The NJIT men's lacrosse team put up a valiant effort in its matchup against No. 18 Lehigh but the Highlanders were eventually defeated by the Mountain Hawks, 17-8, Saturday afternoon at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium. HIGHLIGHTS Ryan Kaden led all Highlanders with three goals, recording his second career hat trick and second this month (Monmouth, Feb. 8). Eric Sherman matched Kaden's point total with a pair of goals - his first-ever multi-score game - and an assist and seven other Highlanders recorded at least one point: Colton Johnson (1 G, 1 A), Owen Corry (1 G, 1 A), Keegan Ford (2 A), Gavyn Willson (1 G), Vincent D'Agostino (1 A), Max Wilson (1 A), and Chris Giuliano (1 A). John Tachon led NJIT with four ground balls, five players caused a turnover apiece (D'Agostino, Johnson, Luke Binder, Lynch Raby, and Matthew Bowerman), and Liam Brown tied the second-highest single-game save total in NJIT history with 21 (two other instances, last time: Alexzander Hunt - February 9, 2019 vs UMass). 1ST QUARTER NJIT netted the first goal of the game and the only score of the quarter, a Wilson-to-Corry connection less than two minutes into the period. The quarter shutout was NJIT's second of the season (2nd quarter vs Hampton, Feb. 1) Brown stopped six shots in the quarter. 2ND QUARTER Lehigh scored a pair of goals (11:37 and 10:48) to take its first lead of the game, 2-1. The Highlanders knotted the game at 2-2 on a goal by Kaden from D'Agostino (7:13). The Mountain Hawks went on a 3-0 run before Kaden converted on an extra-man opportunity (1:03) on an assist from Ford. 3RD QUARTER The NJIT offense struggled to begin the second half as Lehigh held the Highlanders scoreless and extended their lead to 12-3. Brown matched his first quarter save total with six. 4TH QUARTER After drawing a three-minute non-releasable penalty with 40 seconds left in the third quarter, NJIT capitalized on the man up chances and scored the first two goals of the period (Willson from Corry, Kaden from Johnson) to cut the Lehigh lead to 12-5 with 13:50 to go. The Highlanders couldn't keep the momentum going as Lehigh scored four straight goals in a four-minute span to take a 16-5 edge. NJIT would end the game scoring three of the final four goals of the game. NEXT UP NJIT will play the second of four straight home games next Saturday (February 29) at Noon against Siena.