Bethlehem, PA – Lehigh failed to score a goal for the first time in its last three games and fell to No. 14 Penn State 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
The two team battled evenly throughout, but the Nittany Lions were able to score the one goal and come away with the road victory.
With the loss the Mountain Hawks, ranked fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Region, fall to
11-6-2 on the season while Penn State improves to 10-3-7.
Penn State got on the board on a nice cross pass from Richard Costanzo to Simon Omekanda that he deposited in the back of the net at the 31:82 mark to put the Nittany Lions in front 1-0. Brian Devlin also assisted on the goal for Penn State. Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the half and so the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Nittany Lions at halftime. Penn State outshot Lehigh in the first 45 minutes and actually limited the Brown and White to just two shots for the half.
Lehigh battled Penn State tough the entire second half and began to get some opportunities on the offensive end of things, applying pressure on that side of the field. The Mountain Hawks unleashed six shots in the second stanza and turned up the intensity on the defensive side of things, causing Penn State to work for each chance it had.
Lehigh had 17 shots on the afternoon and Penn State got off eight of its own, while in goal for the Mountain Hawks freshman Charlie Sales turned back seven Nittany Lion attempts and for Penn State, Conrad Taylor stopped four shots by the Brown and White.
Head Coach Dean Koski loved the match up for Lehigh versus a nationally ranked team. “I think we struggled a little bit in the first half and I think Penn State played very well. We settled in during the second half and showed that we can compete.” Koski concluded, “Penn State showed why they are ranked No. 14 in the country and this was a good test for our kids, this will prepare us very well for the upcoming tournament.”
Lehigh returns to action on Friday, November 12 when the second seeded Mountain Hawks travel to Washington, D.C. to take on Bucknell, the third seed in the 2004 Patriot League Tournament. Game time is set for 11:00 with the winner moving onto Sunday’s Patriot League Championship game versus the winner of number one American and fourth seeded Lafayette. Lehigh and Bucknell played earlier this season and it was the Mountain Hawks coming away with a key 3-0 shutout win on a cold rainy night in the middle of October at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
