Dartmouth (1-4, 0-0 Ivy) kept the score close throughout the game, even without scoring in either the second or fourth quarters. Lehigh (1-4, 0-0 Patriot) maintained a lead from the end of the third quarter to the final whistle.
The Big Green was unable to deliver on either of its extra-man opportunities.
Six different players collaborated to score the Big Green's goals, led by Jimmy Mullen '09 with two goals and an assist. Mullen leads the team in scoring this season with eight goals and two assists.
"This just shows how selfless the offense is," co-captain Doug Rendall '09 said. "Everybody is okay with anyone else scoring, because we want to win as a team. We just have to keep the other team from scoring more goals."
Pat Marshall '09 made nine saves in net, increasing his save percentage to .456 despite the loss. Lehigh freshman goaltender Conor Murphy came away with the win, making 11 saves.
Senior Ricky Cornetta led the offensive charge for the Mountain Hawks, scoring two goals and making two assists. While Dartmouth's offense also performed well, the defense was too sloppy to stop Lehigh's attackers, Rendall said.
"We definitely made a lot of mistakes on defense," he said. "We made stops, but couldn't clear the ball to get it to the offense."
The Big Green came out came out of the gate quickly as Mullen potted an unassisted goal early in the first quarter.
Rookie John DeChiaro '12 then followed suit, netting his second collegiate goal off a pass from Tim Daniels '08, and then scoring again just two minutes later. Mullen finished off the streak with his second goal of the contest, bringing the score to 4-0.
This lead was short-lived, however, as Lehigh retaliated with a flurry of four goals in less than three minutes. Four Mountain Hawks scored in the first quarter, including the team's scoring leader Chris Lubin, who notched his 10th goal on the season.
The Mountain Hawks continued their scoring streak with two quick goals to open up the second quarter, while the Big Green took only seven shots in the period.
Less than two minutes into the start of the third quarter, the Big Green returned fire to tie it up 6-6. Mullen fed the ball to Towny Swiggett '10 eight seconds into the half for Swiggett to score his first goal of the season. Josh Etzion '11 followed up just over a minute later with an unassisted goal of his own.
With 55 ticks left in the third quarter, Etzion struck again with the Big Green in a man-down situation. Only six seconds later, however, the Mountain Hawks won the faceoff and capitalized on a shot from Will Scudder that gave Lehigh a 10-9 lead it would hold for the rest of the game.
Lehigh cemented its victory with a final goal by Kyle Gentile in the fourth quarter to put its 11th goal on the board.
Although Lehigh had not won a game this season before Saturday, Rendall said that the Mountain Hawks are a strong team, and the squad's losing record is reflective of its tough schedule.
"They've played some pretty tough games," he said. "Every team in Division I is pretty good, but we had the ability to win if we had played better. We knew going in that it was going to be a competitive game."
With the beginning of Ivy competition coming up, the Big Green is focusing on reaching the NCAA tournament, Rendall said. Improvement should come soon with the impending return of four starters who are currently sidelined due to injuries.
"We're getting some players back off of injuries and going forward now," Rendall said. "We're also getting a hockey player and a basketball player back who will start in their positions."
After watching game films, Rendall said the team knows that it needs to focus on the fundamentals and, although it has been difficult to stay positive with the losses, there is ample time to improve.
"It was back and forth, pretty close for a while, but down the stretch, we made a few mistakes and at the end of the day that's why we lost," Rendall said. "Everybody played hard but we couldn't execute."
The Big Green will play its first Ivy League game of the season after a break for finals, facing Brown at Scully-Fahey field on Saturday, March 21.
