Lehigh University
Lafayette
Mountain Hawks fall to Leopards in see-saw affair
4/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It was a down to the wire finish, but in the end, Lafayette was able to score the game’s last goal, out lasting Lehigh 14-13 on Saturday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Freshman Sara MacIntyre led the Mountain Hawks with five goals, as she broke the record for most scores by a freshman in school history with 47. Sophomore Christy Smith added three scores for Lehigh, who sees its season come to an end with a record of 6-10 overall and 1-5 in the Patriot League. The Leopards up their record to 7-9 overall and 3-3 in league action.
Head coach Liz Ota expressed her thoughts following the game. “That was just a great game tonight. It was Lehigh-Lafayette, what else can you say.” She continued, “I thought our girls really played well, we just had a few break downs on defense which enabled them (
Lehigh came out strong, jumping to a quick 3-0 lead on the strength of one goal each from Lissy King, MacIntyre and Chamberlain.
The two teams would go scoreless for the next five-plus minutes, until Smith netted goal number-two on the evening to tie the contest at five with 8:57 to go.
Samantha Ziegler netted the second half’s first goal at the 21:14 mark to put the Leopards in frton 9-6, but two straight scores from Chamberlain and Meagan Tenety got Lehigh to within one at 9-8. Ziegler then scored again at the 19:22 mark to make the score 10-8 Lafayette, but MacIntyre scored back-to-back goals to tie the game and break the record which was set by both Jill Altshuler and Carla Juliani. Ziegler answered yet again for the visitors with goal number 32 on the season, and
Lissy King would then tie the game at 12 with 9:09 to go, before Mountain had an answer scoring off of a feed from Diana Crai with 8:28 left. With the Leopards in front by one, MacIntyre netted her fifth and final score of the evening with 5:59 remaining, and the game was tied at 13 heading down the stretch. Lehigh had a chance late to take the lead but a free position shot was saved by Leopard keeper Jaclyn Kushner, giving the ball back the visitors. On their next possession, the Leopards received the game-winner from Mountain with just 42 ticks left. The Mountain Hawks would get one final chance, but simply ran out of time before being able to get a shot off.
Lehigh honored its three seniors, Kyle Begina, Caitlin Carney and Eileen Miller prior to the game, and that trio each played well in their final appearance at Ulrich. Begina finished with seven saves on the night, as she closes her career with over 450 stops. Miller, as Ota mentioned, played terrific defense on the potent Booth, and the New York native added two ground balls, while Carney scooped up four ground balls and caused two turnovers.
Chamberlain, Smith and Tenety each dished out two assists for the Mountain Hawks, who out shot the Leopards 30-29 on the evening. Lehigh scooped up 27 ground balls for the game, to Lafayette's 23, led by Carney, Tess McGrath and Smith with four each. Mountain and Ziegler each netted five scores for the Leopards, while Crai handed out a team-best three helpers.
Photos Copyright (2006), Neil Tranter.
