The Lehigh men's lacrosse team struggled in April, losing its final three games of the regular season, all against top 15 opponents.
Then Tuesday happened.
With the postseason marking a fresh start, the Mountain Hawks defeated Colgate in the Patriot League Quarterfinals, 11-6. It marked Lehigh's first home victory since early March, sending the Mountain Hawks to the semifinals for the first time since 2014.
A tight first quarter saw only one goal scored over the first 14:31, but Lehigh netted two goals in the final 29 seconds to take a 3-0 lead into the second. The Mountain Hawks built their lead from there, eventually opening an 11-3 advantage late in the fourth as they snapped a four-game home losing streak to improve to 9-6 on the season.
Andrew Pettit led the Lehigh attack with five goals to tie a career high. The five markers also tied the Patriot League Tournament single-game record. Eight of Lehigh's 11 goals, including all five of Pettit's, were assisted.
"All of my goals were just tap-ins, so it's a testament to my teammates," said Pettit. "They were making great passes to me and I was just fortunate enough to be there on the back side. I'm really proud of how the offense played."
The defense was equally impressive. After being ranked as high as No. 6 nationally late in the season, the Mountain Hawks allowed 42 goals over their three-game losing skid. But on Tuesday, Lehigh allowed just three goals over the first 55:23 and despite the Raiders scoring three goals in the span of 1:51 primarily with Lehigh's backups in the game, the Mountain Hawks still held Colgate to a season-low six goals.
"We've been taking it on the chin a little bit on the defensive end," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "It's been a shared process back there with the defense struggling a little bit and not getting a ton of saves. They responded tonight and played well, and James Spence played really well in goal."
Spence finished with 11 saves, allowing just four goals in arguably the best game of his career. Conor Gaffney won 10-of-18 faceoffs, primarily facing Colgate's Colin Orr, who entered the game over 60 percent on the season himself.
Lehigh will face Navy this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Patriot League Semifinals. The game will be held at Loyola University Maryland's Ridley Athletic Complex as the second doubleheader, following No. 1 seed Loyola vs. No. 6 Boston University at 4:30. Both games will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.