Photo courtesy of Lehigh Athletics/Derek Behrenshausen
 
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The No. 11 Cornell men's lacrosse team scored four goals on its first five shots and seemingly controlled the game, but was never able to get too comfortable against No. 17 Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks controlled the face-off circle and used tough defense to keep the Big Red from pulling away. In the end, Cornell had just enough to earn the hard-fought 12-10 victory and improve to 9-3 on the season while Lehigh slips to 8-5.
 
"We had opportunities to go on runs and stretch the lead, but give Lehigh credit, because they fought back each time," said interim head coach Peter Milliman. "They're good. They're good at ground balls. They're good at facing off and they're a good defensive team. They take you out of your rhythm the way they press out and try to pick off passes. And our man-up just hasn't been good for us lately. So that's a priority. We got a bit of a gut check and learned a little bit about ourselves. We need to get much better at those pieces of the game."  
 
Jeff Teat posted a game-high six points, and his four assists on the day moves him into ninth place in Cornell history for assists in a single season (44). Jonathan Donville registered five points with three goals and two assists, while Clarke Petterson finished with a team-high four goals.
 
Altogether, seven Big Red registered at least one point, as Connor Fletcher was the only other Cornell player with multiple points, finishing with one goal and one assist.
 
Cornell's defense was solid, with nine caused turnovers, including two apiece from Dom Doria, Jake Pulver and Scott Flynn.
 
Behind the defense sophomore goalie Caelahn Bullen improved to 5-0 on the year with 10 saves.
 
Lehigh was led by Lucas Spence's four goals, while Andrew Pettit and Tristan Rai tallied two goals apiece. The Mountain Hawks had ample opportunities on offense winning by 18-of-25 face-offs, thanks in large part to Conor Gaffney's 15-of-22 performance. Gaffney also added nine ground balls as Lehigh held the overall advantage off the ground, 39-30.
 
Cornell countered the lack of possessions by once again being economical with its shots, scoring 12 times on just 17 shots on goal. Lehigh's starting goalie James Spence made just three saves and allowed nine goals in 37:30, before giving way to Colin Kirst, who stopped two and allowed three goals down the stretch.
 
Lehigh had the edge in shots (33-23), cleared 9-of-11, and went 3-for-3 on man-up chances. The Big Red was successful on 17-of-21 clears and went 2-of-6 on the extra-man, but finished with one fewer turnover (16-15).
 
"After a long week I thought it was great that our guys dug in and made plays when they needed to," said Milliman. "It wasn't pretty, but we knew that. Lehigh is a really good team that plays you tough and we're on the road after a big midweek game. So coming out of her with a W and everybody healthy, I'm really happy with that." 
 
Lehigh got on the board with a man-up goal less than two minutes into the game but Cornell answered when Teat found Jordan Dowiak cutting got the goal and fed the senior on the crease to make it a 1-1 at the 10:09 mark. The Big Red pushed its lead to 2-1 when Teat found Donville on a nearly identical play but less than two minutes later, Lehigh's Pettit tied the game at 2-2.
 
Donville and Teat teamed up twice more down the stretch, with Donville scoring off a Teat assist, and then Teat scoring off a Donville feed to stake the visitors a 4-2 lead at the first break.
 
The Big Red run extended into the second quarter with consecutive goals by Petterson, one assisted by Fletcher, the other by Teat, before a man-up goal from Pettit ended Lehigh's 12-minute scoring drought.  Lehigh made it two in a row for the first time in the game with a tally in the final minutes of the stanza, and held Cornell without a score over the final 12:44 of the quarter, but the Big Red still took the 6-4 lead into halftime.  
 
Petterson ended the Big Red drought with a goal just 45 seconds into the third quarter off a beautiful feed from Jake McCulloch, and then Colton Rupp scored Cornell's first unassisted goal of the game to double-up Lehigh, 8-4
 
Spence ended the Big Red run with a tough angle shot, but the Big Red responded with consecutive man-up goals from Teat and Donville to take the 10-5 lead with 6:27 to go in the third quarter.
 
Less than two minutes later Ian Strain found the back of the net, scoring off a rebound following a Bullen save, to make it a 10-6 game at the final break.  
 
Fletcher scored just 47 seconds into the fourth quarter but Lehigh responded with back-to-back goals, including a 6-on-4 goal from Austin Pierce, to cut the Big Red's lead to 11-8.
 
Cornell endured a barrage of Lehigh penalties, but couldn't manage to score on its man-up opportunities. Eventually Petterson scored an even-strength goal to restore a four-goal advantage (12-8) to the visitors with 4:44 to play.
 
Spence scored the final goal of the game to account for the 12-9 final.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red will play its final regular-season home game, and honor the 11 members of the senior class, when it welcomes Brown to Schoellkopf Field for Senior Day on Saturday, April 21 at 1 p.m. The game will also serve as a reunion for the members of the 1976, 1977, and 1978 Big Red men's lacrosse teams as they return to campus to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their NCAA-record 42-game win streak.