Lehigh University
No. 12 Vanderbilt
Lehigh hangs tough with No. 12 Vanderbilt
2/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
 |
Lehigh was out shot 39-21 on the afternoon and scooped up 26 ground balls to the Commodores 39. Senior Christy Smith led the Mountain Hawks with five ground balls while junior Sarah Fudin registered four of her own. Christy Smith also won four draw controls, as Lehigh won 15 as a team.
“We played a very, very good Vanderbilt team today,” Lehigh head coach Liz Brode Ota said afterwards. “They have a senior group that has been starting since they were freshman so this served as excellent competition for us. We try to play up in our schedule once or twice a season as a barometer of the growth we’ve made from year to year.”
She continued, “This was a well played game, we certainly learned a great deal about ourselves. Playing at this level will help us when we head into Patriot League play. I thought Kelsy (Ferris) played well in goal against some great shooters and out attack demonstrated patience in generating several scoring opportunities.”
Carter Foote scored the game’s first goal at the 28:32 mark which began a string of four straight Commodore goals to begin the contest. Christy Smith answered with her fourth goal of the season on a free position shot with 19:23 left in the opening half. Vandy scored the next two goals to go in front 6-1, but Meagan Tenety brought the Mountain Hawks to within four with an unassisted score of her own at the 16:45 mark.
Sarah Downing scored for Vanderbilt to make the score 7-2, but MacIntyre answered for the Mountain Hawks to cut it to a four-goal game. The two teams then flip-flopped the next seven goals, as Lauren Dykstra and Carmola combined for three scores and brought Lehigh to within 11-6 at halftime.
MacIntyre netted the first goal of the second half with 20:08 remaining in the game and Lehigh was within four at 11-7. From there however, the Commodores showed how explosive they can be on offense, scoring five straight to take a 16-7 lead with 12:16 remaining. Carmola completed the hat trick with her third score at the 9:44 mark, but that was all the offense Lehigh would get as it saw its two-game winning streak snapped.
Tenety recorded Lehigh’s lone assist on the afternoon, while Downing handed out four helpers for the Commodores. In goal for Lehigh, Ferris sent back 17 shots on the afternoon, while for Vandy, Brooke Shinaberry stopped eight Lehigh shots.
Lehigh returns to action on February 28 when the Mountain Hawks travel to
