Second-Half Surge Propels Men's Lacrosse

Saturday, March 12

West Point, N.Y.

12 PM

Army West Point

4-2, 2-0PL

Lehigh

4-2, 2-1PL

Lehigh

Army West Point

Second-Half Surge Propels Men's Lacrosse

March 12, 2016 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Down 6-4 at halftime, the Army lacrosse team answered with seven goals in the third quarter and held off Lehigh down the stretch to earn a 13-10 win in Patriot League action on Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium.

The Black Knights (4-2, 2-0 PL) were led by Cole Johnson, who tallied six points on four goals and two assists in the win. He has recorded 13 points on 10 goals and three assists in his first two league games of the season. Rookie Nate Jones tallied another hat trick for Army in the win as seven different players had goals. Austin Colvin posted the first two of his career, while long stick players Danny DeSanti and Johnny Surdick each scored their first in a Black Knight uniform as well.

Army was incredible in faceoffs on the afternoon. The Mountain Hawks had no answer for both Alex Daly and Dan Grabher. Daly had his best day since the 2014 season with 11 wins on 12 draws, while Grabher wasn't too bad with an 11-of-15 day.

AJ Barretto made four saves overall, but Army's defense stymied the Lehigh offense in the second half, allowing on eight shots in the final 30 minutes. That allowed the Black Knights to outscore the Mountain Hawks, 9-4, in the second half.

Lehigh (4-2, 2-1 PL) suffered its first league defeat of the season. Reid Weber finished with a team-high five points on three goals and two assists, while Ray Mastroianni tallied three goals. Tristan Rai came into the game with 18 goals in the first five games and was held to just one goal on two shots.

The Mountain Hawks got the start they wanted with two goals in the first 3:40 of the game with Mastroianni and Weber finding the back of the net. Army answered with two in the final 8:19 of the quarter to tie the game at the end of one frame. Cook put the Black Knights on the board with 8:19 remaining, while Austin Colvin scored his first of the year with 2:30 on the clock.
Army's momentum continued into the second quarter with Nate Jones tallying his 13th of the year 32 second into the stanza to give the Black Knights their first lead of the game. Weber single-handily brought the Mountain Hawks back with a pair of goals to steal the lead again at 4-3 with 7:33 left in the half. The teams traded goals down the stretch of the opening 30 minutes with Johnson scoring his first of the day, sandwiched between two Lehigh tallies and the Mountain Hawks took a 6-4 lead into the dressing room.

The Black Knights made the necessary adjustments at the half and came out on fire, outscoring the Mountain Hawks, 7-2 in the third quarter. Surdick, Mullins and Colvin got it started with three-straight tallies in the first 2:19 to put Army on top 7-6. Surdick's first career tally came after he scooped up the ground ball on the opening faceoff and beat Sawicki 16 seconds into the frame.

Lehigh stopped the run with Rai scoring his only goal of the game with 8:12 on the clock in the third quarter. Johnson then scored his second of the day, followed by an answer by Billy Oppenheimer of Lehigh to make it an 8-8 game.

Army responded with a four-goal run, which ended up putting away the Mountain Hawks early in the fourth quarter at 12-8. DeSanti scored his first of the season with a rocket from the alley after Lehigh backed off him defensively. Johnson then added back-to-back tallies and Jones finished off the run with his second with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter.

Lehigh was able to get two back around the six-minute mark, but Nate Jones put the game out of reach with his 15th of the season to close out the scoring at 13-10.

The Black Knights outshot the Mountain Hawks, 34-24, and had an incredible 22-of-27 mark in faceoffs.

The Black Knights have a quick turnaround as Army hosts NJIT tomorrow at noon.

Game Notes: Army and Lehigh met for the 29th time since the first meeting in 1990 … Lehigh's head coach Kevin Cassese was a player at Duke while Army's coach Joe Alberici was an assistant for the Blue Devils … Alberici won his 95th career game as a head coach … Army scored seven goals in a quarter for the third time this season … eight is the most in a quarter for the Black Knights, which came against VMI … Johnson has 13 points in the last two games (10 goals, 3 assists) … Nate Jones scored his second hat trick of the season and has multi-goal games in five of his first six starts … Army held Lehigh to a season-low 10 goals … the Mountain Hawks came in averaging 14 goals a game … the Black Knights won two in a row against Lehigh for the first time since winning back-to-back in 2010 and 2011 … it was the 13th win for Army against Lehigh at West Point … DeSanti and Surdick became the first two long stick defenders to score for the Black Knights this year … Army won 20 or more faceoffs for the second time and had a season-high 23 wins.