PRINCETON, N.J. -- Junior Kurtis Kaunas scored the go-ahead goal with 1:22 left in regulation, but No. 15 Princeton evened the score with 2.7 seconds left before scoring in double overtime to hand the No. 19 Mountain Hawks a heartbreaking 10-9 loss on Tuesday evening. Junior Dan Taylor led the offense with five goals to tie a career high while classmate Matt Poillon finished with 13 saves, including six in the first quarter.
Tied at eight late in regulation, Kaunas scored on a delayed penalty to make it 9-8. Lehigh won the ensuing faceoff, but Princeton forced a turnover. Poillon came up with a save with less than a minute remaining, but the Tigers eventually got the ball back with 20 seconds on the clock. They capitalized as Kip Orban scored in an unsettled situation with 2.7 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Lehigh won the opening faceoff of both overtimes, but couldn't put away the game winner. Early in the second overtime, Kaunas had a good look that was stopped. After a timeout, Tigers All-American midfielder Tom Schreiber scored his fourth goal of the night with 2:51 on the clock to end it.
Four Mountain Hawks scored a single goal to go with Taylor's five: juniors Kaunas, Patrick Corbett and Dylan O'Shaughnessy, along with sophomore Reid Weber. Sophomore Tripp Telesco and junior Dylan O'Shaughnessy each had two caused turnovers while senior Lukas Mikelinich scooped four groundballs to lead the defense. The Mountain Hawks gave up a season-high 52 shots, but many were from the outside, allowing Poillon to gobble up many saves.
Schreiber was limited to four goals on 21 shots as only eight of his shots were on target. The Mountain Hawks allowed 10 goals to a Princeton team averaging almost 13 per game.
Senior Ryan Buttenbaum was stellar at the faceoff X, winning 16-of-23 while scooping eight groundballs.
Neither team could find the back of the net until 1.7 seconds left in the first quarter when Taylor took a restart and brought it in front, beating Princeton goalie Eric Sanschagrin to make it 1-0 after one quarter of play.
The Tigers responded in the second quarter by outscoring the Mountain Hawks 3-1 to take a 3-2 halftime lead. Taylor scored Lehigh's goal at the 5:15 mark.
After five goals in the first half, the third quarter saw seven by itself. The Mountain Hawks scored four, including three of the first four. Taylor tallied his third less than a minute in, then after a Princeton goal, O'Shaughnessy scored off a faceoff as junior Alan Henderson made the scoop and found the long pole in the middle of the field. Taylor gave Lehigh a 5-4 lead one minute later.
However, Princeton scored three of the next four goals to eventually take a 7-6 lead early in the fourth quarter. A Corbett extra man goal evened the score at seven, then after Schreiber gave the Tigers an 8-7 lead, Taylor tied the score exactly a minute later, setting up Kaunas' go-ahead goal and the dramatic end of regulation and back-and-forth overtime.
