Lehigh University
Holy Cross
Waved-off goal makes Lehigh settle for road draw
10/17/2009 5:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer
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WORCESTER, Mass. – For the second time this week and the fourth time in its last six games, 110 minutes was not enough for Lehigh to determine a winner as the Mountain Hawks played Holy Cross to a 0-0 draw Saturday in their final road match of the season at Linda Johnson Smith Stadium. The Mountain Hawks nearly won the game in the final seconds of the second overtime, but an apparent Lehigh goal was waved off due to a foul committed against Crusader goalkeeper Mary Ferketic. Lehigh is now 7-3-5 overall and 1-1-2 in league games.
“It was a back-and-forth game at times,” said Lehigh head coach Manny Oudin. “We had some good opportunities and they had two fantastic opportunities where our goalkeeper made some big plays in one-versus-one situations.”
Once the game went to extra time, Lehigh began to look like a team that was playing its second straight overtime game. Junior Lauren Mains made two key saves on Paige Harrison and Shelby Stand in the first overtime period and another save on Stand in the second overtime.
With 30 seconds remaining in the second overtime, Lehigh was awarded its fourth corner kick and sophomore Leah Kulp’s corner appeared to be put into the goal but after the ball was apparently in the back of the net the referee blew his whistle and indicated a Lehigh foul, wiping away the would-be game winning goal.
“The frustrating thing was that our goalkeeper made the big saves on one end,” explained Oudin. “But on the other side it was a referee’s decision that affected the outcome. The officials did not let the players determine the outcome of the match.”
Mains finished the game with five saves as did her Crusader counterpart Ferketic. The Mountain Hawks out-shot the Crusaders 10-8 and had a 4-1 edge in corner kicks. Lehigh’s offense was led by sophomore and senior co-captains Hailey Coonrad and Natalie Hojnacki who each fired two shots. Stand led all players with three shots for Holy Cross, which stands at 7-6-2 overall, 1-2-1 in the Patriot League.
With the draw, Lehigh maintains fourth place in the league standings with five points, pending the result of Saturday night’s game between American and Colgate.
The Mountain Hawks have three games remaining in the regular season. All three are league games, and all three will be played at the Ulrich Sports Complex, beginning Friday night when Lehigh hosts American at 7 p.m. Streaming video of the contest will be available online at Lehighsports.com.
