Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Stuns First-Place Lehigh, 12-10

Saturday, April 20

Bethlehem, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

5-8, 3-4PL

Lehigh

8-6, 5-2PL

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Bucknell	5	1	3	3	12
Lehigh	2	3	4	1	10

Photo by: Phil Puccio

Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Stuns First-Place Lehigh, 12-10

4/20/2019 2:33:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Christian Klipstein made 15 saves, and Tommy Sopko and Will Yorke each posted five points on a hat trick and two assists, to lift the Bucknell men's lacrosse team to a 12-10 victory over first-place Lehigh on Saturday at the Ulrich Sports Complex.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Bison (5-8, 3-4 Patriot League) and Mountain Hawks (8-6, 5-2 Patriot League) were locked in a 9-9 tie. After the teams traded goals to make it a 10-10 game, Ryan Durkin netted what proved to be the game-winning goal with 10:13 left to play.

In the three minutes following Durkin's go-ahead goal, Klipstein came up with three crucial saves. First, he denied Conor Gaffney on a bid following a clean faceoff win. Then, after two Bison turnovers extended Lehigh's possession, he turned aside point-blank shots by Ryan Klose and Crew Cintron.

With 3:57 remaining, Klipstein denied Lucas Spence to keep Bucknell up by one. Just over a minute later, Reed Malas rang a shot off the post that was collected by Alston Tarry; Tarry ultimately beat James Spence to give the Bison a two-goal cushion entering the final minutes. Klipstein later stopped back-to-back shots by Andrew Eichelberger and Alex Tumminello to seal the victory, which kept Bucknell alive in the Patriot League Tournament race.

That winning feeling. 🙌

There's nothing like knocking off your rival when they're in first place. #rayBucknell pic.twitter.com/svhiUTMlOa
— Bucknell Men's Lax (@Bucknell_MLAX) April 20, 2019

With his five points, Sopko matched his career-high total. Beyond Sopko and Yorke, six Bison found the back of the net; Malas notably registered the 50th goal of his collegiate career early in the second quarter. For Lehigh, Mickey Fitzpatrick posted a game-best six points on equal totals of goals and assists.

The Bison got off to a strong start, building a 5-1 lead in the first 11 minutes of the first quarter. During that hot streak, Sopko completed a hat trick in just over a three-minute window; his first goal, a sprawling strike from in close, opened the game's scoring. Matthew Barkauskas and Yorke also collected two points apiece, each netting a goal and assisting on a Sopko tally.

But the Lehigh defense regrouped, holding Bucknell to a single goal in the next 21 minutes. Over that span, the Mountain Hawks found the back of the net four times. With 14 seconds remaining before the intermission, Tommy Schelling finished off a L. Spence feed to send his team to the locker room down by just one, at 6-5.

The third quarter was an entertaining, back-and-forth affair. After Lehigh evened the score at 6-6 with 13:10 on the clock, Yorke netted goals at the 7:26 and 5:44 marks to give the Bison an 8-6 edge; his second strike came off a bounce shot that sailed just under the crossbar.

Less than one minute later, the Mountain Hawks responded with a tic-tac-toe goal to trim Bucknell's lead to 8-7. The Bison went back up by two at the 2:16 mark after Matt Fedorjaka picked off a pass in the defensive end; Fedorjaka sent long pole Conor Shears ahead on a breakaway, and Shears beat J. Spence cleanly for his first collegiate goal.

Just when it looked like Bucknell would carry a two-goal advantage into the final frame, Lehigh struck twice in the final 50 seconds to make it a 9-9 game. As they did in the second quarter, the Mountain Hawks beat the buzzer, with Tumminello notching the equalizer with just 10 seconds on the clock.

Shears filled the stat sheet, netting his first collegiate goal and logging four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Fedorjaka and Bryant Boswell also caused multiple turnovers while Malas collected a team-best six ground balls.

The Mountain Hawks held advantages in shots (45-37), shots on goal (25-20) and faceoffs (17-25). The Bison led in ground balls, 36-34, and turned the ball over two fewer times, at 21-19. Lehigh's strong faceoff play could be attributed to Gaffney, an Inside Lacrosse Mid-Season All-American who entered the game with a .698 faceoff percentage good for third nationally.

The Bison next host Colgate for Senior Night on Friday, April 26 at 7 p.m. Like today's game at Lehigh, that regular-season finale will be televised on CBS Sports Network.