Lehigh, Army play to scoreless draw

October 5, 2019

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Despite out-shooting the opposition 15-10, neither team's offense was able to put a ball through to the back of the net as the Lehigh men's soccer team played Army West Point to a scoreless draw on a chilly Saturday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Mountain Hawks' (7-2-1, 3-0-1 PL) win streak comes to an end at four straight victories, but remains unbeaten in league play and gains a point to remain atop the Patriot League standings.

Lehigh managed to get 15 shots off through the 110 minutes of action, but only two were considered to be on goal, as the Mountain Hawks and Black Knights were tied in that category. Army led Lehigh in shots, 6-4 at the end of the first half before the Mountain Hawks out-shot Army, 8-1 in the second. In the 45th minute, the Black Knights managed their first shot on goal when a John Poncy chance was saved by Will Smith in the closing seconds.

45'| Here's a look at Will Smith's great save in the final minute of the first half to send this game into halftime scoreless. Watch: https://t.co/7jRjNNurJY pic.twitter.com/IqfcqcjGqb
— Lehigh Men's Soccer (@LehighMSoccer) October 5, 2019

Lehigh's best chance in the second half was a Trevor Koski shot that was saved by Jacob Suppiah in the 54th minute. The Mountain Hawks managed to get off five more shots, but were unable to convert.

Heading into overtime for just the second time this season, Army West Point had a chance for Oscar Perreira that was saved by Smith in the 95th minute. Natan Rosen responded with a shot on goal in the 100th minute that was saved by Suppiah to send the teams to a second overtime period.

95' | Will Smith with the stop and we play on. Watch: https://t.co/7jRjNNurJY pic.twitter.com/izaIBGaGoz
— Lehigh Men's Soccer (@LehighMSoccer) October 6, 2019

Neither team was able to tally a shot on goal in the second OT, but the Black Knights had chances in the 106th minute from D'Anthony Brown and Keenan O'Shea in the 108th minute. Jack Sarkos represented Lehigh's last hope in the 110th minute, but his shot attempt ended up going just a little bit high. Both team's defenses prevailed in the end and held on for the 0-0 scoreless draw.

"I don't think we played at our best, but I don't think we did anything to earn more than the result we got tonight," said head coach Dean Koski. "Having said that, I thought that we were solid defensively, we created chances more in the second half than in the first. You might only get a couple good looks in a game like this, but it wasn't a frustrating game in any way, it was just game where walk off and feel like it was a fair result, but it's two teams that worked really hard."

Of the team's 15 total shots, Koski led the way with four, followed by Alex Greene (3) and Rosen (2), while Justin Scharf, Zarin Tuten, Stevo Bednarsky, Tyler Dressman, Dominic Flowers and Sarkos each recorded one shot.

Senior goalkeeper Will Smith recorded two saves and picked up his fourth shutout of the season. Smith now has 19 shutouts on his career.

"I think Will continues to want to work on his decision making and communication," said Koski. "I thought he was good tonight in doing that and I think we were fortunate when the one ball hit the crossbar, but I think other than that, our backs and Will did a really nice job."

The Mountain Hawks will play another mid-week non-league contest, this time on the road to Washington, D.C. to take on No. 5 Georgetown. This will be Lehigh's first matchup against a nationally ranked opponent since taking on No. 20 Colgate last season.

"I think any time we can play top 25 teams in our non-league schedule, it's good for our program," Koski said. "It's good for our players and matures us in ways we need to get better at for league play and it also prepares us for if we are fortunate enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, the kinds of teams we are going to face.

"So I think in many ways, this is a good game for us to be playing."

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