Lehigh Scores Final Four to Beat Air Force 14-13
from press release
DENVER - Down 13-10 with 9:54 to play, Lehigh scored the game's final four goals including sophomore Cameron Lao-Gosney's game-winner with no time on the clock as the Mountain Hawks downed Air Force 14-13 in dramatic fashion on day one of the DU Face-off Classic.
Lehigh led just once on the afternoon and that came on
Lao-Gosney's goal at the very end to cap a frantic final few
minutes of play. Lao-Gosney, Dante Fantoni and Brian Bienemann
finished with three goals apiece for the Mountain Hawks, while Adam
Paranka netted four scores for Air Force. With the win Lehigh evens
its record at 2-2, while the Falcons fall to 0-2.
"The first quarter was not very good," Lehigh head coach Kevin
Cassese said afterwards. "We came out with a lack of energy and Air
Force really took it to us. I thought our backups provided a huge
spark for our team and really got us back into the game."
He continued, "The guys just battled all afternoon long. I told the
team that the one thing we could control was how hard we play and I
thought overall we did a great job of playing to the very end. Even
the last play wasn't pretty; Cameron got in there, picked up a
ground ball and fired one into the back of the net to give us the
win. We had a good practice yesterday, but we just came out flat.
Fortunately we were able to re-group and ultimately pull this one
out. I thought the fourth quarter was a defining moment for us. We
were down two goals late and we were able to find ourselves a bit.
We had to come to Denver to find what we were looking for."
Lao-Gosney and Adam Johnston led the Brown and White with five
shots each as the Mountain Hawks were credited with 37 shots as a
team. Ryan Snyder won 14-of-21 in the X and also scooped up a
game-high 11 ground balls.
"Ryan Snyder had a huge day," Cassese said. "He was phenomenal for us out there."
Senior captain Evan Guerrero forced three turnovers, while Mike
Noone and Baxter Lanius caused two apiece. Freshman Dan Carr
stopped seven shots in goal for Lehigh, and
allowed just one score in that critical fourth quarter.
Air Force was credited with 32 shots, including seven from Ridge
Flick and Jimmy Curran, while Zack Carroll was 10-of-17 on
face-offs. Carroll also led the Falcons with four ground balls,
while Flick and Paranka caused three turnovers apiece. In goal for
Air Force, Brian Wilson stopped 12 shots in 60 minutes.
The Mountain Hawks found themselves in a 4-0 hole less than seven
minutes into the game before Bienemann got them on the board for
the first time with four minutes to go in the opening quarter.
Fantoni then made it a two-goal game with his first score of the
afternoon with 1:12 on the clock, sending the teams into the second
quarter with LU trailing 4-2.
Johnston's first goal of the day came with 11:48 remaining before
halftime and brought Lehigh within one, but the Falcons ripped off
three straight scores from there to take a 7-3 lead with 9:06 on
the clock. Lao-Gosney scored for the first time with 7:29 to play
in the half, but Paranka quickly responded with a goal of his own
for the Falcons, making it an 8-4 game. Lehigh's offense then
started to get in gear as the Mountain Hawks went on a 3-0 run with
goals by Roman Lao-Gosney, Fantoni and Bienemann in a span of just
1:58 to make it a one-goal affair. But Bryan Gilbreath put a stop
to the Mountain Hawks run and Air Force took a 9-7 lead into
intermission.
Bienemann brought Lehigh within 9-8 with the first goal of the
second half, but Air Force answered again with a goal from Carroll
and the Falcons were on top by two. Johnston?s seventh goal of the
season came with 12:37 to play in the third, but Paranka had an
answer to make it an 11-9 game. Jonathan Stumpg brought the
Mountain Hawks within one with a goal at the 6:59 mark, but Air
Force scored the final goal of the third and Tristan Newkirk scored
the first goal in the fourth as the Falcons built a 13-10 lead with
9:54 remaining.
Cameron Lao-Gosney began Lehigh's comeback when he scored with 6:39
to play off a feed from his brother, Roman. Fantoni then made it a
one-goal game with his fourth score of the season with 5:18 to
play. With just over a minute to go Johnston tied things at 13,
setting the stage for Lao-Gosney's heroics. The sophomore scooped
up a ground ball off an Adam Johnston shot attempt, and rifled a
shot of his own into the back of the net to lift Lehigh to a wild
win in the Mile High State.
