Lehrer Leads Mount Upset of No. 10 Lafayette
from press release
Easton, Pa. - Cody Lehrer (Baltimore,
Md./Dulaney) scored a career high seven goals to lead Mount St.
Mary's past No. 10 Lafayette, 14-12, on Saturday afternoon.
It is the Mount's first-ever win over a top 10 team and is team's
second win over a ranked opponent this season. In addition,
the win was the 100th career victory for head coach Tom
Gravante.
"I am very proud of our young men for playing 60 minutes of good
lacrosse," said Gravante, who is 100-127 in his 15 seasons at the
Mount. "We had to play a complete game to win today.
The team showed great perseverance in the second half. They
reached down and dug in to come out with a strong third quarter
that allowed us to win the game."
The Mountaineers, after losing their first 39 matchups against
ranked opponents, have won two straight against top 20 teams.
The Mount defeated No. 19 Robert Morris on March 16 before today's
win over No. 10 Lafayette.
Lehrer, who came into the game fourth in the nation in goals per
game, opened the scoring 23 seconds into the contest when he buried
a shot on a pass from face-off man Ben Trapp (Timonium,
Md./Dulaney). Sophomore Bryant Schmidt (Great Mills, Md./St.
Mary's Ryken) then scored two times in a span of 1:01 to give the
Mount a 3-0 advantage just 2:08 into the game.
Lafayette's Steve Serling halted the Mount's early momentum with
his first of five goals on the day, but Lehrer converted a Bryant
Schmidt pass for his second score with 7:57 left in the opening
quarter to push the lead back to three.
Serling and Matt Mersky sandwiched goals around a score from Mount
sophomore Mike Adkins (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) to cut the
Mount advantage to 5-3 after one quarter of play.
Lehrer scored a pair of goals around a Serling score to open the
second quarter to give the Mount a 7-4 lead, but the Leopards (6-2)
closed out the half strong by scoring the final three goals to tie
the game at 7-7. Tom Perini and Serling scored 39 seconds
apart to make the score 7-6 while Tyler Silvey scored an extra-man
goal with nine seconds left in the half to send the game to the
locker rooms tied at 7-7.
Defenseman Mark Burns (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) jump-started
the Mount's decisive third quarter with his first collegiate goal
to give the Mount an 8-7 lead. Lafayette's Chris Ahearn
countered the Burns goal, but the Mount took control of the game by
scoring four of the next five goals for a 12-9 lead after three
quarters of play.
Jake Willertz (Severn, Md./Mount St. Joseph) started the surge with
a pair of goals while Lehrer finished the run with two more goals
of his own.
Lafayette made things interesting, cutting the Mount advantage to
12-11 with 8:32 left on a Silvey extra-man goal. The Mount
was able to answer with a Brett Schmidt (Great Mills, Md./St.
Mary's Ryken) goal for a 13-11 lead with 6:27 left. Lehrer
had an assist on that play and then rounded out his career day with
his seventh goal with 4:35 remaining to give the Mount a 14-11
lead. Lafayette's Serling scored with 3:17 left to round out
the scoring.
Lehrer now had 27 goals in seven games this season to lead the
Mount offense. He finished the day with seven goals and one
assist. His seven-goal game is just the eighth time in Mount
history a player has scored seven or more goals in a game.
Bryant Schmidt added two goals and two assists in the victory with
Adkins adding a goal and two assists in the win. Andrew
Scalley (Arnold, Md./Archbishop Spalding) and Trapp added two
assists each in the win.
Serling paced Lafayette with five goals while Silvey and Perini
added two goals each in the loss.
Mount goalkeeper T.C. DiBartolo (Bowie, Md./Archbishop Spalding)
was strong in the cage again for the Mountaineers, making 18 saves
in the win. Lafayette's Vinny DePasquale had 10 saves in the
loss.
Lafayette outshot the Mount 42-31 in the game and held a 38-32
advantage in ground balls. Trapp finished with a team-high 11
ground balls for the Mountaineers.
Mount St. Mary's has won five straight games after opening the
season with a pair of losses. The five-game win streak is the
longest since the 2006 team also had a five-game streak. The
Mount's 5-2 start to the season is the team's best since a 5-2
start to the 1999 campaign.
The Mount returns to action on Wednesday, April 7, at No. 13
Georgetown in a game that will be televised live by the
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
