BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Kern (Middletown, Del.) made a career-high 18 saves, while rookie attackman Christian Daniel (Owings, Md.) produced two goals and three assists to lead the Navy men’s lacrosse team (5-4, 4-1 Patriot League) to 10-7 victory over 14th-ranked Lehigh (7-3, 4-1 PL) Saturday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pa. The victory by the Mids, combined with a 12-11 loss by #6 Loyola on Saturday, has created a log jam atop the Patriot League standings where there is a three-way tie for first place with Navy, Lehigh and Bucknell at 4-1, while Loyola is a half game out at 3-1. “This group knew it was a big game. It was a little bit of a gut check for our games,” said seventh-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell. “I could not be more proud of the way this team played today.” Navy opened the game behind the hot shooting tandem of Daniel and All-American midfielder Casey Rees (Sr / Baltimore, Md.). Daniel put the Mids on the scoreboard first after senior co-captain Jack Ray (Wyckoff, N.J.) leisurely jogged behind the cage before finding Daniel anchored on the right side of the cage for the goal. The Mids pushed their lead to 2-0 when All-American middie Greyson Torain (Jr / Glen Burnie, Md.) sent a pass to Rees who went high to low for his first of the day at 9:57. Lehigh answered at the 6:52 mark when senior middie Ian Strain punched in his first goal of the season on a 15-yard sidearm shot. The Mids closed out the opening quarter with a 3-1 lead after Rees’ shot knocked Lehigh goalkeeper James Spence off his feet and tumbling to the back of the cage, marking Rees’ second goal of the game. Lehigh trimmed the Mids’ lead to one for a second time when Lucas Spence curled around the right side of the cage, but turned back to his left to tuck his shot over the shoulder of Kern at 7:41 in the second quarter. Navy went up 4-2 when Daniel went top shelf against James Spence with 6:10 to play in the opening half. The momentum, however, changed when a Navy defenseman was called for an illegal body check and served a one-minute penalty for its full time. That penalty led to Tewaaraton Award nominee Andrew Pettit scoring a pair of extra-man goals for the Mountain Hawks inside of a minute to knot the score at the half, 4-4. The Mids opened the third quarter on a 3-0 run that featured a pair of goals by Ray and gave Navy a 7-4 lead. Lehigh rallied to score two in a row, including a transition goal by defenseman Craig Chick off a Navy turnover. Navy, though, got the final say in the third when Kern made his 14th save of the contest, turning aside an Eddie Bouhall shot and sending a long outlet pass to mid-field. Daniel found an open Dave Little (Sr / Vienna, Va.) to give the Mids an 8-6 lead after three quarters of play. “I saw Christian calling for the ball and so I threw the ball down field and he and Dave (Little) did the rest,” said Kern. Torain bailed the Mids out with the timer-on to open the fourth quarter when he stung the back of the next with a shot taken from the top of the box to give Navy a 9-6 lead. With neither team scoring for nearly nine minutes, Torain won a foot race against Lehigh defenseman Teddy Leggett coming out of a timeout to punch in his second of the day, giving Navy its largest lead of the afternoon at 10-4 with 3:59 remaining. Lehigh answered just 13 seconds later when Pettit fed Tristain Rai for a 10-yard goal, but the Mountain Hawks could not gain the much-needed momentum to overcome the three-goal deficit in what would be their first league loss of the year. Kern was easily the MVP of the game, making 18 stops between the pipes for the Mids and bettering his previous high of 17 saves against Army a year ago. “I took a different approach to today’s game,” said Kern, who came into the game with a 46.3 save percentage. “Instead of getting amped up, I tried to stay level headed throughout the game and just focused on the ball.” “It was good to see Ryan get a little bit of a reward for playing a phenomenal game today,” said Sowell. Navy put together a balanced attack on the offensive side of the field with five players scoring two goals apiece, while Daniel matched his career high with five points on two goals and three assists. Additionally, senior close defenseman Michael Strack (North Babylon, N.Y.) produced his first multiple-point game with a pair of third-quarter assists to Ray. Lehigh was held to a season-low tying seven goals after entering the game ranked 12th nationally with its 12.22 goals per game average. Five players accounted for the seven goals, including a pair by Pettit who came into the game ranked 16th nationally in goals per game (2.78) and 18th in points per game (4.67). “It was a collective effort by our defense today, very similar to how we played against Bucknell,” added Sowell. “Whenever you get 18 saves from your goalkeeper, it certainly helps cover up any missteps you’ve made along the way.” The Mountain Hawks forced 14 of Navy’s 19 turnovers in the game with Bouhall and Chick recording four caused turnovers apiece. The Midshipmen return to action next Saturday when they play host to Holy Cross (2-7, 0-4 PL). Action is slated for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. A free live video stream will be available on PatriotLeague.TV, while the game will also be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call beginning at 11:45 am.