ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  Seventeenth-ranked Lehigh (6-3, 4-0 Patriot League) used a 6-0 run in the third quarter to overcome a two-goal deficit and move on to a 15-8 victory over the Navy men's lacrosse team (4-4, 2-2 PL) Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

"I thought we played hard, but it came down to they made plays and we didn't," said eighth-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell. "Hats off to Lehigh, they played better than us today.

"The score doesn't indicate how well our defense played at times, but they shot the ball well. We had opportunities, but we didn't take advantage of them."

Down 3-1 going into the second quarter, Navy scored four unanswered goals, including a pair by co-captain Ryan Wade (Sr / Coronado, Calif.) to take a 5-3 lead with 5:21 to go in the opening half. Navy looked to have pushed its lead to three behind a diving goal by middie Drew Smiley (Sr / Shrewsbury, Mass.), however, the officials deemed Smiley's dive was in the direction of the goal mouth and therefore he was assessed a one-minute unreleaseable penalty. Despite three spectacular point-blank saves by Navy netminder Ryan Kern (Jr / Middletown, Del.), Lehigh finally punched in the extra-man goal just seconds after the penalty was released. Instead of Navy taking a 6-3 lead into the locker room, the Mids held a 5-4 advantage at the break.

The Mids pushed their lead back to two early in the third quarter when co-captain Greyson Torain (Sr / Glen Burnie, Md.) drew the slide and threaded his pass through traffic to attackman Jack Sweeney (Fr / Glenelg, Md.). Sweeney caught the ball, spun around and sent an underhanded shot past Lehigh goalkeeper James Spence just under three minutes into the third.

Lehigh's defense clamped down and its offense came alive, as the Mountain Hawks went on a 6-0 run to convert a two-goal deficit into a 10-6 lead.

After being held without a goal for 12 minutes, Wade used a swim move to get his hands free and score his third goal of the game to trim Lehigh's lead to three with 18 seconds left in the third.

Lehigh scored the first four goals of the fourth quarter and went on to outscore Navy 5-1 in the final period.

The Mids were paced by Wade who turned in four points on three goals and an assist. Known more as a play-maker than a shooter, it marked just the second hat trick of Wade's career and first since scoring four goals against Maryland his sophomore season. Meanwhile, Wade extended his point-scoring streak to 32 games and his assist streak to 29 games. He will enter next Saturday's game at Holy Cross needing just one point to become the 35th player in school history to reach 100 points and only the 10th midfielder.

After being held without a point for the first time in his career a week ago by Loyola, attackman Christian Daniel (So / Owings, Md.) scored a goal and added an assist, as did Torain. Sweeney fired in a pair of goals, while Michael Foster (So / Manassas, Va.) contributed one.

Navy's defense which had given up double-digit goals just once in its first four games has now allowed double-figure goals in three of its last four. Kern finished with 10 saves for the Mids.

All-Patriot League attackman Lucas Spence led Lehigh with six points on four goals and two assists, while Mickey Fitzpatrick, Tristan Rai, Tommy Schelling and Tumminello pitched in two apiece.

Spence's brother, James, was sensational in goal where he made 17 stops. Meanwhile, all-league faceoff specialist Conor Gaffney won 17 of the 26 draws and grabbed a team-best nine ground balls.

The Midshipmen will play their next two games on the road beginning with next Saturday's contest at Holy Cross. Faceoff is set for 12:00 pm at Kuzniewski Field in Worcester, Mass. A free live video stream will be available on PatriotLeague.TV, while live stats will be available on NavySports.com(.)

### Go Navy ###