A little over a month ago, Lehigh was 4-6 and coming off back-to-back losses to Loyola and Princeton. Fast forward a month and the Mountain Hawks have won six straight games, culminating with an 11-10 victory over Boston University on Sunday to capture the Patriot League championship.
This gritty Lehigh team under first-year head coach Will Scudder is used to defying the odds, so a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter on Sunday was no big deal.
The comeback started with star attackman Scott Cole netting his first goal of the game with 11:03 to play. The goal was the 129th of his career, setting the school record.
Dakota Eirman got Lehigh to within a goal with 7:52 to play and Andrew Kelly’s man-up goal following some crisp passing tied the game with 5:14 left.
Quinn Armstrong then scored the game-winner with a left-handed rip from the right wing with 1:29 to play.
Lehigh won the ensuing faceoff on a violation and Cole ran out a majority of the clock despite BU pressing out, but the Mountain Hawks eventually turned it over to give BU a final chance.
Boston U’s Jake Cates weaved through traffic to create an opening, but Lehigh’s Zach Mesa jumped up and partially deflected Cates shot wide.
Armstrong and Eirman each had three goals for Lehigh and Kelly had two goals and two assists.
Lehigh won despite committing 21 turnovers in the game.
“We may not be the prettiest or the most disciplined, but we'll get the job done,” said Armstrong on an interview on CBS Sports Network following the game.
Brenden Kelly had three goals for BU and Vince D’Alto had three assists. The Terriers finished the season 10-7 and its last six games were decided by a single goal.
