BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Junior Reid Weiber scored early in the fourth quarter to pull the Lehigh men's lacrosse team within one, but #5/6 Denver responded with the game's final five goals to down the Mountain Hawks 10-4 on a chilly Tuesday evening. Lehigh held a potent Pioneers' offense scoreless for the game's first 17:34 then again for 28:13 in one of the defense's strongest efforts of the season. Making his first-career start, freshman Adam Sawicki was stellar in goal, finishing with 11 saves including five in the first quarter to hold Denver scoreless until early in the second. "I'm proud of the way our guys came out today," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "We had a really tough battle on Saturday against Navy and we expended a lot of energy on the field down there in Annapolis. I was a little concerned about what we'd be able to bring to the table here on Tuesday night, but our guys did a good job. They came out ready to play." Lehigh came out on fire, scoring the game's first three goals and riding Sawicki's saves to a 3-0 lead after one quarter of play. "I thought we had as strong of a first quarter as we've had all year," said Cassese. "Denver's a great team. I thought the defensive effort for us tonight was stellar. We've been struggling there. We hit the reset button the last couple days. I was proud of our effort on defense and proud of our effort with Adam Sawicki in the goal." A game of runs saw the Pioneers go on a pair of 5-0 runs to account for their 10 goals. Weber led the Mountain Hawks with a pair of goals while senior Kurtis Kaunas and junior Alex Eaton scored the others. Junior defenseman Casey Eidenshink had two caused turnovers, as did senior attackman Dan Taylor. Kaunas opened the scoring at 12:41 of the first quarter, making a move from behind the goal and beating Denver goaltender Ryan LaPlante to make it 1-0. Less than two minutes later, Eaton took a feed from senior Taylor in an unsettled situation, firing home his first goal of the season to make it 2-0. Weber gave the Mountain Hawks a 3-0 advantage with 6:40 left in the first quarter on a sensational individual effort to dodge defenders and get himself free for a shot, which he buried. Denver took advantage of the extra man, scoring two man-up goals in less than four minutes, the second of which tied the score at three midway through the second quarter. The Pioneers added two more goals, with 6:51 and 2:57 on the clock to take a 5-3 halftime advantage. Lehigh held a 10-4 edge in third-quarter shots, but neither team could find the back of the net until early in the fourth. It wasn't for a lack of chances as the Mountain Hawks fired six shots on goal, all of which were stopped by LaPlante. Following another LaPlante save early in the fourth quarter, Weber corralled the rebound and lit the lamp to snap over a 40-minute scoreless drought and pull Lehigh right back to within one (5-4) with 11:27 still remaining. The Mountain Hawks had numerous chances to pull even, but couldn't net the equalizer and the Denver offense took advantage with five goals in the game's final 4:44, including two on the man advantage, for the 10-4 final. "We really went back to basics," said Cassese. "I think we've been trying to do too much, so we really simplified and told the guys listen, you're all good athletes and you're good players. You just need to play harder and stop thinking as much. I thought they did that tonight." Final shots were 32-25 in favor of the Mountain Hawks while Denver held a 37-21 edge in groundballs due in large part to an 18-5 groundball advantage in the fourth quarter. Sawicki made 11 saves in his first-career start while LaPlante finished with 14. Lehigh will remain home to host #13/19 Army on Saturday for a big Patriot League showdown at 1 p.m. That game will be televised live nation-wide on the American Sports Network. "It's going to be a battle. Every time we play Army, it's a battle," said Cassese. "I'm sure they're going to be angry coming off last year. We effectively ended their season last year. To be honest with you, we haven't performed well in these spots. We need to find ourselves some motivation coming into Saturday and I would like to think that our record would be motivation enough to get our guys ready to play."