BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh saw its two game winning streak come to an end Saturday afternoon, as the Mountain Hawks were blanked by Columbia 2-0 at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Lions scored a goal in each half, while shutting out Lehigh for the first time this season. Both teams now stand at 2-3 on the season.
Columbia took the lead 24 minutes in as Kelly Robinson snuck a shot past Lehigh goalkeeper Stephanie Palmieri. The Lions out shot Lehigh 10-5 in the opening half and held a 5-2 advantage in penalty corners. Palmieri did her best to keep the Mountain Hawks in the game, making six saves in the opening half.
In the second half, Lehigh picked up the pressure, but were unable to secure an equalizer. The Lions put the game away in the 55th minute, when Laura Cosan deflected Kim Branich’s shot off a penalty corner to close out the scoring.
“Columbia did a really good job in capitalizing off of our mistakes,” said Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “We were able to pick up our effort, our passing and our shots in the second half, but we seemed to be just a little out of synch. We’re going to need to play with more urgency for the full 70 minutes.
Palmieri made a season high nine saves for Lehigh, and the Mountain Hawks were out-shot 15-11 on the afternoon. Columbia held an 11-6 advantage in penalty corners. Gena Miller made four saves to earn the shutout in goal for the Lions.
The Mountain Hawks will return to the turf on Sunday when they wrap-up their weekend of games against the Ivy League against Brown. Game time is set for 12:00 pm. The game will be televised live on Service Electric 2 Sports, and there will be live streaming audio and video online at lehighsports.com.
