HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Mountain Hawks tallied three unanswered goals to erase a two-goal deficit, but ultimately settled for a 4-4 draw on the road at Colgate on Wednesday night in a battle of the Patriot League’s two most recent champions. It is the first draw of the season for Lehigh, which is now 6-3-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the Patriot League, while the Raiders are now 3-7-1 overall and earned their first league point as they own a record of 0-2-1 in league play.

Mark Forrest led Lehigh with two goals on the night as he capped Lehigh’s three-goal run in the 60th minute to give LU its first lead of the night. The league’s top scorer put Lehigh in the lead again with his second tally in the 72nd minute. Colgate’s Freddy Jonsson had two tallies for Colgate as he scored the first goal of the game and netted the final equalizer in the 85th minute.

“I’m sure this was a great college soccer game from a fan’s perspective, but from a coach’s standpoint, this was a frustrating night. Scoring four goals is usually enough to win a game, but we had too many mistakes defensively which ultimately hurt us,” said head coach Dean Koski. “Its bittersweet because we come away with a point on the road against the defending league champion, but we know we were capable of coming away with three points tonight and we just could not put it together on both ends.”

Colgate had a two-goal lead within the first 11 minutes of play. Jonsson got things started in the second minute when he was left unmarked inside the 18-yard line and finished to the lower left corner. The Raiders extended the lead on a penalty kick by Jared Stroud in the 11th minute. The PK was awarded after Tuten challenged Kentaro Morrison on left side of the box. Slight contact was made at the feet, but Morrison took a tumbled which was enough to convince the referee that a foul was committed.

Facing a two-goal deficit, the Lehigh attack woke up. Oscar Greene got things started when he collected an unsettled ball and fired a shot across the goal mouth to the left corner for the tally. Blaise Milanek kept things going with a tally in the 37th minute when he collected his own rebound and finished to the upper right corner on the door step for his career goal and point.

The Mountain Hawks carried the momentum into the second half and completed the three-goal run to take their first lead of the game. Forrest cut through traffic and finished to the lower right corner from the middle of the box after he was set up by Bratislav Petkovic with the assist.

Colgate answered back in 65th minute. Uyiosa Omorogbe netted a diving header from inside the box to the upper right corner after receiving a superb cross from Stroud. Forrest put Lehigh back in the lead once again when he redirected a beautiful cross from Doyle Tuvesson from the right. Forrest set up in front of the goal on the six-yard line and managed to get enough on the Tuvesson cross to slip the ball past a diving Peter Tappenden.

Forrest nearly netted his second hat trick of the season in a one-on-one with Tappenden, but the diving Colgate keeper managed to get just a piece of Forrest’s chip shot from inside the box and deflected the shot high over the goal in the 81st minute.

Jonsson netted the equalizer in the 85th minute for Colgate to tie the game, 4-4. The big forward Slipped a shot through traffic from the right slot past a diving Will Smith.

Colgate gave Lehigh two close calls in the final minutes of regulation on corner opportunities. Matt Morana got a piece of the first shot on the end line and Omorogbe sent a header just high over the cross bar on the second attempt.

The four combined in both halves tonight is the most combined goals scored in a single half in a Lehigh game this season. The total number of goals scored is the most in a Lehigh game since the Mountain Hawks defeated Manhattan, 6-2, in 1997.

Lehigh’s 15 shots in the first half is the most in a single half this season with a 15-7 shot margin over Colgate. LU’s 31 total shots is also a season-high and the first time the Mountain Hawks reached the 30-shot mark since a 1-1 draw with Bucknell in 2015.

The Brown and White will compete in the second leg of its current three-game road trip on Saturday in a Patriot League matchup at Navy. Kickoff in Annapolis, Md. is set for 11 a.m.

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