LEWISBURG, Pa. – Perry Menzies (Upperco, Md./Hereford) and Mike Danylyshyn (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) scored four goals apiece to lead No. 19 Bucknell to an 18-10 win over Lehigh Saturday night at chilly Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. With the win, the Bison improved to 5-0 in the Patriot League (7-6) and will now face fellow unbeaten Colgate next Saturday with home field advantage for the Patriot League Tournament on the line.

Bucknell's offense was in top form in this one, racking up 18 goals on 39 shots. The Bison scored in a variety of ways, ranging from several shots in close, to Menzies' four rockets from outside, to defenseman Tom Izard (West Hartford, Conn./Hotchkiss) firing in his first career goal from 72 yards away against Lehigh's 10-man ride.

In addition to the four-goal games from Menzies and Danylyshyn – Menzies equaled his career high while Danylyshyn established his -- Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) tallied three goals and Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes) had two goals and four assists. Faceoff man and short-stick defensive middie Jake Clarke (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich) also registered his first career goal.

Ricky Cornetta had a five-point night for Lehigh (3-10, 1-3) with three goals and two assists, while Max Dahlem added two goals. Menzies, one of 10 seniors honored before the game, played a starring role early for the Bison. He scored three times in the first nine minutes of the game, all on bullets from long range, to stake them to a 3-1 lead.

Bucknell led 4-2 after one period, then the Bison stretched it to 5-2 on a brilliant individual play by defenseman Billy Haire (Darien, Conn./Darien). In his own end, Haire checked the ball away from a Lehigh player, picked up the ground ball and sprinted about 50 yards before feathering a perfect pass in front to Winter for the layup goal. That started a wild second quarter that featured a combined 10 goals, four by each side.

Lehigh has a quick-strike offense of its own, and they stayed in it with a couple of explosive moments. Roman Lao-Gosney and Dahlem scored 34 seconds apart later in the second period to bring the Mountain Hawks within 5-4.

Bucknell stopped the run when Joe Mele (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) lobbed a pass over a defender to Winter on the doorstep. The Bison then cashed in twice in just nine seconds. The first came on a nice individual move by middie Doug Buckley (Wantagh, N.Y./Chaminade), who cleared the ball, ran all the way behind the goal and around the other side before slipping a shot past goalie Morgan Haller. On the ensuing faceoff, Clarke picked up his own ground ball on the run along the left flank, cut back to the center of the field and fired home a shot for his first collegiate score.

A great feed from Winter to Danylyshyn for an extra-man goal gave the Bison a 9-4 lead with just 1:58 left in the half, but they let a good chunk of that cushion get away when Lehigh scored three times in the final 45 seconds. Cornetta had a hand in all three goals. First he fed Chris Lubin for a highlight-reel goal, as Lubin's behind-the-back shot bounced up just inside the crossbar. Cornetta scored an unassisted goal with 11 seconds left, then after Clarke false-started on the draw, Cornetta scored again at the buzzer to make it 9-7 at the half.

After the rough last minute against a Lehigh team that rallied from 11-3 down to beat Army earlier in the year, Bucknell settled down and played an excellent third quarter. The Bison outshot the Mountain Hawks 8-2 and outscored them 3-0 in the period. Freshman Charlie Streep (New Canaan, Conn./Loomis-Chaffee) scored on a hard low-to-low shot from the left side off a feed from Menzies just 2:29 into the second half. It stayed 10-7 until late in the period, when Mele passed from behind the net all the way up to Menzies, who ripped the top of the net for his fourth goal of the day.

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2009-04-12