Lehigh University
Lafayette
Lehigh drops road game to rival Lafayette
10/17/2009 4:30:00 PM | Field Hockey
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EASTON, Pa. – Despite an 11 save effort from junior goalkeeper Lilia Stefaniwsky Lehigh fell to arch rival Lafayette Saturday afternoon at Rappolt Field. Deanna DiCroce scored two goals for the host Leopards, who picked up their first Patriot League win of the season and move to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in the league. Lehigh was out-shot 27-4 and had a 21-3 disparity in penalty corners as the Mountain Hawks fall to 5-8 overall and 1-2 in the league.
“Lilia was phenomenal,” said Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “Our problem was we could not buy a corner and we gave up a ton of corners on the defensive end. It was very hard to let our frustrations go with all the corners we were giving up.”
With its 21 penalty corners on the afternoon, Lafayette kept consistent pressure on the Lehigh defense. DiCroce put the home team in front at the 18:43 mark capitalizing on a corner opportunity to score her ninth goal of the season with an assist from Kelly Hilovsky. Lafayette took a 1-0 lead into halftime and out-shot Lehigh 14-3 and out-cornered the Mountain Hawks 12-2 in the opening 35 minutes.
In the second half, DiCroce extended the Leopards lead with an unassisted goal, her tenth of the season at the 49:33 mark. Lafayette capped the scoring just over a minute later when Hilovsky netted her fifth goal of the season with an assist from Bridget Hilbig.
Freshman Kim Eng had two of Lehigh’s four shots, while Katey Fardelmann and Kelsey Zeswitz had the other two shots for the Brown and White.
“I thought Katey Fardelmann had a strong game in terms of corner defense,” explained Mazer. “Our biggest frustration is that we still need to take better care of the ball. We had trouble possessing the ball through the midfield and we didn’t make very good decision on restarts. Overall it was a very frustrating day for us.”
In addition to Stefaniwsky’s 11 saves, junior Lauren Cawley added her sixth defensive save of the season.
The Mountain Hawks will return to the turf Wednesday night at Columbia. Game time is set for 7 p.m. from New York.
