You often hear teams say they’re a family, competing alongside their brothers.
That couldn’t be more true for the Lehigh men’s lacrosse team, whose camaraderie and togetherness allowed them to fight through early-season adversity and a 1-3 start to win five straight games.
It’s also true because there are literally two sets of brothers on the Mountain Hawks, including Lucas and James Spence – an attackman and goaltender separated by two years who are two of the primary drivers of the Mountain Hawks’ recent success.
In Lehigh’s five-game winning streak, Lucas has 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) while James has stopped more than 60 percent of the shots sent his way, twice making a career-high 17 saves (at Rutgers and at Navy) and winning Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week three times in March.
“It has always been fun playing with a sibling,” said Lucas, a senior while James is a sophomore. “It’s an interesting dynamic. Your teammates are your brothers, but literally one is my blood relative. I’m with James 365 days a year, between lacrosse and going home, family vacations and bus trips.”
A bus trip to Colgate preceded the Mountain Hawks’ turnaround. Early in the year, the team faced hardship, primarily due to injuries – none bigger than losing leading returning scorer Andrew Pettit for the season. In February games at Virginia and Cornell, Lehigh took leads into the third and fourth quarters, respectively, but fell just short.
“It was a gut check,” said Lucas. “But then, the Colgate win happened along with taking down Army and Rutgers within days. It was huge for us, especially being down at Rutgers and having a surge at the end of the game to close out that win (Lehigh outscored the Scarlet Knights 8-2 over the final 18:10 of the contest).”
Lehigh’s success has come with Lucas’ returning to the lineup after missing two games himself due to injury.
The Mountain Hawks have rallied together with a “next man up” attitude. This past Saturday at Navy, Lucas had four goals and two assists, including a backhand dive from behind the net, a highlight-reel goal among numerous outlets’ national plays of the week.
But perhaps the goal that describes Lucas, and the 2019 Mountain Hawks, the most came later in the third quarter. After a Navy shot was blocked, the ball found its way towards midfield. Amidst a scrum, Lucas corralled the groundball and made a beeline to the goal, finding the back of the net while falling down.
“We pride ourselves on winning groundball battles every game,” said Lucas. “Outwork our opponents on the little plays to make the big plays easier.”
The Mountain Hawks stand top five nationally in not only groundballs per game, but also faceoff percentage and scoring defense. While Lucas is scoring and assisting goals, James is stopping them – something he’s been doing since the second grade.
“Midway through Lucas’ season, their goalie got hurt. My dad was the coach and asked me to step in,” said James. “I was a second grader going against fourth graders. Once I hit sixth grade, I started focusing on being a goalie.”
That has proven to be a good decision.
After a freshman year at Lehigh which saw James start 16-of-17 games with a 9.03 goals against average and 49.8 save percentage, he is upping his game as a sophomore in 2019. It has brought back memories of his high school days at Springfield (Pa.).
“James had great moments at Springfield, but he was still a freshman,” said Lucas. “Sophomore year, he made a huge jump and we won a district championship. I feel like he’s playing with as much confidence now as he did back then. When he’s playing with confidence, he’s one of the best goalies in the nation.”
In Lehigh’s five-game winning streak, Spence has made 11, 10, 17, seven and 17 saves as the Mountain Hawks beat Colgate (10-8), Army West Point (11-8), Rutgers (13-10), Lafayette (15-7) and Navy (15-8). The first three wins came vs. ranked opponents, all coming in the span of 11 days.
“Our defense is playing unbelievably right now and they’re giving me the easy shots to save,” said James. “I give all credit to them and the coaches.”
Connections with coaches, Coach (Kevin) Cassese and Coach (Will) Scudder helped originally bring Lucas to Lehigh.
Now, there has become a Spence-to-Lehigh pipeline. After Lucas graduates this May, younger brother Jack will join Lehigh men’s lacrosse next fall. The Spences also have an older sister, Autumn, who played lacrosse at Washington College.
“When I was little, my parents would say your brothers and sister are going to be your best friends, but you don’t believe them,” said James. “As you get older, you realize we share the same interests. We all love sports and we all love competing with each other. That competitive mindset makes us closer every day.”
Competition drives Lucas Spence, James Spence and the Mountain Hawks. It’s part of Lehigh Lacrosse’s DNA.
“Every time I go on the field, I want to prove something,” said James. “I want to prove that we’re a team to mess with."
“Everyone has been very focused this year, but we want to make sure we don’t get complacent,” said Lucas. “A 6-3 record is great, but we want a lot more.”