EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette College men's soccer team defeated archrival and Patriot League leader Lehigh on Saturday in a 1-0 contest at Oaks Stadium in front of a raucous homecoming crowd.

The Leopards (5-3-3, 1-2-2 PL) desperately needed to find the win column in conference play and relied on its defense to do so to take down the Patriot League's top team.

"We've been great defensively all year," said head coach Dennis Bohn. "Our guys defend, they sacrifice and we've got skill and talent back there. It was a great team win."

Early in the game, freshman Alex Sutton turned away one of the Patriot League's top scorers, Mark Forrest, from point blank to keep the game tied through the opening 45 minutes. Sutton tallied four crucial saves on the afternoon to earn the shutout.

In the 48^th minute, junior Dylan Royalty's header was turned away, but the Mountain Hawks (7-5-1, 4-1 PL) had a defender charged with a hand ball in the box.

Junior Chris Gomez lined up the penalty kick and his strike was deflected by the goalkeeper, but had enough velocity to cross the goal line to give the Maroon and White the advantage early in the second half.

The Lafayette defense held for the remaining 42 minutes to seal its first League win of 2018 and get back into the driver's seat approaching the Patriot League tournament.

Sutton notched his fifth shutout of the season with the help of his backline of senior Joe DeStefano, juniors Christian Williams and Diego Gomera-Tavarez, and sohpmore Andrew Venezia who each played all 90 minutes in the victory.

Gomez's goal was his fourth of the season to tie him with junior James Gibson for the team lead.

The Leopards will be back in action on Wednesday when they step out of conference to host Rutgers at Mike Bourger '44 Field at Oaks Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

For the latest on the Lafayette College men's soccer program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMSOC, Facebook at Lafayette College Men's Soccer, and Instagram @Lafayette_MSOC.