New York, NY – Lehigh dropped its third straight contest on Wednesday evening to
Columbia by a score of 12-3 in New York City. The Lions scored seven first half goals and never allowed the Mountain Hawks to get going in this one. Emily Studdiford scored twice for Lehigh, which was playing its first road game since March 20. With the loss, Lehigh falls to 3-7 on the season, while Columbia improves to 6-4.
Grace Sterritt scored the game’s first goal, just 22 seconds into the contest and Columbia seized the early 1-0 lead. However, Lehigh came right back on the strength of a Studdiford goal six minutes later and the game was all knotted up at one. But Columbia then scored four consecutive goals to put the Mountain Hawks on their heels and take a 5-1 lead. Barrie Cominsky then stopped the bleeding for Lehigh as she found the back of the net off of an assist from Kellan Van Hoesen with 13 minutes left in the half, and Lehigh had some life, down only 5-2. Columbia reeled off two straight goals however, and the Lions were up 7-2, which was the score at halftime.
Elyse Pultz opened the second half scoring for Columbia, as she netted a goal at the 37:42 mark, and the lead for the Lions swelled to six at 8-2. Studdiford added her second goal of the evening at the 47:29 mark, but it was too late, as Lehigh had dug itself too deep.
Lehigh was outshot by Columbia 35-12 on the evening, and had only 24 groundballs, compared to the Ivy League member’s 34. Ashley Manion scooped up a team high five groundballs, while Sue Schoelle added four. Kyle Begina saw 35 shots on the day and sent back 11 of them in 60 minutes of work.
Lehigh returns to action on Saturday when the Mountain Hawks welcome Patriot League foe Villanova to the Ulrich Sports Complex. That game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 and can be heard live on Lehigh’s website at www.lehighsports.com.
