BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's soccer team scored twice in the span of 9:19 in the second half to even the score at two, but Cornell scored just 1:19 into overtime to hand the Mountain Hawks a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat on Tuesday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Senior Mark Forrest and freshman Josh Luchini scored, but it wasn't enough. With the loss, the Mountain Hawks' three-game unbeaten streak was snapped, falling to 4-4-1 on the season while still searching for their first home victory.
 
A defensive first half saw seven combined corner kicks, but just five total shots (three for Cornell and two for Lehigh). The Big Red opened the scoring in the 28th minute as Charlie Ferguson buried a free kick into the left side of the goal to give his team a 1-0 lead.
 
Lehigh's best first-half chance came in the 31st minute as freshman Michael Tahiru's shot looked ticketed for underneath the crossbar, but Cornell goalkeeper Ryan Shellow made a sensational save.
 
The Big Red doubled their lead early in the second half. After Lehigh junior goalkeeper Will Smith made a strong stop to force a corner kick, Cornell's Vardhin Manoj gave his team a 2-0 advantage with a strike from in front of the goal.
 
The Mountain Hawks began their comeback attempt in the 62nd minute with that first goal. Playing in his first game of the season, senior Matt Morana took a shot towards goal, which Forrest redirected for his third goal of the season.
 
Less than 10 minutes later, it was Forrest who assisted on the equalizer as his cross found the foot of Luchini. The reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week scored his third goal in the last two games at the 71:18 mark.
 
"I really liked how we responded to going down two goals," said head coach Dean Koski. "I thought the adjustments we made to get back in the game were the right adjustments and I thought the guys who came in to play, finding those two goals was huge."
 
Lehigh's comeback attempt fell short in overtime, however, as Charles Touche finished a give-and-go with Emeka Eneli. Eneli's feed found Touche in the box, who fired a shot inside the left post.
 
Final shots were even at 10 while the Big Red had seven corner kicks to five for Lehigh. Smith finished with three saves for the Mountain Hawks while Shellow tallied four.
 
Defensively, Lehigh finds itself in a peculiar situation, with two key defenders injured and unable to play, forcing other players to step up in big moments.
 
Koski knows his team will need to make significant adjustments heading into Saturday's Patriot League contest with Boston University at 4 p.m.
 
"We need to figure out how we're going to line up against Boston, because with all the injuries that we have, this isn't a great time of year to make adjustments in your back four," said Koski. "If we're forced to do that, we have to figure out a way to make that work. We have to make sure the next three days are really good for us and get ready for a really good Patriot League team on the road.
 
"We have some work to do, but that's why we have 26 guys on the team."
 
Like Lehigh Men's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.

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