scored consecutive
goals for the Brown and White to make the score 8-6 in favor
Lehigh. That was unfortunately the last time Lehigh would score
however, as St. Joseph’s netted the game’s final three
scores, including Evans game-winner with 34 ticks to go.
Lehigh will return to action on Saturday, February 21 when the
Mountain Hawks play host to the Brown Bears at the Ulrich Sports
Complex. The opening face-off is set for 1:00 and all of the action
will be broadcast live on Lehighsports.com.
