Lehigh Battles No. 12 Vermont to 2-1 Decision

Saturday, September 9

Burlington, Vt.

6:00 p.m.

Lehigh University

0-3-2, 0-0-0

#12 Vermont

4-1-0, 0-0-0

Lehigh

Vermont

Lehigh Battles No. 12 Vermont to 2-1 Decision

9/9/2023 9:48:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

BURLINGTON, VT. - Lehigh men's soccer battled hard against No. 12 Vermont, but were ultimately defeated 2-1 Saturday night at Virtue Field.

"I was pleased with our competitive performance, our energy and our fight," said head coach Dean Koski. "I thought this was one of our best games that we played so far as a group. I think we certainly went toe-to-toe with a really good team who is more mature, older and more experienced than we are. More than half of our team are first-years and sophomores, so the positives are we can compete against one of the better teams that we might see all season."

Lehigh is now 0-3-2, while Vermont is 4-1.

'There are no moral victories, so we're not celebrating a loss, and we want to take that in stride, but we certainly know we can build from this," Koski said.

Vermont opened the scoring in the 23rd minute on an own goal by the Mountain Hawks. The Catamounts were rewarded a free kick, and Lehigh knocked it in. It was originally called offsides, but because the Mountain Hawks had the last touch on the ball, it was called a goal for Vermont.

"I don't agree with that call, but we have to deal with it and move on, and we did," Koski said. "The net of it all for us is we can take a lot of positives from this one."

Lehigh found the equalizer less than two minutes later.

In the 24th minute, Thomas Robertson found an open Beckett Wenger on the right side of the field, and Wenger was able to knock it in. That goal marked the first collegiate goal for the sophomore defender, and the first assist of Robertson's career.

"It was a great response to an unfortunate situation against us, and that's want you want to look for," Koski said

Lehigh's goal marked just the second goal the Catamounts gave up all season.

While Lehigh found the equalizer, Vermont struck again in the 40th minute. Max Murray connected on a goal from Carter Johnson. Murray's goal would end up being the game-winning goal.

The Catamounts outshot Lehigh 11-3 on Saturday. Despite six of those 11 shots coming in the second half for Vermont, Lehigh held the Catamounts to zero goals in the second half.

Senior goalkeeper Blake Koski tallied three saves for the Mountain Hawks, while Jack Owen had one save for the Catamounts.

Owen's one save of the game came off of a shot from Thomas Robertson. While he had no one in front of him besides Owen, Robertson misplaced the touch, which resulted in a save for Owen.

The Mountain Hawks will close out their four-game road swing when they take on Boston University in the Patriot League opener next Saturday in Boston.