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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Army junior attackman Jeremy Boltus scored five points on two goals and three assists while sophomore midfielder Sean O'Sullivan added two goals and an assist to lead the Black Knights to a 9-5 victory at Lehigh, Tuesday night in Patriot League lacrosse action.
Lehigh (3-5, 0-2 PL) led 3-2 at the 13:19 mark of the second quarter but the Black Knights (3-4, 1-0 PL) would hold the Mountain Hawks socreless for the next 24 minutes while scoring seven unanswered goals to put the game out of reach.
"I felt like we did a really good job of posessing the ball in the first half. We only had three turnovers and, in terms of ball control and scoring opportunities, that could have been our best half of the year offensively," said Army head coach Joe Alberici. "Lehigh turned up the pressure in the second half and things got a little more chaotic, but we were able to come up with some big ground balls and create some unsettled situations which was real positive for us. I'm really proud of our guys' effort and execution. Lehigh is a tough team and it was a great win on the road against a well-coached, quality team."
Lehigh got on the board first as sophomore midfielder Roman Lao-Gonsey scored from five yards away at the 9:49 mark. Army would respond with two goals of its own by O'Sullivan, first with a 12-yard bouncer at 7:01 and a 15-yard rip at 2:36 as the Black Knights held the one-goal edge after the first quarter.
Lehigh would start the second quarter with two straight goals in a 32-second span to retake the lead 3-2 at the 13:17 mark. Sophomore midfielder Cameron Lao-Gonsey scored on a low liner fro 15 yards out, before sophomore attackman Adam Johnston bounced home a man-up tally from eight yards away.
Army would take over from there as sophomore LSM Tim Henderson rifled a shot on goal that just dribbled behind Lehigh freshman goalkeeper Dan Carr at the 8:58 to start the string of seven unanswered Black Knight goals. Senior attackman Tyler Oates scored on a 15-yard laser off an O'Sullivan feed at 7:22 before back-to-back goals by freshman attackman Garrett Thul put the visitors up 6-3 at halftime. Thul finished off some pretty Black Knight passing on a man-up attempt at the 4:50 mark before netting a behind-the-back tally at 3:49.
While the Black Knight defense pitched a shutout in the third quarter, a goal by senior attackman Tyler Seymour off a feed from Boltus at 9:20, followed by a pair of goals by Boltus put Army up 9-3 after three quarters of play. Boltus' first tally came as he dove in front of the Lehigh crease at 4:10, before his second punctuated a transition goal off a pass from Thul with 37 seconds left in the quarter.
Lehigh would break its scoring drought with a man-up tally by Johnston 51 seconds into the fourth quarter, but Army would control the ball for most of the period while senior goalie Tom Palesky made five of his 14 saves to salt the win away. Lehigh freshman attackman Dante Fantoni would tally with 25 seconds remaining for the final score of the game.
BLACK KNIGHT NOTES: Army improved to 19-3 in 22 all-time meetings with Lehigh ... the four-goal scoring differential broke a string of four straight one-goal games between the two conference rivals, including a 13-12 double-overtime win by Lehigh last March at Michie Stadium ... junior attackman Jeremy Boltus' five-point effort moved him into 21st place on Army's all-time scoring list with 111 points to date. He also moved into 12th place on the career assist list with 61 ... Army held Lehigh over four goals under its season average as the Mountain Hawks were ranked third in the Patriot League with a 9.86 scoring average ... senior captain Alex Gephart led the Black Knights on the field before the game carrying the American Flag ... Army will play its final non-conference game of the season next Tuesday at Hofstra in a 7:00 p.m. faceoff in Hempstead, N.Y.
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