BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh opens up a four match home stand on Friday night as the Mountain Hawks play host to the American Eagles in the first of two key Patriot League tilts Lehigh will host this weekend. The Mountain Hawks will also host defending league champion Navy on Sunday, but first Lehigh will look to bounce back from a 2-1 loss at Holy Cross in its league opener last Sunday. The Mountain Hawks will try to avoid losing their first two Patriot League games for the first time since 1999.
Senior Melissa Montalvo netted her second goal of the season, but Lehigh could not hold an early lead last Sunday in Worcester, Mass. Two Lauren Wright goals led to a surprising 2-1 win for the upstart Crusaders. Lehigh will look to get its offense jump-started as the Mountain Hawks have struggled to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities. The Mountain Hawks out shot Holy Cross 23-13 last weekend, but could not rally to earn a positive result. Sophomore Liz Carlos continues to lead the team in scoring with three goals, but Lehigh as a team has just 12 in eleven games.
American enters Friday’s game as one of the surprise teams of the early season. The Eagles, picked fifth in the league’s preseason poll, won their first four games this season and enter Friday’s game with a 7-5 record. American won its league opener 1-0 at Colgate, with freshman Friederike Engel scoring the lone goal and Hannah Radley earning her first career shutout in goal. Kelsey Brasher and Krystn Hodge have combined to score 13 of American’s 19 goals, with no other player reaching double figures on the season.
The Eagles lead the all-time series 6-3, including a 1-0 triumph last year in Washington, D.C. The last Lehigh win came in the last meeting here in Bethlehem, a 2-0 Mountain Hawk victory in 2005.
Friday night’s game gets underway at 7 p.m. from the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports.
