Despite senior midfielder Russell East extending his scoring streak to 13 games, the Virginia Military Institute men’s lacrosse team fell 18-2 at #17 Lehigh University Saturday afternoon at Ulrich Sports Complex.
VMI got its goals from East and freshman attackman Alex Hentorn, who snapped a two-game scoreless drought. Sophomore attackman Eric Groleau had the lone Keydet assist, feeding East a pass in the second quarter on the extra man.
Lehigh, which won the Patriot League title last season, had a seven-point day from David DiMaria, who had three goals and four assists. Kyle Stiefel and Dan Taylor each had four points on three goals and one assist.
Four other Mountain Hawks capped the day with three points each, with Patrick Corbett and Reid Weber scoring two goals and one assist while Chris Rinaldi logged a hat trick. Matt Smith posted one goal and two assists as Derek Bogorowski had a pair of helpers. Alex Drake scored one goal while Dante Fantoni and Alan Henderson had one assist each.
In goal, senior Matt Lindemann made 11 saves for the Keydets (0-5), but allowed 12 goals in his 45 minutes of work. Freshman Scottie Hayman spelled Lindemann for the first three minutes of the second half, but surrendered four goals. Evan Windisch saw his first career time over the final 12 minutes of the game, making two saves while allowing two goals. Lindemann suffered the loss.
The Mountain Hawks’ starting goalie Griffin Farha, made nine saves in his 50 minutes of action while Dan Carr carried Lehigh home over the final 10 minutes, making two saves and keeping VMI off the board.
It was a tough day at the faceoff X for VMI. Sophomore Gaston Ledford won just six of his 18 draws while freshman Patrick Hine went 2-5. Ty Trobridge lost his one attempt. As a team, VMI went just 8-24 while Lehigh’s Ryan Snyder was 8-9. Ryan Buttenbaum wont half of his 12 chances while Will McKee was 2-3.
Lehigh poured on the offense, taking 58 shots on the day, including 24 in the third quarter alone. VMI managed just 22 shots, led by East’s seven attempts. The Mountain Hawks out-groundballed VMI 40-28, scooping up double-digit grounders in the second and fourth quarters.
VMI cleared the ball just nine times on 16 opportunities while Lehigh was 19-22. However, the Keydets did make good on Lehigh’s lone penalty as East tallied his goal with 2:43 to go in the first half. VMI presented Lehigh with one extra man chance, but the Keydets’ man-down unit held strong and did not allow a man up goal.
After a scoreless first five minutes of the game, Lehigh’s offense came to life, rattling off seven unanswered goals. Taylor logged his hat trick during that span while Stiefel scored twice. Rinaldi and DiMaria each struck twice.
It was not until late in the second quarter before East scored his extra man chance, awarded to VMI after Lehigh’s Cody Ferraro was called for a cross check. The Mountain Hawks would strike once more before halftime, taking an 8-1 lead into the break.
Lehigh (3-2) continued its scoring ways in the second half, reeling off another eight goals to take a 16-1 lead before Hentorn scored his second career goal with 10:09 left in the fourth quarter. Weber scored twice before the game was over, giving Lehigh the edge 18-2.
VMI will hit the road one final time before playing in Lexington for the first time in 2013, but will have a nine-day respite. The Keydets head to Staten Island on Mar. 12 for a game with former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe Wagner College. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Wagner College Stadium.
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