Lehigh set to host Marist in season opener
8/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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The Mountain Hawks return a wealth of talent from last season’s squad, with nine starters and 17 letterwinners back in the mix. The Lehigh offense is led by senior Gina Lewandowski, the two-time reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year. With 33 career tallies, Lewandowski enters this season four goals shy of Lehigh’s career scoring record. Senior Daniela Molina and sophomore Christin Johnson (five goals each in ‘05) join Lewandowski as top returning scorers.
The key to Lehigh’s 2005 success was its defense. Led by junior Michaela Pawlewicz (Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year), sophomore Hailey Coonrad and sophomore goalkeeper Julie Kafka, the Mountain Hawks boasted a 0.27 goals-against average and allowed five goals all season, the fewest yielded in all of Division I women’s soccer. Kafka also led the NCAA in save percentage, putting aside over 94 percent of all shots on goal.
Marist was 5-12-2 a year ago, good for sixth in the MAAC. The Red Foxes won a game in the MAAC tournament before bowing out in the semifinals. Senior Justine Caccamo led Marist with six goals and 15 points last season.
Lehigh leads the all-time series against Marist 5-0-1. The most recent meeting between the teams was a 4-1 by Lehigh in
Friday night’s match gets underway at 7:00 pm from the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast live online at lehighsports.com with streaming audio and video powered by Yahoo! Sports.
