Johnny Victory's post-game notes: Lehigh v. NJIT
Every week our Johnny on the Spot, Johnny Victory, will endeavor to bring you the results from a selected game, just in case you haven't gotten quite enough. If you are looking for a blow-by-blow account of what went down, sorry, you won't find that here; too boring. Additionally, with the internet being what it is nowadays, if you really wanted to watch the game, you probably did. What we will give you, however, are concise thoughts and impressions from each game in a timely manner. Typically in less time than it takes the other guys to write their blow-by-blow game recaps.
This week we kick things off with Lehigh and NJIT.
If you are a fan of offensive lacrosse, the Lehigh/NJIT matchup Saturday in Bethlehem likely didn’t set you all atwitter. In just its third full season as a varsity sport, scrappy NJIT hung tough with Lehigh for two quarters before finally succumbing, 13-7. Clearly determined not to repeat last year where Lehigh raced out to a 5-0 lead before crushing the Highlanders 21-4, NJIT took advantage of its limited opportunities Saturday afternoon in Bethlehem but it wasn’t enough. As was to be expected, the offensive pace was slow and laboring early as neither team was particularly sharp and both tried to work off the rust in their respective season openers.
This game was over when: The teams came out of the locker room after halftime. After a slow first half, Lehigh came out ripped off four unanswered goals. The goal that truly turned the tide came at 13:25 from Lehigh A/M Andrew Pettit. With NJIT looking to convert on an extra-man opportunity, Pettit took advantage of an NJIT turnover and tallied a transition marker. Once the onslaught started, it was clear NJIT had done about all it could to stem the tide but was out of gas. Lehigh was simply too much from that point on. As they had in the first half, the Highlanders hung tough but were simply outmatched.
Offensive POG: Lehigh attackman Mickey Fitzpatrick had a nice game. The junior from Boston, who only had three goals all of last season, used quick feet and hands and nose for the goal to tie his output from all of year with 3 goals on 4 shots.
Defensive POG: Lehigh goalie James Spence who made 9 saves on 19 shots. More importantly, however, he only gave up two goals after the break and stopped seven of 10 shots in the second and third quarters.
Stat(s) of the game: Lehigh sophomore Connor Gaffney was 18 of 25 on faceoffs and had 12 groundballs. Lehigh won the ground ball matchup 41-25 and caused 9 turnovers to just 3 for NJIT.
Matchup of the game: Lehigh had a decided advantage at the faceoff circle with Gaffney, who ranked eighth in the nation FO efficiency last year (.610) returning. NJIT, however, had sophomore Adam Gonzalez in his first year taking face offs. While Gaffney easily won the war, Gonzalez hung in there and won a few battles against the much more experienced Gaffney.
Trend of the game: Four unanswered goals by Lehigh to start the second half. Senior middie Ian Strain fueled the charge with three straight assists during the run.
ICYMI (and you probably did): Both John Mehok tallies for Lehigh were celebrated by “Johnny B Good” playing on the PA system. Original. In that vein, every goal by Fitzpatrick, who actually hails from Duxbury, Mass., was celebrated by the Dropkick Murphy’s “I’m shipping up to Boston.”
ICYMI2: Alex Tumminello, who played sparsely on Maryland’s national championship team last year, saw action at middie for Lehigh after transferring in the summer.
Brother act: Both James Spence and his brother Lucas, a junior A/M had nice games for the Mountain Hawks. Aside from James’ solid game in the goal, Lucas had a goal and an assist.
3 orange slices: Lehigh A/M Andrew Pettit, 3 G and 2 A.
2 orange slices: Lehigh A/M John Mehok 2 goals on 3 shots and 1 assist.
1 orange slice: NJIT A Cole Robillard 2 goals on 3 shots and 1 assist; NJIT M Ryan Darrow, 2 goals on 4 shots and 1 assist.