April 21, 2006
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lehigh scored five fourth-quarter goals to take an 8-3 win in Patriot League men's lacrosse on Friday night at Rappolt Field.
Both teams scored three times each through the first 46:13 of the contest, with Lafayette answering a Mountain Hawk score on each occasion, before Lehigh found the net on five of its final six shots.
Blake Best opened the low-scoring affair with a goal for Lehigh (8-5, 4-2 PL) three seconds before the first quarter expired. Lafayette killed off a pair of penalties in the period, while the Mountain Hawks handled a one-minute penalty on Best halfway through the quarter.
John Galassi, Lafayette's leading goal scorer with 18 as a freshman, evened the score for the Leopards 42 seconds into the second quarter. Mike Moran converted an extra-man situation for the only man-up goal of the game with 5:26 left, which gave Lehigh a 2-1 lead at the half.
Both teams scored once in the third, with Lafayette's Sean Burek finding the net just under four minutes into the second half to level the count at 2-all, while Stephen Marino scored on an assist from Fred Cassilly with just over four minutes remaining in the period.
Lafayette capitalized on a failed clear by Lehigh to tie the score at 3-3 with 13:47 left in the game, as Andrew Arkema intercepted a pass deep in the Mountain Hawk zone and fed Andrew Horton, who beat Eric Spirko for the tying score.
After 6:01 of scoreless lacrosse, David Gaunt broke the deadlock to give the Mountain Hawks a 4-3 lead. Marino and Best followed with their second goals of the game to stake Lehigh to a 6-3 advantage with 4:09 left, and Moran and Cassilly closed the scoring for the visitors.
Lehigh held a 29-18 advantage in shots, and Spirko made seven saves in goal for his second win of the season. Freshman Jeff Canfield made 10 stops for the Leopards.
Lafayette's season ends at 2-10 overall and 1-5 in the Patriot League, with wins over Wagner (14-5) and Holy Cross (8-7). The Leopards will return six of their seven players that started at least 10 games for the 2007 campaign, including their top two point men in Galassi and Horton.
