Lehigh seeks win number-ten vs. Monmouth
4/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh begins the final week of its regular season on Wednesday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex as the Mountain Hawks play host to the Monmouth Hawks. Lehigh will look to build on the momentum it gained with a hard-fought 11-7 victory at Navy over the weekend that improved the Brown and White’s record to 9-5 overall. Lehigh’s 19 combined wins the last two seasons are its most since winning 26 games in 1995 and 1996. Monmouth meanwhile, comes into the game looking to snap a two game skid that includes a 5-4 setback to Sacred Heart on Saturday in triple overtime.
Lehigh has won its last four games at home, scoring an average of nearly 19 goals per game. The Mountain Hawks last played at the Ulrich Sports Complex on March 28 when they raced past Davidson by a score of 18-4. Sophomore Lauren Dykstra continues to lead Lehigh with 54 goals and 61 points. Named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for the third time on Monday, Dykstra ranks fourth in the nation in goals-per-game (3.9) and tenth in total points.
Junior Inneke Carmola is Lehigh’s second leading scorer with 25 goals and a team leading 18 assists, while freshman Kelly Draper has scored 33 goals and junior Meagan Tenety has added 18 scores and 14 helpers. Senior Sara MacIntyre enters Wednesday’s game with 143 career goals, which is good for fifth best in school history and tenth all-time in Patriot League annals. Her 159 career points are the most of any active player in the entire Patriot League.
Lehigh is currently second in America in ground balls per game, averaging 26.57 per contest. Dykstra leads the country in ground balls per game at 4.93 per, while her 69 total GBs are among the most in school history. Dykstra also leads the Brown and White in draw controls with 35 and caused turnovers with 22. Classmate Allison Thomas is second on the squad with 41 ground balls, while freshman Leigh Ann Torcivia has won 27 draw controls. Junior Kelsy Ferris has stopped 101 shots in goal this season, raising her career total to 454, good for tenth best in league history.
Monmouth enters Wednesday with an overall record of 6-8, including a 2-4 mark on the road. After dropping their first five contests of the season, the Hawks have rebounded to win six of their last eight games. Megan Brennan is the leading scorer for MU this season, having totaled 33 goals and 44 points, while Ali Pollock is the team leader in assists with 19. Seven different Hawks have scored at least ten goals and three of them have totaled 20 or more.
Brennan and Monica Johnson lead Monmouth with 24 ground balls apiece, with Perry Dewitt leading the team in draw controls with 31. DeWitt has also caused a team leading 17 turnovers, while in goal, Johnson has seen over 780 minutes of action and stopped 122 shots during that time.
Lehigh has played Monmouth eight previous times with the Hawks leading the series 5-3. Monmouth has won the last two contests, including a 14-9 victory in 2006 in Bethlehem. Lehigh’s last win came in Bethlehem in 2004, by a score of 11-9.
Lehigh and Monmouth will get underway at 7:00 on Wednesday evening. Live video of the contest will be shown on Lehighsports.com.
