"I think his success is more because of our defense than just Sam," Lehigh head coach Dean Koski said. " Sam has done a great job this season and is deserving of the recognition. His success is the by-product of how our team plays in front of him."
As the second half began, it looked as if the game would be a stalemate and the game would end with a scoreless tie. That all changed when off a corner kick the Lions just missed a goal by hitting the upper left-hand corner of the goal. This near miss seemed to spark the offense as they kept peppering the ball towards the net and the Lehigh defenders kept kicking the ball away just hoping that the Lions would get tired. After bending for five minutes the Lehigh defense finally broke at the 54-minute mark of the second half, when Lions forward Brian Devlin deposited a rebound into the top shelf from ten yards out for his fourth goal of the season.
After the goal the Lions played like a team that just had an enormous monkey lifted off its back. The goal was the first lead the Lions have had since their last win against Northwestern on Oct. 2.
After a flurry of offense from the Lions, which Bishop played amazing against to keep Lehigh within a goal, they seemed to get fatigued and couldn't sustain much of an attack for the final ten minutes. On the other hand, Lehigh went all out and pressured the Lions' defense to the point where they almost ruined goalkeeper Matt Novchich's first shutout in over a month.
"It's great to finish with a clean slate at home," Novchich said referring to his shutout. "We need to build on this intensity."
This was a huge win and should give them confidence heading into the Big Ten tournament, which the Lions need to win in order to earn a birth in the NCAA Tournament.
"It was a big relief to hold on," Devlin said. "Because we had to win."
