Forward Marco Valentic ’26 managed to score his first career goal this past week, which ultimately gave the Bison the win over the Mountain Hawks. It hasn’t been an easy season for the Orange and Blue with many of their losses coming close to the end of the game, so this win was extremely important to them.
Throughout the first half of the game, both teams worked hard defensively to keep the score at 0-0. At the start of the second half, there was only one shot on goal between both teams. Although the Bison’s first shot attempt wasn’t until the 62nd minute, they continued to push through and demonstrate aggressive offense that would give them the one-point lead to beat the Mountain Hawks. Only five minutes after forward Zane Domsohn ’26 nearly put the Bison on the scoreboard, Valentic and forward Charlie Holmes ’26 played a 2v1 to goal. Off this play, Valentic was able to score an impressive goal in the top right corner, making the score 1-0 Bison.
It wasn’t long before Holmes attempted an assist to defender Collin Murphy ’24, which was blocked by the Mountain Hawks’ goalie. However, things again went in favor of the Bison after Valentic intercepted a pass from the goalkeeper and sent a pass to forward Kasper Piela ’27 to secure the Bison’s second goal of the night.
The Mountain Hawks refused to end the game without putting up a fight and forced the put pressure on the Bison by putting up a goal in the last five minutes of the second half. Even after Lehigh attempted to score on a free kick and a corner kick, the Bison defense played an impressive game that kept the score at 2-1.
The night was an exciting one for Valentic, Piela and goalkeeper Rex Alphen ’27, who made two saves during his first career win in the position. Alphen played the entire 90 minutes of the game against the Mountain Hawks.
After this game, The Bison Men’s Soccer team ended their season 2-10-4 overall and 1-6-2 in the Patriot League.
