No. 14 Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Lehigh 13-6 to Advance to Patriot League Championships

Friday, May 1

West Point, N.Y.

4 p.m.

Army West Point

12-3, 7-2

Lehigh

8-8, 4-5

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Lehigh	4	1	0	1	6
Army West Point	2	2	4	5	13

Gunnar Fellows hugs Robert Simone after scoring a goal and Brayden Fountain walks towards them.

No. 14 Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Lehigh 13-6 to Advance to Patriot League Championships

May 01, 2026 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The No. 14-ranked Army West Point men's lacrosse team (12-3, 7-2 Patriot League) earned a 13-6 victory over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (8-8, 4-5 Patriot League) Friday afternoon at Michie Stadium to advance the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship game.

The Black Knights' offense dominated the game with an explosive second half as Brayden Fountain and Gunnar Fellows led the offense with four points from two goals and two assists each.

Cal Lambert contributed two goals of his own to join the ranks of 10 different Black Knights to score a goal in the semifinal matchup.

Junior faceoff specialist Robert Simone recorded 14 faceoff wins against the Mountain Hawks, tying his season-high for faceoff wins and earning a new season-best .667 faceoff win percentage to help Army dominate at the faceoff stripe 15-8.

Sean Byrne delivered 11 saves in goal for the Black Knights, surrendering just five goals to the Mountain Hawks in his 57:05 between the pipes.

Senior goalkeeper Evan Richardson covered the remaining 2:55 in goal, tallying one save and allowing one goal to Lehigh in the closing minutes of action.

With the win, Army advances to the championship game of the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse tournament for the first time since 2023.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Strong defensive efforts from both teams along with two saves in goal for both goalkeepers kept the game scoreless through the opening minutes of play in the first of two semifinal games at Michie Stadium on Friday.

With five and a half minutes elapsed off the game clock, Lehigh netted the first goal of the afternoon on a quick shot past Army senior goalkeeper Sean Byrne.

Once play resumed and after a key save by Byrne, Army's offense picked up the pace to score their first goal of the game.

Junior long-stick midfielder Drew Miller fed a high pass to sophomore attackman Brayden Fountain on the edge of the Lehigh crease where he fired a shot that deflected off a Mountain Hawks' defenseman and into the goal.

Lehigh's defense put the pressure back on Army, causing a turnover that led to their second goal of the afternoon to retake the lead.

Building off the momentum of their previous goal, Lehigh buried another shot two minutes later to extend their lead to two.

Army's offense fought to cut into Lehigh's lead with an aggressive push towards the net for its second goal of the game.

Mike Harney scooped up a ground ball off a deflected shot from Fountain that he turned into a goal of his own with an incredible diving effort, sneaking a shot past the left side of the goalkeeper to bring the Black Knights within one.

Lehigh bounced back quickly from the Black Knights' goal, responding with a goal of their own just 11 seconds later to earn a 4-2 lead that held through the remainder of the first quarter.

Coming out of the break, Army made a vigorous push to chip away at Lehigh's two-goal advantage, outshooting the Mountain Hawks 4-1 in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

Fountain took advantage of Army's added pressure, fielding a pass from Evan Plunkett right outside of the crease where he drew a reaction from Lehigh's goalkeeper to bury his second goal of the afternoon in the ensuing open space.

After continued strong offensive efforts from the Black Knights, Lehigh's defense kept the home team off the board over the next six minutes of play before the Mountain Hawks scored their fifth goal of the game with less than four minutes left in the first half to retake their two-goal lead.

Eager to flip the script in front of its home crowd, Army's offense continued to fight to gain momentum on its home turf.

Tyler Mathews broke through the Lehigh defense for the Black Knights, firing a shot from up top off a feed from Fountain with 83 seconds left in the second quarter to bring the score to a 5-4 mark in Lehigh's favor heading into the half.

Army came out of the halftime break with a new pace, looking to close the scoring gap in the semifinal matchup.

Just over three minutes into the half, Hill Plunkett made a run around the left side of the goal and fought through defensive pressure from the Mountain Hawks as he fired a shot that tied the score at five for the Black Knights.

After a faceoff win for Robert Simone, the junior faceoff specialist took a pass from Brayden Fountain and buried a shot just 20 seconds later to give Army its first lead of the afternoon.

The Black Knights seized control of the pace of the matchup through the next eight minutes of action, a series of wide Army passes around the edge of the field allowing Gunnar Fellows to score from the doorstep to extend Army's advantage with 3:46 left on the clock.

Sophomore Tyler Clark fed Army's momentum 49 seconds later when he scored a goal off a Hill Plunkett pass to extend Army's lead to an 8-5 mark that held through the remainder of the third quarter.

The Black Knights kept the pressure high on the attack to open the fourth quarter.

With four minutes and 40 seconds elapsed off the clock, Evan Plunkett fired a shot that found the top right corner of the goal over the Lehigh goalkeeper's shoulder with the assist from Fellows to extend Army's lead to four.

Cal Lambert joined in on the scoring spree just over a minute later after he picked up his own rebound and buried a shot to score his 11th goal of the season.

Two minutes after his first goal, Lambert scored once more, nailing a shot from just outside the crease off the feed by Fellows during the man-advantage to bring the score to 11-5.

Despite the clock ticking down, Army's offense continued to press its advantage in the dwindling seconds of the semifinal showdown.

Keagan Treacy launched a Hail Mary pass from Army's 20-yard line that found Gunnar Fellows in front of a wide-open Lehigh goal to extend the Black Knights' lead to seven.

With two minutes and 55 seconds left in the final frame, the Black Knights put senior Evan Richardson in goal to face the Mountain Hawks.

Lehigh pressured Richardson immediately, firing a shot in his direction just 16 seconds later, but the senior goalkeeper delivered a save for Army to maintain the gap.

Following the save, Richardson passed the ball to sophomore defenseman Jimmy Manley who sent another long pass down the length of the field to Ben Calabrese who scored Army's ninth unanswered goal uncontested, bringing the score to 13-5.

Lehigh showed resilience in the final seconds of action, scoring a goal just under a minute later to close out the scoring, but the Black Knights' offensive onslaught held the lead in Army's favor through the final whistle, earning Army the right to advance to the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship set for Sunday, May 3 at Michie Stadium.

BLACK KNIGHT BULLET POINTS

With the win, Army is set to make its third Patriot League Championship game appearance in the past five seasons.
Army claimed its 32nd win over Lehigh and fourth consecutive home win over the Mountain Hawks. The win also stands as Army's second consecutive Patriot League semifinal win over Lehigh after defeating the Mountain Hawks 19-13 in the 2023 Patriot League semifinals.
Brayden Fountain and Gunnar Fellows led the scoring for the Black Knights with four points from two goals and two assists each.
Sean Byrne tallied 11 saves to mark his 13th game with at least 10 saves this season.
Robert Simone's 14 faceoff wins and seven ground balls led all players in Friday's game. The junior also scored his second goal of the season in the contest.
Army led the Mountain Hawks in shots on goal (28-21), ground balls (36-29), and faceoff wins (15-8).

UP NEXT
Army will host the winner of the Colgate and Loyola Maryland semifinal matchup for the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship game at Michie Stadium on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET. Fans can follow the action on CBS Sports Network or on live stats here.