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EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette men's lacrosse team hung tough throughout the rivalry matchup with Lehigh on Saturday afternoon at Fisher Field, but couldn't convert on opportunities on the offensive side of the field, dropping an 11-6 contest.

"I thought we fought hard for 60 minutes," head coach Jim Rogalski said. "In the end, they executed in a couple key spots and that was the difference in the game."

Lafayette opened the game strong as James Roberts and Eric Joseph found the back of the net in the first four minutes to give the Leopards an early 2-0 lead. However, Lehigh responded with four of their own off four different sticks to take a 4-2 advantage early in the second quarter.

A Will McCarthy tally and another from Joseph knotted the game at four with 3:24 remaining in the opening half. Lafayette seemed to have gained momentum at that point, but an unfortunate man-down goal from Lehigh's Casey McAdam shifted that momentum to the visitor's bench, taking the game into the halftime break at 5-4.

The Mountain Hawks scored the only goal of the third quarter and five of the seven goals in the fourth to take control of the game late. Lafayette was forced to play much of the game on their defensive side of the field as Lehigh posted 42 shots compared to 29 for the Maroon and White. That fourth quarter sealed the game with a final of 11-6.

"I think we're starting to see some real growth on the defensive side of the ball and Falcone played excellent once again," Rogalski added. "We played a lot of defense today and I thought we did a good job of stopping them. We grinded some possessions and got stops. We didn't shoot well offensively and we may have got tired defensively, but I'm proud of the way our guys fought for 60 minutes."

Joseph was the leading scorer for the Leopards, posting three goals and two assists for five points on the day. Roberts, McCarthy and Jason Sands each recorded a score apiece for Lafayette.

"EJ is starting to dodge a little bit and we're starting to see a little more of an identity on the offensive side, though we still have a lot of work to do there," Rogalski concluded. "We just need to bury our shots."

Falcone made seven saves on the afternoon, his first game this season without reaching the double-digit mark in stops. The Leopards won the ground-ball battle, 32-26, won 10 of the game's 19 faceoffs and each side was 1-for-3 on extra-man opportunities.

Next up for the Leopards is a trip to Annapolis, Md. on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. matchup with Navy.