Lehigh University
Penn
Lehigh ties Penn 1-1 on the road
9/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
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PHILADELPHIA- Lehigh extended its unbeaten streak to five games, with a 1-1 tie Saturday night at
In the first half, Evans got the Mountain Hawks on the board early, putting his sixth goal of the season past Penn goalkeeper Drew Healy in the sixth minute. Jim Taranto picked up his team leading fourth assist when he found Evans, who was able to put the low shot past a diving Healy. Less than a minute later, Evans nearly put his second goal of the game in, when his shot beat Healy, but it hit the crossbar and bounced out of play.
Richard Frank almost got the Quakers on the board in the 12th minute, when he split the defense on a long clear, finding himself on a one-on-one with Lehigh goalkeeper Brian Lee. Lee made a great play by charging the ball and smothering it before Frank had a chance to get off the shot.
Lehigh controlled the play for most of the first half, and out shot the Quakers 5-3. Both goalkeepers played great halves, each recording three saves to keep the game close at 1-0.
The Mountain Hawks came out flying early again in the second half. In the 49th minute, Adam Welch sent a shot at the net that was punched out by Healy and Jesse Schram found the rebound in front of the net, but he pushed the shot went just wide left.
Penn finally got on the board in the 71st minute, when Alex Fairman headed in an Alex Grendi corner kick to tie the game at 1-1. It was Frairman’s first goal of the season, while Grendi picked up his second assist.
The two teams battled defensively for the rest of the half, with neither wanting to give up that decisive goal. Going into the first overtime, Lehigh held the shots lead, 9-6, while the Quakers held a slight advantage in corner kicks, 6-5.
In the first overtime, Lee made two spectacular saves to keep the game tied. The second of those saves came in the 98th minute, when he knocked aside a Derek Hobson shot to prevent the game winning goal.
The second overtime featured much of the same, as the teams battled defensively, not wanting to give up the big play. Lehigh had the last great chance to win the game, when Patrick Cucci put a shot on net in the 110th minute, but Healy came up with the save to help his team secure the tie.
The Brown and White out shot the Quakers 11-9 in the game, but Penn held the edge in shots on goal 8-5. Brian Lee played his best game of the season in net for Lehigh, stopping a season high seven shots, and made a couple of key saves to keep the score tied.
Lehigh returns to action on Wednesday, when they host the Fordham Rams at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., and can be seen live on Lehighsports.com, with streaming content provided by Yahoo! Sports.
