BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For the Lehigh men's soccer team, the scene shifts back to Bethlehem as the Mountain Hawks are on a mission to find that elusive first home win, this time against two-time defending Patriot League champion and 20th-ranked Colgate at 7 p.m. at the Ulrich Sports Complex on Wednesday night.
 
Lehigh has been the best road team in the Patriot League by far this season, sporting a 5-1 record, undefeated away from Pennsylvania since the first match of the season against UConn. However, all-in-all, the Mountain Hawks have struggled at home with a 0-3-1 record despite playing well as of late, going 3-1-1 in their last five matches.
 
Lehigh bested Boston University on the road on Saturday, 2-1 in OT after dropping Tuesday's home meeting to Cornell, who entered the national coaches' poll at 24th overall this week, 3-2 in overtime.
 
The Mountain Hawks are led by Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week Mark Forrest, who scored twice with two assists last week in two games. In the victory over BU, junior Matthew Peralta scored the golden goal in the 93rd minute.
 
The offense that the team has displayed in the previous three games is something that has changed quite a bit as the season progresses. The Mountain Hawks have scored seven goals in their last three games after scoring just six goals in their previous seven games combined. The strong defensive efforts and shutouts from junior Will Smith haven't been seen as much since a 0-0 draw with Penn on Sept. 15, but the offense has exploded against more competitive teams, especially in Patriot League play.
 
Forrest leads the Mountain Hawks in almost every offensive category now, including assists (5), points (13), and shots (26) and is tied for the team-lead in goals with four. Notably, Forrest is currently just five points away from his 100th career point, and 12 points from passing Andrew Mittendorf (1995-98) as Lehigh's and the Patriot League's all-time points leader.
 
On Wednesday, the Mountain Hawks face their toughest test of the year in No. 20 Colgate, who visits Bethlehem with a 5-1-4 overall record, including a 1-0-1 Patriot League record. The Raiders are coming off a 3-0 shutout win over Army West Point and two straight scoreless draws to Loyola and Syracuse. Colgate is statistically led by senior forward Abdel Sanogo, who's scored a team-leading three goals, six points, and leads the team with seven shots on goal despite coming off the bench in all eight of his appearances this season. Patriot League Rookie of the Week Ryan Krueger has scored twice in eight games, starting only once.
 
In net, Colgate junior goalkeeper Jacob Harris is ranked second in the Patriot League in goals against average at 0.73, second in save percentage with 0.826 and second behind only Will Smith in shutouts with four so far.
 
Colgate leads the all-time series against Lehigh 15-12-2, as the Mountain Hawks and Raiders tied 4-4 on Oct. 4 of last season in Hamilton, N.Y.
 
Wednesday's match will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
 
Like Lehigh Men's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.

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