Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/29/28
From Press Release
No. 6 seed Lehigh defeated No. 3 seed Boston University 16-15 in overtime Tuesday evening in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
With the victory, the Mountain Hawks advance to face No. 1 seed Army in the Patriot League semifinals Friday at 4 p.m. in West Point, New York on CBS Sports Network.
In overtime, the Mountain Hawks and Terriers traded empty possessions, as a strong defensive stop by Lehigh forced a shot clock violation. The ball then found goalie Kasey Heath, who launched a full-field pass to Luke Breslin, who scored one-on-one with the BU goalkeeper.
The Mountain Hawks were led by Patriot League First Team All-League selection Breslin and Second Team All-League honoree Luke Winkler. Breslin and Winkler each scored a career-high five goals. Patriot League Rookie of the Year Finn Morgan paced Lehigh in assists, tying a career high with three assists while adding two goals.
On defense, Patriot League Second Team selection and senior Luke McAuliffe helped slow down Timothy Shanahan, the NCAA leader in points per game this season. Shanahan, who scored six goals when the two teams met earlier this year, was held scoreless Tuesday night.
Patriot League Second Team selection Heath was strong once again in goal, making 14 saves and coming up with multiple timely stops to help preserve the victory for the Mountain Hawks.
The game began with Boston U controlling the Faceoff X and scoring the first three goals of the contest. The Mountain Hawks were able to find their footing with about five minutes left in the first period as Breslin found the back of the net to start the scoring for the Mountain Hawks.
Then with less than a minute remaining, Lehigh scored twice. Breslin found the back of the net again followed by Johnny kid who scored his first career goal to tie the score at three and send it to the second period 3-3.
Boston University scored back-to-back goals early in the second quarter to take a 5-3 lead, but the Mountain Hawks responded once again. Winkler and Breslin scored consecutive goals to tie the game at 5-5 before Winkler added another to give Lehigh a 7-6 advantage, a lead the Mountain Hawks carried into halftime.
Boston University scored two straight goals to open the third quarter, but Lehigh quickly responded with three in a row. Jack Archer got the run started before Colin French (Radnor) and Andrew Kelly (La Salle) each followed with goals to swing momentum back to the Mountain Hawks. BU then scored four of the next five goals to take a 12-11 lead into the fourth.
The Terriers scored the opening goal of the fourth quarter to take a 13-11 lead, but Winkler once again came up big for the Mountain Hawks, scoring back-to-back goals to tie the game at 13-13 with 6:39 remaining. The teams then traded goals to knot the score at 14-14 before Winkler buried another to give Lehigh a 15-14 advantage with 2:50 left. Andrew Pape tied the game with 50 seconds remaining, sending the quarterfinal to overtime.
In overtime, the Mountain Hawks and Terriers traded empty possessions, as a strong defensive stop by Lehigh forced a shot clock violation. The ball then found Heath, who launched a full-field pass to Breslin, leaving him one-on-one with the BU goalkeeper. Breslin finished the opportunity to send Lehigh to the semifinals.
