WEST POINT, N.Y. — A goal by Dakota Eierman with 5:49 left in the 3rd quarter sparked a 6-0 run by second-seeded Lehigh (9-6, 6-2 Patriot League), as the Mountain Hawks earned a 12-8 victory over third-seeded Navy (9-7, 5-3 PL) Friday evening in the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Semifinals played at Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y.

A physical opening quarter saw 5 penalties called against the two teams leading to 3 extra-man goals. Three of the 5 goals scored in the first frame were scored a man up, including Henry Tolker's (Jr / A / Catonsville, Md.) goal off a Max Hewitt (Sr / M / Denver, Colo.) assist just under 3 minutes into the contest.

The two teams would trade goals with the Mids getting the final strike in the first quarter thanks to a perfectly executed transition game. Four-time All-Patriot League defenseman Jackson Bonitz (Sr / Shrewsbury, Pa.) and First-Team All-Patriot League long-stick midfielder AJ Marsh (Fr / Reisterstown, Md.) traded passes before Marsh powered his shot past Lehigh goalkeeper Nick Pecora in what was his second-career goal.

Lehigh took its first lead in the game when Scott Cole and Quinn Armstrong scored back-to-back goals to push the Mountain Hawks to a 4-3 advantage with 8:52 to go in the second quarter.

Navy leveled the game three minutes later when Jon Jarosz (Sr / A / Gambrills, Md.) took the ball from behind the cage on a restart and curled around the left side of the goal to post his 14th goal of the year.

Lehigh, however, would take a 5-4 lead into the halftime break when Grant Rodny spun off the Navy defender and found the back of the net.

Midway through the third quarter, the Midshipmen tied the game (5-5) when Xavier Arline (Sr / A / Wading River, N.Y.) drew the slide and found an open Carter Ash (Jr / A / Leesburg, Va.) on the crease.

Just 49 seconds later, Eierman got a step on his defender and ripped a shot from 12 yards on the run to spark a 6-0 run and give the Mountain Hawks an 11-5 advantage with 5:37 remaining in the contest.

Navy would go on to score 3 of the final 4 goals in the game - all on extra-man - but it would not be enough as Lehigh secured the four-goal win.

Turnovers would be the biggest culprit in Navy's loss, as the Mids turned the ball over just 6 times in the opening half, but had 10 over the final 30 minutes.

Six players accounted for Navy's 8 goals, including Tolker who recorded 5th hat trick of the season and 14th of his career. With his goal with 44 seconds left in the game, Tolker became the 38th player in school history to reach 100-career points and the second this season (Max Hewitt).

Defensively, Second-Team All-Patriot League goalkeeper Dan Daly (So / Wayne, N.J.) made 7 saves, while Bonitz and fellow starting defenseman Ian McGullam (Jr / Centerport, N.Y.) recorded 2 caused turnovers apiece. Bonitz finished his career with 79-career takeaways, the second most in school history, while his 29 caused turnovers this season tie as the third most in a Navy single season.

Lehigh edged out the Mids in the faceoff column 13-11, while Patriot League Rookie of the Year Zach Hayashi (Fr / North Potomac, Md.) finished the game winning 11 of the 22 draws he took. He closed out his first season setting program records in single-season wins (214), freshman wins (214), freshman attempts (372), single-season ground balls (105) and freshman ground balls (105). Additionally, his 214 faceoff wins tied as the 10th most in Patriot League history.

Lehigh was led by Scott Cole, who tied the program's career goals record (128) with his hat trick, while All-Patriot League defenseman Richard Checo was phenomenal, recording 8 caused turnovers which is just 1 off the NCAA single-game record.

Second-seeded Lehigh will play fourth-seeded Boston U. in Sunday's Patriot League Championship Game. The Terriers knocked off top-seeded Army in overtime 11-10 in the evening's first semifinal contest.

### Go Navy ###