Navy’s stingy defense and attacker Nick Mirabito’s generosity were too much for Lehigh to handle Wednesday.

Mirabito tallied a career-high four assists and tied his career best with six points as tenth-ranked Navy cruised to a 14-3 win over Lehigh in front of 758 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. In the process, Mirabito took over the Patriot League lead with 12 assists.

“I think we’re starting to find ourselves as an offense,” Mirabito said. “Guys are starting to understand where they belong and what they’re doing out there.”

Midfielder Sean Standen scored three goals and attacker Tim Paul added two goals and an assist for Navy (5-1, 2-0 Patriot League). Five Navy players had at least two goals in the Midshipmen’s highest scoring game of the season.

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Navy wasted no time against Lehigh, as Patrick Moran scored an unassisted goal a little more than a minue into the game. Lehigh (3-4, 1-1) did not get on the board until 6:31 into the second quarter, when Max Dahlem scored an unassisted goal. By that time Navy led 4-1, and the Midshipmen took a 6-1 lead into halftime.

The second half was more of the same as Lehigh did not score until it found the back of the net twice in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.

Lehigh’s three goals were the second lowest total by a Navy opponent this season. Navy held VMI to two goals in the season opener. The Midshipmen were fourth in the nation and best in the league in goals against average with 5.4 goals allowed a game heading into yesterday’s game.

“Defensively, we felt like we could focus on their best players and minimize their opportunities,” defender Jordan DiNola said. “That was probably the most complete defensive game we’ve played so far.”

Navy’s win continued nearly a century of domination over the Mountain Hawks. It was Navy’s 23rd straight win in the series. The Midshipmen have not lost to Lehigh since 1913. Last year, Navy topped the Mountain Hawks 9-5 at Lehigh.

Navy’s will head to Dallas for another league game against Holy Cross (3-2, 0-2) at Texas Stadium. The Midshipmen beat Holy Cross 12-2 in their only meeting last year.

Navy coach Richie Meade said he was pleased with his team’s effort against Lehigh, which included winning by their largest margin of the season.

“We had a lot of respect for [Lehigh] and I just thing we played well,” Meade said. “I can’t really look at what we did and be critical of anything,”

avitelli@baltimoreexaminer.com