Patriot League Lacrosse Tournament: Lehigh Wins Freakshow Scorefest Against Army

Where do you even start with this nonsense?

• The teams combined for 23 goals over 60 minutes of play. In just two games this season -- against Holy Cross and Lafayette -- Lehigh and their opponents combined for 23 tallies on the scoreboard; Army didn't play a game this year in which more than 21 goals were scored. The Mountain Hawks and Black Knights obviously had some Greek yogurt before the game.
• The two teams' defenses were apparitions of their season-long selves. Army yielded about 16 more goals per 100 defensive opportunities than it generally does; Lehigh yielded about 14 more goals per 100 defensive opportunities than it generally does. The fact that these defenses were shredded by offenses that exist outside of the elite -- Army entered the game with an adjusted offensive efficiency value that ranked 35th nationally; Lehigh's mark was slightly better at 28th nationally -- is the kind of stuff that makes blood leak out of one's ears.
• Monster players had monster games, buoying their respective team's hopes for a win: John Glesener had six points on five goals and an assist for Army; Dan Taylor had eight points on four goals and four assists for Lehigh. Tactical nuclear weapons did their job for both sides, and without their efforts, the final score could have been much different.
• After Glesener knotted the score at six with just over six minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Mountain Hawks and Black Knights started pounding each other in the face. No team led by more than two goals the rest of the way and the game featured four ties and five lead changes from that point until the final buzzer.
• One of those ties was beyond bonkers: With time winding down in the third quarter, Tripp Telesco whipped an 80-yard bomb toward Army's goal and Taylor knocked the ball into the back of the cage. Just the way you draw it up with one second on the clock.

And none of that even addresses the game-winning goal with just 3.7 seconds left in regulation. Tied at 11 with 2:58 to play, Lehigh came out of a timeout and couldn't seem to get anything going. Three shots from the Hawks failed to find the net in 1:26 of action. Lehigh took another timeout and looked to get something going with Taylor. Taylor and Reid Weber played a rope-a-dope two-man game on the left side with Taylor in the flat and Weber in the high slot. Taylor drew a double -- Taylor had somehow pulled a short-stick on him -- and quickly moved the ball to Weber. Weber was able to step into his shot with nobody within two yards of him and buried the ball past Bobby Sincero -- who started for an injured Sam Somers -- for the bucket.

It was the perfect nightcap for a perfectly ridiculous day of lacrosse.

TRUNCATED ADVANCED BOX SCORE