BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s soccer team and defending Patriot League champion No. 23 Navy played to a double-overtime 1-1 draw Wednesday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Sophomore Gianfranco Giammatteo scored the first goal of the game in the 53rd minute before Navy evened the score just four minutes later. Lehigh senior keeper Ciaran Nugent made a career-high nine saves between the pipes as the Mountain Hawks snapped Navy’s six-game winning streak.  The Mountain Hawks move to 3-3-1 in league play and 8-7-1 overall while Navy moves to 5-1-1 in the league and 10-4-3.

 

“We played a really good team tonight,” said head coach Dean Koski. “While I’ll certainly never be satisfied with a draw, I think it was a fair result for both sides today.  I thought we worked hard and there were a lot of ebbs and flows out there.”

 

Lehigh had the first good opportunity of the game just over two minutes in when freshman Doyle Tuvesson made a crafty play in the box to send a pass to junior Jamie Luchini at the corner of Navy’s six-yard box, but Luchini wasn’t able to get a foot on the ball to fire off a shot.  Just four minutes later, sophomore Danny Gonzalez beat the Navy defense and sent a pristine cross to Luchini who put the ball past Mids keeper Jackson Morgan before being called offside as the score remained 0-0.

 

The game’s first official shot came in the 11th minute on an attempt from Navy’s Thomas Shiiba as Nugent made a diving save. Less than two minutes later, Shiiba was in another one-on-one position with Nugent, but the keeper stepped up to make another outstanding stop. The eventful start to the game continued in the 15th minute when senior Ali Famili connected on a rebound off a Luchini free kick, but Famili’s shot was just inches short as it ricocheted off the right post.

 

The action slowed down a bit through the middle of the half as each team was able to register a few shots, but none proved to be superior opportunities until a 33rd-minute attempt from Luchini that bounced off the post. The Mids threatened in the 38th minute as Navy was set up with a free kick just outside of Lehigh’s 18-yard box, but Nugent defended the kick well and came out to grab the ball and keep the Mids off the board before the game entered halftime scoreless.

 

Navy came out firing in the second half, rifling off five shots in the first seven minutes, but Nugent was there to stop the one that was on goal. The Mountain Hawks answered with a counter attack in the 53rd minute as Giamatteo took a pass from Famili and Luchini and sent it into the lower left-hand corner of the net past the diving Morgan to put Lehigh up 1-0.

 

Less than four minutes later, Navy’s Sam Bascom scored an equalizer on an unassisted goal that soared right into the upper right-hand corner of the net as Navy tied the game at one 56:36 into the contest. The Mids threatened with six shots over a seven minute span starting in the 62nd minute, but couldn’t find the go-ahead goal. The Mountain Hawks had a few more chances of their own before regulation ended in a flurry as Nugent made his seventh save of the net to hold off Navy and send the game to overtime.

 

The teams exchanged possession for much of the first overtime period until Navy’s Brock Dudley took a long-range shot, but Nugent was there to make the save. Lehigh closed out the first OT with three shots and a corner kick, but couldn’t find the back of the net. The Mountain Hawks outshot the Mids 4-2 in the final ten minute overtime period, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

 

Navy finished with a 25-19 shot advantage and Lehigh held a 6-3 corner kick edge.

 

The Mountain Hawks close out the regular season with two away league games as the team will look to secure a spot in the Patriot League Tournament. After tonight’s results, Lehigh is now tied for fourth place with Bucknell. Lehigh heads to Colgate Saturday at 4 p.m. before traveling to Holy Cross a week later. Both contests can be viewed for free on the Patriot League Network.