Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/30/11
From Press Releases
A strong defense set the tone early while an explosive offense took over late as the host Lehigh men’s lacrosse team cruised to a 13-7 win over Binghamton on Tuesday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Sophomore David DiMaria led the offense with two goals and three assists while senior Richard Bradley registered a season-high seven groundballs and five caused turnovers to lead the Mountain Hawks (6-4, 2-1 Patriot League) to their second straight victory.
Lehigh scored the game’s first eight goals before Binghamton got on the scoreboard at 2:57 of the second quarter. The Bearcats eventually clawed back to as close as 10-7 early in the fourth, but the Mountain Hawks responded with the game’s final three goals to erase any doubt.
“Getting out to the 8-0 lead was important, but I’m disappointed we let them back in the game,” said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. “This is a big non-league win for us; we try to get better every week. We’ll need to elevate our game to come up with a win on Saturday [against No. 20 Penn State].”
The victory marks Lehigh’s fourth in as many home games, tying the squad’s best home start since 2008. A 6-4 record also gives the Mountain Hawks their best record after 10 games since the 2006 campaign.
DiMaria tied a career high with his five points behind two goals and three assists. Fellow sophomore Dante Fantoni posted four behind two goals and two assists. In the process, they each extended their point streaks to 20 and 23 games, respectively.
Junior Roman Lao-Gosney gave a struggling Mountain Hawk offense an early lift with a career-high three goals, all coming within the game’s first 20:12.
Sophomore Noah Molnar also posted a career-high two assists while the Mountain Hawks received two goals from sophomore Kyle Stiefel and single tallies from juniors Cameron Lao-Gosney and Adam Johnston, along with sophomores Brian Hess and Alex Drake.
Bradley helped spearhead a defense which didn’t allow a goal until 2:57 remaining in the second quarter. Sophomore Mike Noone (La Salle) contributed a career-high three groundballs, along with a caused turnover. Molnar also added two groundballs and a caused turnover.
Sophomore Ryan Snyder (Reading native, Duke’s LC) was stellar once again at the faceoff X, winning 18-of-20 while tying a career-high 13 groundballs to help Lehigh control possession. He has now won 67.2 percent of his faceoffs on the season while scooping a league-leading 87 groundballs.
Bucknell 8, Penn State 6
No. 20 Penn State (4-4, 2-0 CAA) dropped a hard-fought midweek decision to the 18th ranked Bison of Bucknell (8-2), 8-6 at Bucknell’s Mathewson StadiBU. Freshman goalie Austin Kaut (Springfield-Delco) was solid in the loss, making 12 saves. Classmate Shane Sturgis (Downingtown East) continued to lead the Lions’ offense with three points off two goals and one assist.
