BETHLEHEM, Pa. // Nineteenth-ranked Lehigh (4-1 // 1-0 Patriot League) used a 9-0 run in the second half en route to a 14-6 victory over the Navy men's lacrosse team (2-2 // 0-1 PL) in what was both teams' Patriot League opener Saturday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pa. The two teams were even (4-4) at the break, but Navy would score just two goals over the final 52:10 of the contest.

"Lacrosse is a game of execution. Our inability to clear and our lack of stopping them at the faceoff 'x' were certainly contributing factors," said first-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "It was a 4-4 game at the half and we had every opportunity to step up and execute. Lehigh out-toughed us today ... they were the better team."

The Mountain Hawks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with an extra-man goal just 1:01 into the game by middie Andrew Eichelberger followed by a nifty spin move by attackman Andrew Pettit.

Navy, however, would answer by scoring four consecutive goals over a three-minute span, including three extra-man strikes by Tyler Perreten (Jr / Crofton, Md.). Not only was it Perreten's first career hat trick, it marked the first time a Navy player has scored three extra-man goals in a game since Harrison Chaires punched in three against Holy Cross on March 19, 2011.

The Mids closed out the run when Christian Daniel (Jr / Owings, Md.) found Ryan Maguson (So / Northport, N.Y.) for a hard 15-yard crankshot with 7:10 left in the first.

Lehigh clipped the Mids' lead to one (4-3) on an Eichelberger goal in the second quarter, while the Mountain Hawks leveled the match at four with an off-speed bouncer from the top of the box by rookie Christian Mule'.

Navy scored the first goal of the second half (10:01) when Henry Rentz (Fr / Edgewater, Md.) tallied his third assist of the game and fed Nick Cole (So / Ashburn, Va.) for the Mids' fourth extra-man goal of the contest. The 4-for-4 extra-man effort by the Mids marked just the second time in program history it has gone 4-for-4 (VMI, Feb. 7, 2009).

That goal at the 10:01 mark, however, would be the Mids' last goal until 1:02 left in the game. During that span, Lehigh scored nine straight goals and built a 13-5 lead. Navy got its final goal of the day from Daniel off an assist by Patrick Skalniak (Fr / Dallas, Texas), stopping a near 24-minute drought (23:59). The Mountain Hawks, meanwhile, put a final tally on the board with an open-net goal by Eichelberger with 19.2 seconds remaining.

One of the biggest differences in the game came after the opening period when Navy's offensive possessions would be limited. After the two teams split the faceoffs (4-8) in the opening quarter, the Mids would win just one of the last 16 draws. Navy got off single-digit shots in each of the final three quarters, including just two shots in the second frame. Lehigh's Conor Gaffney won 11 of the 14 draws he took, while Mike Sisselberger was 8 for 10. Navy, meanwhile, used four different players to try to stop the Mountain Hawks' dominance at the faceoff "x", including using a long-stick midfielder.

Eichelberger led the Lehigh offense with four goals, while Mule pitched in a hat trick with three. Keeper James Spence had 11 stops for the Mountain Hawks.

Navy returns home next Saturday when it plays host to Colgate. Action is slated for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

### Go Navy ###