Oct. 8, 2014

 

(4-5-2, 1-2-0)     1 2 F  Lafayette 1 1 2 Lehigh 0 0 0  Box Score (6-4-0, 2-1-0)  

 

EASTON, Pa. - Senior Ryan Dodds finished a header into the back of the net and junior Eric West added a marker in the 55^th minute as the Lafayette men's soccer team shut out archrival Lehigh on Wednesday evening at Mike Bourger '44 Field at Oaks Stadium, 2-0.

With the win, Lafayette's senior class remains undefeated against the Mountain Hawks, adding Wednesday's victory to 1-0 wins each of the last three seasons. The Leopards earned their first Patriot League win of the year with arguably their best performance of the season thus far, moving to 4-5-2 overall and 1-2-0 in League play. Lehigh falls to 6-4-0 on the year and 2-1-0 in conference action.

The game was entertaining from the opening kickoff as Lehigh came up with the first dangerous scoring chance in the fourth minute. The Hawks' Austin Decker ran under a long ball and was essentially 1v1 with Lafayette senior goalkeeper Sandy Leavy. Decker threw a shot on Leavy, who just got enough of the ball for it to dribble and slowly knick off the post and out.

Less than two minutes later, Lafayette's resident long-throw specialist Christian Moyse put a beautiful ball on the near post for the head of junior Greg Biggiani. Biggiani sent a header across the goal mouth and found Dodds waiting on the other side, who took a play from the striker's book and calmly headed it inside the far post for the opening goal of the game.

Dodds' tally was the only score of a chippy opening half that featured 16 fouls and 11 coming from the visiting side. Less than 10 minutes out of the break, West would add an insurance tally.

Sophomore Ben Marks, working at midfield down the right side, nutmegged a Lehigh defender and was taken down, earning a free kick from about 40 yards out. Freshman Daniel Felman stepped up and sent a beautiful dipping ball into the box that fell perfectly to the feet of West, who settled and slotted it past Lehigh goalkeeper Ciaran Nugent for the decisive marker.

In the 78th minute, Leavy added a point-blank save, finishing up his excellent night between the pipes. The senior posted his fifth clean sheet of the season, making seven saves on the night to keep the Hawks off the board.

Wednesday evening's affair was the 106^th meeting between the two schools and with the win, the Maroon and White move closer to tying the all-time series with Lehigh, who now holds a slimmer 51-46-9 overall lead.

Lehigh controlled the statistics, but Lafayette made the most of its opportunities. The Hawks led the way in shots, 10-9, and corner-kick opportunities, 7-1. The game finished with 40 fouls between the two teams and six cards handed out.

The Leopards will look to carry momentum into the weekend, hosting Holy Cross on Saturday at 1 p.m.