Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/7/21
From Press Release
For the first time in program history, the Lehigh men’s lacrosse team defeated Loyola and it came in convincing fashion as the No. 13 Mountain Hawks topped the No. 10 Greyhounds, 10-6 on Saturday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
The biggest story was junior faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger (Southern Lehigh), who won 16-of-19 on the afternoon, and senior goaltender James Spence, who tied a career high with 17 saves. After Loyola pulled even at two, Lehigh responded with six of the next seven goals over the middle quarters to take an 8-3 lead and wouldn’t look back.
“Beating Loyola means a great deal,” said Lehigh coach Kevin Cassese. “I have so much respect for that program, for Coach Toomey and his coaching staff. They’re so well-coached, they’re so disciplined in what they do and how they approach the game that you need to be really buttoned up and you need to make sure your details are in order in order to compete with them.
“And I thought our guys did a really good job of that this week. This was a big-time game and they earned a big-time win against a great program.”
The Mountain Hawks held a typically high-powered Loyola attack to just six goals, the Greyhounds’ fewest goals in a regular season game since Mar. 12, 2016 (when it also scored six against Duke). It also marked the fewest goals Loyola has ever scored in a regular season Patriot League contest.
Sisselberger’s performance came primarily against Bailey Savio, who was a third team All-American in 2020 after winning 68.7 percent of his faceoffs. Against Sisselberger, Savio was just 1-of-12. For a second straight week, Sisselberger collected 10 groundballs and scored a key goal.
“The specialty positions are ones we put a high priority on in our program,” said Cassese. “That was very much on display today. Mike Sisselberger was exceptional. He gave us possession after possession after possession and really allowed us to wear down their defense.
“Their defense is very fundamentally sound and I thought they started to make a few errors and breakdowns in the fourth quarter. I thought a lot had to do with the fact that Mikey Sisselberger continued to win and give us possession.”
After one save in the first quarter, Spence tallied 16 over the final three.
“James Spence stood tall,” said Cassese. “We were playing some very good defense in front of him to be able to give up maybe some lower-percentage shots than [Loyola is] used to getting. James gobbled those up. When they made it a three-goal game in the fourth quarter, I thought James stole a few and it very easily could have gotten closer, but James turned them back and our defense turned them back.”
In front of Spence, junior Anthony Tangredi recorded three groundballs and three caused turnovers while holding Loyola leading point-getter Aidan Olmstead (No, 19) to a single assist.
LSM Ryan McNulty (Bishop Shanahan) had a goal, an assist, two groundballs and a caused turnover for Loyola.
“Our defense stood tall today as a unit, but their #19 is an outstanding player and I thought Anthony Tangredi did a tremendous job on him all day,” said Cassese.
Offensively, junior Tommy Schelling led the Mountain Hawks with five points, while adding career highs in groundballs (6) and caused turnovers (2). Junior Cole Kirst scored twice, while five others netted a goal.
The teams traded two-goal runs in the early going before Lehigh’s big run. The Mountain Hawks’ scored six-of-seven over the span of nearly 20 minutes, with Loyola’s only score coming on a failed clear and Kevin Lindley finding a wide open net. Lehigh responded from that score, though, with a Christian Mule’ goal with four seconds left in the first half to go ahead 5-3.
The Mountain Hawks began the second half on a 3-0 run, with goals from Schelling, senior Andrew Eichelberger and Sisselberger, to take an 8-3 lead. The Greyhounds scored three of the next four goals to pull within 9-6 with 9:16 remaining, but would not score again (with Spence stopping the final four shots sent his way).
Final shots were 46-29 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 49-23 edge in groundballs. Spence’s 17 saves came across Sam Shafer, who made 11 stops for the Greyhounds.