Lehigh comes back, falls short

Bethlehem, PA – Despite coming back from a 2-0 first half deficit, Lehigh (3-11, 0-4 Patriot League) dropped a 5-2 final to Villanova (9-8, 3-1 Big East) at the Ulrich Sports Complex Wednesday evening.
      The Wildcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on unassisted goals by Rory Rogers and Stephanie Grejtak. Lehigh cut the deficit in half after freshman Maureen Harrington converted a penalty stroke for her fourth goal of the season, at the 21:59 mark. Barely five minutes into the second half, at the 40:12 mark, junior Blaire Goodwin shot a feed from classmate Lisa Nichols into the back of the cage to tie the score at 2-2. The goal was Goodwin’s team-leading ninth of the season, while Nichols assist was her team-best fourth on the year.
      Villanova kicked its offense up a notch after that, scoring two more unassisted goals in the next 6:30, to take a 4-2 advantage. Vanessa Pizzulli’s score at the 42:37 mark proved to be the game-winner and Christina Lugones and Leah Lisausky added goals of their own, as Lehigh could not recover.
      "We played very well tonight, despite the score," head coach Michelle Finegan said. "Down 2-1 at halftime, our goal was to come out and tie it in the first five minutes. We did that, but then our defense had a short lapse, and Villanova took full advantage of it. We played well on offense all evening, and our defense performed well, except for that one stretch in the second half."
      Freshman Meghan Gove played the first 46:23 of the evening in goal for Lehigh, before being relieved by sophomore Jeanine Hoff. Gove made a pair of saves, while surrendering all five Wildcat goals. Meghan Helwig started in goal for Villanova making one save and allowing two goals in 61:38 of action.
      Its back to Patriot League play for the Mountain Hawks when they host rival Lafayette on Saturday. Game time at the Ulrich Sports Complex is set for 1:00 and the game can be heard live on the Lehigh website at www.lehigh.edu.

Scoring

Team

Final

Villanova

Lehigh

Goal Summary

Team

Goal

Assist

Time

Villanova

Rory Rogers

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