Lehigh Secures 2-0 Victory in Patriot League Opener
BALTIMORE – For 45 minutes, Lehigh were stuck in neutral. For the next 45, they looked every bit like a team ready to make noise in the Patriot League.
The Mountain Hawks opened conference play with a sharp 2-0 win over Loyola Maryland at Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon, riding two second-half goals and another clean sheet from junior goalkeeper Anton Kinnunen.
Head coach Dean Koski did not sugarcoat the slow start.
“I thought we struggled in the first half to be consistent with the way we wanted to play, but we regrouped at halftime and thought we came out in the second half with better intentions,” the Ingrassia Family men’s head soccer coach said. “We did a better job of creating chances in the second half and did a good job defensively of shutting them down.”
Lehigh (1-2-3, 1-0 Patriot League) went into the break locked in a 0-0 stalemate with Loyola (1-6, 0-1), and the numbers told the story. The Greyhounds outshot the visitors 6-2 in the opening half, forcing Kinnunen into three saves to preserve the deadlock. Lehigh’s attack barely flickered; Loyola carried more of the ball, more of the threat.
Kinnunen, though, held firm. His handling was clean, his positioning sharp, and every stop kept the Greyhounds from turning pressure into a lead.
Then the second half began, and Lehigh’s attack finally arrived.
Just three minutes after the restart, the Mountain Hawks carved Loyola open. Junior forward Bora Turker struck first, burying his first goal of the season in the 48th minute after link-up play from junior Aiden Gonzalez and first-year midfielder Alex Junquera. One incisive move, one clean finish, and the tone of the match flipped.
The goal jolted Lehigh to life. Passes snapped, runs had purpose, and Loyola suddenly found themselves chasing a game they had largely controlled early on.
The pressure told again in the 65th minute. Senior Thomas Robertson doubled the advantage, tucking away his second goal of the season to give Lehigh a 2-0 cushion and control of the afternoon. From there, the Mountain Hawks managed the game with maturity, tightening lines and forcing Loyola to settle for low-percentage looks.
“No game has been easy, and I think our guys have learned a lot early on this season,” Koski said. “We had good confidence going into this game and we’ll have a better confidence coming out of it.”
Loyola kept firing, finishing with a 15-10 edge in shots and a 5-2 advantage in corners. On another day, that volume might have produced a different scoreline. Lehigh’s defensive organization made sure it didn’t.
Kinnunen needed just one save after halftime to complete the job, closing the day with four stops and his third straight shutout. It was the seventh clean sheet of his career, another marker in a quietly impressive run of form.
“Our backs and Anton are in sync with each other,” Koski said. “I like our mentality and we’re defending better in the box. And when we need Anton to make a save, he’s been there and he’s been sharp.”
The win gives Lehigh three valuable points on the road to open league play and a platform to build on with a key test looming.
Lehigh returns home on Saturday, September 19 at 6 p.m. for its Patriot League home opener against Army, a side Koski clearly respects.
“We’re glad to get three points on the road, but we know that every game is going to be a challenge for us,” he said. “We’ve got a big game next weekend against Army at home. They’ve had a good start, so it’ll be a good challenge.”
The question now is simple: with the defense locked in and confidence rising, how far can this group push in the Patriot League race?
