Lehigh University
No. 15 Penn State
Lehigh battles with Penn State before falling
4/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Lehigh hung tough with the No. 15 Penn State Nittany Lions on Wednesday afternoon before eventually falling 14-10. The Mountain Hawks battled back from an 8-3 deficit at halftime and outscored the home team 7-6 in the final 30 minutes of play. Sophomore Lauren Dykstra found the back of the net five times for Lehigh, which falls to 8-5 following the setback, while PSU’s Kerry Shea scored four times in helping the Nittany Lions improve to 6-6 following the win.
Lehigh out shot Penn State on the day, 25-24, led by Dykstra’s 11 attempts and Inneke Carmola with five. The Mountain Hawks and Nittany Lions both scooped up 25 ground balls, with Dykstra and Kelsy Ferris each scooping up six. Freshman Leigh Ann Torcivia won three draw controls for the Brown and White, while Dykstra and Ferris caused three turnovers apiece. Ferris also stopped six shots in goal for Lehigh.
Penn State’s Kerry Shea and Jen Steadman were credited with four shots apiece, while Shea scooped up four of the home team’s 25 GBs. Maggie Dunbar caused two TOs and won three draw controls, while in goal Stephanie Ellis sent back nine shots.
Penn State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game before Dykstra scored her 47th goal of the season at the 20:11 mark of the half. Freshman Kelly Draper followed with a score to make it a 4-2 game with 18:41 remaining before halftime. Steadman and Erica Mihm netted back-to-back goals for the home team though, putting Lehigh back in a four-goal hole.
Dykstra scored her second goal of the day with 13:20 left in the first, but that was Lehigh’s final goal of the half, as the Mountain Hawks went into halftime trailing 8-3.
Shea opened the second half with her third score of the day to give Penn State a six-goal cushion but Carmola and Dykstra responded with two straight free position goals to get the Mountain Hawks right back into it at 9-5. Theresa Bucci stopped Lehigh’s run with a score, but Kindall Healy came right back and scored off a feed from Dykstra to make the score 10-6.
Penn State scored two more times though to push its lead back to six. But the Mountain Hawks refused to go away, as Meagan Tenety scored two straight times, including one on a free position shot and the second off a feed from Lauren Murray to rally Lehigh within four at 12-8. Dykstra then scored goal number-50 on the season and with 3:59 on the clock, the Mountain Hawks were within three, 12-9.
Maria Valderes put a stop to Lehigh’s offensive outburst to make the score 13-9 but Dykstra answered with her fifth and final goal at the 1:47 mark. Bucci added one more goal for the home team though to seal the win for PSU.
Lehigh moves back into Patriot League play on Saturday with a huge showdown in Annapolis versus the Navy Midshipmen. The opening draw control is set for 1:00.
