EASTON, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s soccer team fell in a tough 2-0 battle Wednesday night at Lafayette’s Mike Bourger Field. The defeat marks Lehigh’s first Patriot League loss of the season as the Mountain Hawks fall to 2-1 in the league and 6-4 overall, while Lafayette improves to 4-5-2 overall and 1-2 in the Patriot League.

“Good teams have bad days and today we had a bad day,” said head coach Dean Koski. “We’re disappointed in the result. We didn’t play disciplined, thoughtful soccer. We’ll work on correcting some things for the rest of the week as we get ready for Boston University on Saturday.”

A cross from freshman Doyle Tuvesson found the foot of classmate Jack Miskel just two minutes into the game, but Miskel’s ball scurried right into the hands of Lafayette keeper Sandy Leavy. Just two minutes later, junior Austin Decker dribbled his way around the defense, but got tangled up and couldn’t get a strong foot on the ball as it rolled slowly across the goal and bounced off the post.

Lafayette countered with an attack down field, as Ryan Dodds was able to connect on a pass from Greg Biggiani and put the Leopards up 1-0 in the sixth minute.

Neither team tallied a shot until the 17th minute when Brian Suchoski put one on goal, but Leavy was there to make his third save of the young game. Following two more shots from the Mountain Hawks, Nugent made his first save of the contest in the 28th minute on a shot from Biggiani. Defenses stood tall for the remainder of the half, which saw two yellow cards and the ejection of Lafayette’s head coach, as the Leopards took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.

A Lafayette foul presented Lehigh with its first good opportunity of the second half in the 52nd minute as junior Jamie Luchini was set up with a free kick  just outside the right-hand corner of the Leopards’ 18-yard box. Senior Ali Famili was able to get his head on the ball, but it was sent right into Leavy’s hands. A Lehigh foul just a few minutes later set up a Lafayette free kick 30 yards out as Eric West connected on the set piece from Daniel Feldman to give the Leopards a 2-0 lead in the 55th minute.

Nugent made a strong save in the 71st minute as Lafayette’s Alec Golini had an open shot from the top of the 18. Lehigh threatened in the 79th minute as senior Matt Shreiner nearly chipped a ball in, but Leavy deflected it with his feet on a diving save. The Mountain Hawks got off one more shot and a pair of corner kicks before time expired and Lafayette claimed the 2-0 victory.

Lehigh finished the game with a 10-9 shot advantage. Nugent made two saves compared to Leavy’s seven.

The Mountain Hawks return home Saturday to face Boston University at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be viewed for free on the Patriot League Network.

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