Men’s Lax Wins Wild 12-11 Affair at Lehigh to Start Patriot League Play

Saturday, February 28

Bethlehem, Pa.

11 a.m.

Bucknell University

5-1, 1-0

Lehigh

2-3, 0-1

Bucknell

Lehigh

Photo by: Steven Schoenfelder

Men’s Lax Wins Wild 12-11 Affair at Lehigh to Start Patriot League Play

2/28/2026 2:02:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Will Hopkins finished a Sean Berrigan feed for the go-ahead goal with 2:53 to play, and defenseman Will Pickering broke up a pass on Lehigh's final possession to lift the Bucknell men's lacrosse team to a frantic 12-11 win over Lehigh on Saturday at the Ulrich Sports Complex.

The Bison improved to 5-1 overall with a win on the opening day of Patriot League play. It was a wild one, as Bucknell built a 7-3 lead only to fall behind 9-7 before rallying late. The game featured six goals in the final 7:22, with Bucknell scoring four of those.

Berrigan, Luke Brunner, and Sean Murray all scored tying goals in that final stretch, and then after a big faceoff win from Colin McLoy, Hopkins cut down the left channel and scored off Berrigan's pass for what proved to be the winning tally.

HOP FOR THE LEAD! #rayBucknell

Watch: https://t.co/zmCkbvvNaQ @ESPN | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/csMu26ZXWm
— Bucknell Men's Lax (@Bucknell_MLAX) February 28, 2026

Lehigh took possession with 54 seconds left after forcing a turnover, but Pickering broke up a pass to the right wing, and long scramble near the sideline was last touched by the Mountain Hawks. Pickering's long fling downfield with 35 seconds left resulted in another scrum, and again the ball went out off a Lehigh player. The Bison were able to play keep-away for the last 22 seconds to beat Lehigh by one goal for the second straight year.

Michael Meyer recorded three goals with an assist to get him to the 20-goal mark in only six games. Brunner also had a hat trick, and Berrigan enjoyed a five-point day with two goals and three assists. Luke Renaud got the start in goal and tallied 10 saves to improve to 2-0 on the season. Finn Morgan paced the Mountain Hawks with four goals and two assists, and goalie Kasey Heath had 15 saves, including a flurry of tough ones to help spark Lehigh's third-quarter run.

Meyer and Grandolfo scored in the game's first five minutes to stake the Bison to an early lead, but they were held off the board for the next 15 minutes. Lehigh jumped ahead 3-2 on a Peter Theodoropoulos goal three minutes into the second quarter, but the Bison dominated the final 10 minutes of the half.

Brunner's rip from the right flank off a feed from Hopkins ignited a four-goal Bucknell run. Meyer scored 55 seconds later to give the Bison a 4-3 lead, and later in the period Berrigan fed Owen Kovacs on the crease, and then Berrigan scored himself of a beautiful assist from Murray.

Renaud made a brilliant point-blank save with 3:40 left in the half to send Bucknell to the locker room with a 6-3 lead.

Meyer completed his hat trick with a fastbreak goal off a Jack Tully run-out to make it 7-3, and then Meyer had a point-blank shot snuffed out by Heath on the doorstep. That would be a common theme, as Heath made two more highlight reel saves on Kovacs later in the quarter, and the Mountain Hawks quickly got back in the game.

Luke Winkler scored two in a row surrounding a Grandolfo goal that was waved off after a discussion among the officials. Morgan tied the game with 1:30 to go in the third, and then after Heath denied Kovacs in the final seconds, Morgan beat the buzzer in transition to give the Mountain Hawks an 8-7 lead.

Lehigh went up 9-7 on Theodorakas's goal 57 seconds into the fourth period. Brunner scored a big one at the 11:04 mark to stop Lehigh's six-goal surge, and then Berrigan tied it at 9-9 with an unassisted marker. Morgan answered just nine seconds later just after the draw, but Brunner beat Heath 5-hole on extra-man to make it 10-10 with 4:33 to go.

Bucknell was flagged for a trip on the next faceoff, and Luke Winkler converted to put Lehigh back in front. Only 40 seconds after that, Murray beat his man on the left flank and scored in traffic to make it 11-11 with 3:14 to go. Hopkins go-ahead tally was the game's fourth goal in a span of just 1:50, and it held up as the winner.

Bucknell outshot Lehigh 38-33 and won the ground ball battle 31-24. McLoy was terrific at the X, winning 15 of 24 with five ground balls. Pickering and long-stick midfielder John Young also collected five ground balls apiece.

The Bison are back on the road next Saturday at Navy at noon.