Lehigh University Athletics
Mountain Hawks look to rebound in home opener
9/2/2008 3:45:00 PM | Field Hockey
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Two teams looking to bounce back from rough season openers meet on the turf Wednesday night as Lehigh welcomes the West Chester Golden Rams to the Ulrich Sports Complex for the Mountain Hawks 2008 home opener. Both teams will be looking to bounce back from disappointing debut performances, as Lehigh fell 5-0 at Temple on Saturday while West Chester opened its season with a 6-0 setback at home against Rutgers.
Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer hopes her team can have a bounce-back performance against her alma mater. The Mountain Hawks fell behind 3-0 in the first ten minutes on Saturday and never recovered. Lehigh will look to get its offense going as the Mountain Hawks, led by seniors Kalynn Davies and Kara Zweizig and junior Kelly Fox, were shut-out on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks were only kept off the scoreboard once in 18 games last season. Sophomore Jessica Miller was credited with six saves against Temple, while classmate Taryn Hartzell recorded a pair of defensive saves to lead Lehigh’s defensive effort.
West Chester comes in looking for a similar rebound after a six-goal home loss on Sunday. The Golden Rams were limited to just five shots, while the visiting Scarlet Knights netted three scores in each half. West Chester lost its top two scorers from a year ago, with sophomore Alex Swayze serving as the team’s top returning scorer with five goals and 12 points a year ago. Joelle Zarefoss returns as the starter in the goal cage for the Golden Rams.
The Golden Rams lead the all-time series versus Lehigh 18-7-1 and have won the last two meetings, including a 3-2 triumph in West Chester last year. Lehigh’s last win in the series was a 3-2 win in Bethlehem in 2004. Julie Mazer is 2-2 versus her alma mater.
Wednesday night’s game gets underway at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports College Broadcast.
