Lehigh Dominates Second Half to Secure Win in Patriot League Opener

BALTIMORE – For 45 minutes, Lehigh were hanging on. For the next 45, they owned the game.

The Mountain Hawks shook off a sluggish first half and punished Loyola Maryland with two second-half goals to claim a 2-0 road win at Ridley Athletic Complex in their Patriot League opener on Saturday afternoon.

Head coach Dean Koski didn’t sugarcoat the 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, now 1-2-3 overall and 1-0 in the Patriot League, went into the break locked in a 0-0 stalemate with Loyola (1-6, 0-1 PL). The Greyhounds dictated much of the early tempo, outshooting the visitors 6-2 and asking repeated questions of the Lehigh back line.

Junior goalkeeper Anton Kinnunen had the answers. He turned away three first-half efforts to keep Loyola off the board and give his side a platform to build on.

That platform finally turned into pressure – and then into goals.

Just three minutes after the restart, Lehigh’s attack finally sparked. In the 48th minute, junior forward Bora Turker pounced for his first goal of the season, finishing off a move created by junior Aiden Gonzalez and first-year midfielder Alex Junquera. The combination unlocked Loyola’s defense, and Turker’s strike changed the entire feel of the afternoon.

The Mountain Hawks didn’t stop there. With the hosts chasing, space began to open, and Lehigh made it count.

In the 65th minute, senior Thomas Robertson doubled the advantage, slotting home his second goal of the year to put real distance between the teams. From a nervy, grinding road match, Lehigh had turned the day into a statement league win.

“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. The Greyhounds finished with a 15-10 edge in shots and a 5-2 advantage in corners, pushing numbers forward as they tried to claw their way back. The volume didn’t translate into a breakthrough.

Kinnunen needed just one save after the interval to complete the job, finishing with four on the day. The clean sheet was his third in a row and the seventh of his career, a marker of both his form and the growing cohesion in front of him.

“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 stat sheet tilted toward Loyola, but Lehigh’s discipline and organization protected the lead and preserved the shutout. On the road, in a league opener, it was exactly the kind of performance that can shape a season’s identity.

Next comes a different kind of test.

Lehigh returns home on Saturday, September 19 at 6 p.m. for its Patriot League home opener against Army, a side that has started the campaign well.

“We’re glad to get three points on the road, but we know that every game is going to be a challenge for us,” Koski 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: can this newfound confidence survive the weight of expectation back in Bethlehem?