Lehigh University
Delaware
Hot offense leads Lehigh to a win at Delaware
9/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
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NEWARK, Del. – The Mountain Hawks found their offense Tuesday night as they defeated the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens 5-1 at Delaware Mini-Stadium. For the first time all season Lehigh was able to get on the board in the first half of a game with goals from freshman Austin Decker and senior Adam Gazda. The scoring didn’t stop there as Lehigh got second half goals from sophomore Steven Avena, Gazda and Joe Puleo. With the win Lehigh improves to 2-2-1 on the season.
“We struggled a bit in the first half and we didn’t play at a level to sustain the lead,” head coach Dean Koski said. “Even though we had a lead we made some minor adjustments at the half and we came out and controlled the rest of the game.”
Lehigh got on the board first when senior Jesse Schram’s pass split the Delaware backs from 40 yards out to set up Decker for his second goal of the season to give the Mountain Hawks an early lead in the 14th minute. Gazda kept things rolling when he scored his first goal of the season in the 27th minute off a Neal Melchionni corner kick that he headed into the net. The Mountain Hawks were able to build a first half lead for the first time this season.
“We made some adjustments with Schram and Gazda to try and free Gazda up and it worked,” Koski said. “We spent a little more time on the attack and getting guys in spots that they would be most effective at.”
The two goal lead didn’t last for long as Delaware scored its only goal in the game in the 30th minute as sophomore Kyle Ellis scored his first goal of the season off a pass from freshman Ben Raymond.
The Mountain Hawks didn’t let up in the second half as Avena scored his first career collegiate goal in the 55th minute to give Lehigh back its two goal lead. The Blue Hen defenders gave Avena some space and he took advantage of it firing one from 40 yards out that dipped right under the cross bar and into the net.
Gazda showed off his experience crashing the net after a Puleo cross in the 62nd minute to give him his second goal of the night. Puleo went on to get one of his own as he buried one from 18 yards out to give him his first goal of the season.
Lehigh has been pushed hard over the last few weeks and it looks like the training is starting to pay off after the great performance tonight.
“Delaware was a good team and they were a good challenge,” Koski said. “As a whole the team worked hard and we got some big second half goals. We are working on becoming healthy and getting guys more comfortable in their roles.”
The Mountain Hawks held the advantage in shots with 14 as the Blue Hens could only get off 11. Delaware had a big advantage in corner kicks 10-4, but failed to capitalize on the chances.
Lehigh will return home to host the College of Charleston at 7 p.m. on Friday in game two of a soccer double-header. The women’s team will kick things off at 4 p.m. as they take on Virginia Commonwealth University. Fans can tune into Lehighsports.com for live action of both games.
