Lehigh University
No. 2 Colgate
Lehigh can't hold early lead; falls in semifinals
4/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
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Things started off much better for Lehigh than its last meeting with Colgate as the Mountain Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Senior Christy Smith scored the game’s first goal just 19 seconds in and Carmola followed with back-to-back scores to put the third seeded Mountain Hawks ahead 3-0. Freshman Allison Thomas then took a feed from Tess McGrath and found the back of the net and Lehigh was up 4-0.
The Raiders responded with eight consecutive goals however and took an 8-4 lead at the 10:26 mark of the opening half. Carmola and Meagan Tenety scored back-to-back goals for the Brown and White to make the score 8-6 at the 6:48 mark. From there Lehigh scored just once more in the half though and went into halftime trailing 12-7.
Colgate scored the first two goals of the second half to go in front 14-7, but Tenety netted her second score of the afternoon at the 25:22 mark to bring Lehigh to within six. After a Raider goal, Dykstra netted her second score of the game, but Colgate ripped off five consecutive scores and took a 20-9 lead with 11:29 remaining. Lehigh scored three more times but it wasn’t enough as the Brown and White fell in the tournament’s opening round for the second straight season.
“This wasn’t the performance we were looking for,” Lehigh head coach Liz Brode Ota said afterwards. “We came out strong and had a strong desire to reverse what happened the last time we played them (Colgate). I think Colgate was very fit and fast and that proved to be the difference. Their fast break was tremendous and they were able to take advantage of opportunities.”
She continued, “We had several people banged up and we were missing Jen Ingalls on defense, and I think to take on a team as strong as Colgate, you need to be 100-percent. We really had to adjust on the fly playing without Jen and at times, it showed.”
Lehigh was out shot 36-23 for the game and was forced into 19 turnovers. The Mountain Hawks scooped up 18 ground balls and won 19 draw controls. With her three goals, Dykstra ties Brode Ota for the third most goals scored in a single season with 64.
Lehigh’s ten wins this season are the most since 2003 and the fifth most in the 33-year history of the program.
