Lehigh Secures Road Win in Patriot League Opener

BALTIMORE – For 45 minutes, Lehigh were stuck in neutral. For the next 45, they looked like a team ready to make noise in the Patriot League.

The Mountain Hawks shook off a sluggish first half and punished Loyola Maryland with two second-half goals in a 2-0 road win at Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon, opening their league campaign with three hard-earned points.

Head coach Dean Koski didn’t sugarcoat the opening stretch.

“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.”

Kinnunen keeps Lehigh alive

Lehigh (1-2-3, 1-0 PL) reached the break locked at 0-0, and they had junior goalkeeper Anton Kinnunen to thank for it.

Loyola (1-6, 0-1 PL) carried the attacking edge early, outshooting the visitors 6-2 in the first half and asking repeated questions of the Lehigh back line. Kinnunen answered them all, making three saves before halftime to keep the Greyhounds off the board and give his side a platform.

The pattern continued in the numbers. By the final whistle, Loyola held a 15-10 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in corners. The scoreline told a different story.

Lehigh’s defensive unit, anchored by Kinnunen, refused to break.

“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.”

Kinnunen added one more stop after the interval, finishing with four saves on the day. The clean sheet was his third in a row and the seventh of his career.

Turker sparks the turnaround

If the first half belonged to Loyola’s pressure, the second half belonged to Lehigh’s response.

Just three minutes after the restart, the Mountain Hawks finally found their edge. In the 48th minute, junior Bora Turker pounced for his first goal of the season, finishing off a move created by junior Aiden Gonzalez and first-year Alex Junquera. The breakthrough flipped the tone of the afternoon.

The goal jolted Lehigh’s attack to life. Passes were sharper. Runs had more conviction. Loyola, chasing the game now, left more space, and Lehigh made it count again.

In the 65th minute, senior Thomas Robertson doubled the lead with his second goal of the year, giving the Mountain Hawks a 2-0 cushion and tightening their grip on the match. From there, the defense did the rest, closing down crosses, clearing second balls, and leaning on Kinnunen’s calm presence whenever Loyola threatened.

Confidence rising, challenge looming

“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.”

The win not only delivers Lehigh their first victory of the season, it plants an early marker in league play and extends a shutout streak behind a goalkeeper in form and a back line growing in cohesion.

There’s no time to linger on it.

Lehigh returns home on Saturday, September 19 at 6 p.m. for their Patriot League home opener against Army, a side Koski knows will test this new momentum.

“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.”

A defense locking in. An attack waking up. Army on deck under the home lights. How long can this shutout run – and this new confidence – last?