Lehigh opens league play on Friday vs archrival Lafayette
9/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Lehigh already has three wins on the road this year, which are more than each of head coach Julie Mazer’s first two seasons combined. On offense, senior captain Marissa Iannarone has jumped out to a fast start, with four goals, and a team-leading seven assists. Those seven helpers are also good for second in all of the Patriot League. Fellow senior Mary Beth Kuenne leads the Brown and White with five goals thus far, while Maureen Harrington and Kelsey Smith have chipped in with seven and five points respectively.
Although the start to the season isn’t what Iannarone and her Mountain Hawk teammates had envisioned, they have been focusing on improving everyday, and are anxious to start league play on Friday. “We definitely had a rough start to the season, but we have been trying to work on our weaknesses over the past few weeks in order to get ready for our Patriot League games. The season has been progressively getting better, and everyone has been working extremely hard and we can see that through the increased level of intensity that we’ve been playing with at each practice.”
Senior captain Meghan Gove helps anchor the Lehigh defense. The former Patriot League and ECAC goal keeper of the week has been solid all season long in the cage, with six games of double digit saves, including a career-high 18 at Brown on September 18. Gove currently leads the Patriot League in saves with 110 and in saves per game with 11.0.
In front of Gove, senior captain Mel Lepko directs the Mountain Hawk line of defense, and she speaks on behalf of all of her teammates, when she says this rivalry is something special. “Our game versus
Lepko continues, “Being a part of the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry is like nothing I have ever experienced; it's intense, it’s nerve-racking, and most of all it makes my teammates and I so proud. To be a part of such a long-standing, famous rivalry is an honor and privilege that I assure I do not take for granted.”
When the time comes on Friday evening, both Iannarone and Lepko know that Lehigh must be on top of its game in order to be successful. “We are going to need to play smart and confident for the full 70 minutes,” explains Lepko. “Our stick skills and passing will need to be sharp and we will absolutely need to make smart decisions with the ball.”
Iannarone echoes those comments. “In order for us to be successful on Friday, I think we just need to play our game, a passing game, and keep up the intensity that we have had in practice this past week.”
Common opponents for the two teams thus far have been
