Lehigh University
Navy
Offensive explosion leads to 15-12 win over Navy
4/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
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Lehigh out shot Navy 34-26, including a 22-10 advantage in the second half, with Carmola (9) and Dykstra (8) leading the way. Sophomore Jen Ingalls scooped up a team-best five of Lehigh’s 26 ground balls and she also won five draw controls and caused one turnover. MacIntyre added four ground balls, while freshman Allison Thomas won three draw controls.
In goal for the Mountain Hawks, sophomore Kelsy Ferris sent back nine shots in 60 minutes of action and for Navy, Natalie Blandon was credited with 12 saves in net for the Mids.
Navy’s Mary Ruttum scored the game’s first goal just 37 seconds in, but Carmola tied things at one with 25th score of the season at the 27:02. The Mids netted the next three scores to take a 4-1 lead with 24:31 left in the first half, but MacIntyre brought the Mountain Hawks to within two with a goal at the 23:22 mark.
Four straight goals by Navy increased its lead to 8-2 at the 14:24 mark and Lehigh looked like it might be in some trouble. Meagan Tenety and Carmola netted back-to-back scores within 60 seconds of one another to make the score 8-4 in favor of the visitors with 11:19 to go in the opening half. Ruttum scored with 3:07 left in the first to send the teams into halftime with Navy leading 9-4.
After making several halftime adjustments, Lehigh came out on fire in the second as junior Tess McGrath opened the scoring at the 28:11 mark to make the score 9-5. Dykstra followed that up with her first score of the afternoon and after scores by Carmola and another by Dykstra, Lehigh was down by just one at 9-8.
Back-to-back goals from MacIntyre, one on a free position shot, and the other assisted by Carmola, put Lehigh on top for the first time all afternoon long with 22:55 on the clock. Dykstra, Tenety and Thomas added three more goals and with 14:55 to go, the Brown and White was ahead 13-9. Navy finally got on the board in the second when Meg Decker scored with 13:20 to go, but Carmola and McGrath answered with back-to-back scores to make the score 15-10 with 6:07 remaining.
Navy scored two goals in the final five minutes, but it was too little, too late as the Mountain Hawks won their second straight league contest.
“The draw controls in the second half were huge for us,” Lehigh head coach Liz Brode Ota said afterwards. “LD (Lauren Dykstra) taking those draws for us was an absolute huge part of the outcome.” She continued, “We switched to a particular defense in that second half and that was a much better improvement over the first half. We moved into it quickly and were able to slow them down. Kelsy (Ferris) made some big saves in that second half as well.”
Ota concluded, “Our attack played very well and I think we showed today that just about anyone on our team can score. The fight we showed in that second half was the biggest key. We never got down on ourselves, we continued to compete.”
Lehigh is back in action on Tuesday evening when the Mountain Hawks play host to the Marist Red Foxes at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Game time is set for 7:00 and all of the action will be broadcast live on Lehighsports.com.
Photography 2008 (c), Alex Cena
