Mountain Hawks to visit rival Lafayette on Saturday
10/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
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“It’s a game our players definitely look forward to,” said Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “There’s always a lot of electricity in the air, and it really does not matter how our respective seasons have gone to this point, because we know that anything can happen in rivalry game like this.”
Christy Smith’s goal five minutes into overtime propelled the Mountain Hawks past Bucknell last Saturday night. For her efforts, Smith was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career.
“It is incredible experience to get to compete in the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry,” said Smith, a senior co-captain. “The excitement and enthusiasm of the tradition always brings the best out of both teams!”
Smith, who also stars on the lacrosse field, will be playing her seventh Lehigh-Lafayette game on Saturday. In her first game back in 2004, Smith scored two goals to propel the Mountain Hawks past the Leopards and into the Patriot League tournament for the first time since 1996.
Junior forwards Kalynn Davies and Kara Zweizig have led Lehigh offensively. Davies is tied for the league lead in goals with seven, including the game-tying goal against the Bison. Zweizig has added six tallies for the Brown and White, half of which have been game-winners.
Sophomore Lindsey Smith has also been a factor offensively. The younger Smith sister has scored in each of Lehigh’s last three games, and has worked in tandem with her older sister to help the Mountain Hawks control the midfield.
Defensively, Mongan and fellow seniors Lauren Volpe and Stacy Sommerfield have come through when needed, as evidenced by their keeping Bucknell off the scoreboard for the final 63 minutes on Saturday night. The veteran trio has also helped out freshman goalkeeper Jessica Miller, who has started all ten games for the Mountain Hawks, and leads the Patriot League in saves per game.
Through ten games, Lehigh and Lafayette have faced four common opponents. Both teams have lost to Cornell and
“We’ve had a great week of practice,” noted Mazer. “We’ve focused on the fact that this year is an entirely different year and that going out and playing our game with this year’s team, and giving everything we have is what we need to do to be successful.”
Saturday’s game gets underway at 1 p.m. from Rappolt Field.
