Box Score | Photo Gallery

EASTON, Pa. - The offense was working on Saturday afternoon for the Lafayette men's lacrosse team, but crosstown rival Lehigh won the battle at the X and converted its chances as well as the Leopards fell in the 2018 installment of The Rivalry at Fisher Stadium by a 19-11 score.

The 11 goals scored by the Leopards were the best offensive performance of the season, scoring 10 on two occasions, a 17-10 loss to North Carolina and a 10-8 victory over NJIT. The defeat, though, sends Lafayette to 2-7 overall on the year and 0-4 in Patriot League play, while No. 16/17 Lehigh improves to 4-0 in conference action and 6-2 overall.

Four different Lafayette players registered a pair of goals, led by freshman John Natoli and senior co-captain Will McCarthy, who each added an assist to their scores. Junior Conor Walters scored once, but helped out with five assists for a team-high six points on the day, while sophomore Robbie Garavente and senior Luke Smith were the other multi-goal scorers with two apiece.

The game started evenly as the Leopards closed a 4-2 gap at the end of the first quarter with two of the first three to open the second, making it a 5-4 game with 11:12 left in the opening half. Lehigh answered with a pair, but Walters found Natoli at 9:16 for a score to make it 7-5.

The Mountain Hawks opened up the game after that Natoli goal, ripping off eight straight through the remainder of the second quarter to go ahead 15-5 at the halftime break. Lafayette scored three of the four goals in the third and the first goal of the fourth to make it interesting at 16-9 with 13:49 left. But time ran out on the comeback bid as the two teams traded a pair of scores over the remaining minutes until the clock sounded on a 19-11 defeat.

Lehigh led in shots by a 39-28 margin and picked up 37 ground balls compared to 26 for the Maroon and White. The Mountain Hawks were dominant at the X, winning 27 of the game's 33 faceoffs, but committed 16 turnovers on the afternoon, countered by just nine from the Leopards.

Junior Jonathan Anastos and sophomore Wes Moshier split halves between the pipes for Lafayette, with Anastos picking up the loss, his seventh of the season. Anastos allowed 15 goals with two saves over the opening 30 minutes, while Moshier made three saves and gave up four goals in the second half of play.

Lafayette stays at home through the week, hosting Boston U. in its next contest on Saturday with opening faceoff set for 1 p.m.