Mountain Hawks to tangle with Lafayette Saturday
10/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
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“As a team, we view every league game as a big game,” explained Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “
Mazer’s players echo the sentiment that every league game is important, but understand that there is a little something extra that goes into playing your arch rivals from down the road.
“There is an extra excitement and anticipation that comes along with Patriot League games,” said senior goalkeeper Stephanie Palmieri. “In terms of the rivalry, I think it is one of the best parts about going to Lehigh. There is a sense of tradition and pride in the rivalry, and that fact makes every Lehigh-Lafayette match-up in any sport especially important and fun.
Palmieri continues “There is something different about a Lehigh-Lafayette game as compared to any other game because it seems we are not just representing our team, but our entire university and we always want to represent Lehigh well.”
“The heart and emotion that goes into every play cannot be compared to any other game on our schedule,” adds senior midfielder Moira Garrity. “Every player is overwhelmed with Lehigh pride and the desire to win, not only for our team, but for every team that came before us."
The Mountain Hawks were supposed to play Rider on Wednesday night, but lightning forced the postponement of that contest. Lehigh snapped a four game losing streak with a 3-1 win last Saturday at Bucknell, as the Mountain Hawks won their league opener for the second straight season. Junior Christy Smith, freshman Morgan Christopher and sophomore Kara Zweizig scored goals for the Brown and White, with Zweizig netting her team leading fourth goal and Christopher scoring her first career game-winning goal. Lehigh’s defense was solid as well, limiting the Bison to just one goal. Junior back Lauren Volpe made her first defensive save of the year and was named the Patriot League’s Defensive Player of the Week. Overall, Mazer is pleased with her team’s improvement from the start of the season.
“We’ve made good adjustments as the season moved along,” said Mazer. “We’ve settled down and are making better decisions with the ball. We’re not beating ourselves. There’s a feeling that we’ve played well, but we can still play better.”
The Leopards come into Saturday’s game with a 1-9 record and a four game losing streak. Junior Laura Fabian leads
Saturday’s game gets underway at 1:00 from the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast online at lehighsports.com with streaming audio and video provided by Yahoo! Sports.
