Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/2/18
From Press Release
Following a career-high 13 saves at Boston University Saturday, Lehigh men’s lacrosse freshman goaltender James Spence (Springfield-Delco) has been named Patriot League Rookie of the Week, as announced on Monday. Spence and the Mountain Hawks held the Terriers to a season-low six goals in a dramatic 7-6 victory. The weekly award marks the second of Spence’s young career, also winning Goalie of the Week following Lehigh’s 9-7 win at No. 12 Army West Point.
Spence – the Phillylacrosse.com Co-Player of the Year in 2017 when he led the Cougars to a second straight PIAA championship – came up big at big moments Saturday. He stopped all four shots sent his way in the first quarter to help the Mountain Hawks take a 1-0 lead into the second. Spence went on to tally six third-quarter saves to help minimize the damage and keep Lehigh within striking distance. After BU took a 6-4 lead late in the third quarter, Spence made four saves the rest of the way, not allowing a goal as Lehigh shut-out the Terriers for the final 18:57 and ended the game on a 3-0 run for the dramatic 7-6 win.
The six goals allowed were exactly five goals below the Terriers’ season average entering the day. The Terriers hadn’t scored fewer than eight in a game all season. It also came just 11 days after Boston University scored 18 goals at Harvard. For the season, Spence owns a 7.93 goals against average and 0.524 save percentage.
Junior Craig Chick was also recognized with honorable mention laurels on the Patriot League weekly honor roll. Chick tallied four caused turnovers at Boston University Saturday to break the league’s career record. He now has 31 caused turnovers this season and 108 for his career, breaking the previous mark held by Colgate’s Bobby Lawrence, who tallied 106. Chick currently stands No. 12 in NCAA history in career caused turnovers.
Lehigh remained at No. 17 in the Maverick Media Poll while jumping from 19 to 15 in the USILA Coaches Poll released on Monday. In addition, the Mountain Hawks jumped to No. 15 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Top 20.
The Mountain Hawks return home this Saturday (Apr. 7) to host Loyola at 1 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
