For the first time in nine years the #18/19 Army West Point men's lacrosse team is Patriot League Champions after defeating Lehigh, 11-7, Sunday afternoon at the Ridley Athletic Complex. Army captured its 12th league title, the most of any school surpassing Navy's 11. The Black Knights found themselves down 5-3 at the half following five unanswered goals by Lehigh in the second quarter. Fortunately, Army regrouped after the break outscoring its foe 8-2 in the remaining two quarters to secure its second Patriot League crown. Rookie Brendan Nichtern led the Army attack with three goals and three assists to finish with six points on the day. All three of those goals came during the Black Knights' 6-0 fourth-quarter run to close out the game. Lehigh had extended its lead to 7-5 with 13 minutes to play but Army never lost hope as it watched Nichtern fire a shot past James Spence a little more than a minute later to cut the deficit down to one. That goal jump started a Black Knights' rally that saw the Massapequa, N.Y., native score two more times, along with scores from Tommy Marino, Sean O'Brien and Nate Jones. AJ Barretto had another impressive outing between the posts for Army making 12 saves. For that accomplishment and for Friday night's performance against top-seeded Loyola, Barretto was named the Patriot League Tournament MVP. Junior Tom Rigney totaled a team-best four ground balls, while Patriot League Defender of the Year Johnny Surdick, Barretto, and Kyle Beyer registered three apiece. Army improved to 13-4 on the year to clinch a new program record in wins. Head Coach Joe Alberici is now 131-99 at Army. The Black Knights boasts a 799-396-7 all-time mark in their 102-year history. HOW IT HAPPENED The Black Knights had a hot start with a three-goal first quarter. DeWitt scored back-to-back goals to kick off the game for Army. Nichtern and Matt Manown set up the plays. Jones extended the team's lead to 3-0 when Nicholad Garofano connected with him on the left side. The second quarter was all about the Mountain Hawks when they used a 5-0 run to pull in front 5-3. To start the third quarter, Nichtern found Garofano in front to cut the Mountain Hawks' lead to one with 13:53 on the clock. Lehigh extended its lead back to two goals however at the 5:20 mark to make it a 6-4 game. The Black Knights kept pushing though and scored with six seconds remaining in the quarter to again pull within one. On a quick transition, Beyer connected with Manown for the last second score. Lehigh started the fourth with a goal, but Army bounced back with a 6-0 run to clinch the game. Sean O'Brien came into the game and made an immediate impact. Feeding from behind, O'Brien found Nichtern up top to catch Lehigh's Spence off guard. Tommy Marino continued to spark the offensive charge with a man-up goal from Nichtern. O'Brien sniped one past the goal line on a righty crease roll before Nichtern racked up two. With 53 seconds on the clock, Jones stamped the victory with a final transition goal with an assist by Surdick.