Lehigh University
Saint Francis (Pa.)
Mountain Hawks rally to down Saint Francis, 3-1
9/16/2009 5:15:00 PM | Field Hockey
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LORETTO, Pa. – Freshman Kim Eng scored her fifth goal of the season to break a 1-1 tie as Lehigh rallied for its second straight victory, 3-1 over Saint Francis Wednesday afternoon at DeGol Field. Eng, the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Week, had a hand in all three Mountain Hawk goals as she added two assists to her second consecutive game-winning goal. Lehigh improves to 2-3 with the victory, while Saint Francis is now 0-6.
Both teams struggled through a scoreless first 35 minutes, with the host Red Flash out shooting Lehigh by a slim 7-6 margin, and enjoying a 6-4 penalty corner edge over the Mountain Hawks as well.
“We didn’t have a very good first half but we stayed composed,” explained Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “Saint Francis played well in the first half, but we were able to get out of the half without allowing a goal.”
Saint Francis went in front 2:40 into the second half as Rebecca Reiff scored with an assist from Tia Dudukovich, but the Mountain Hawks wasted little answering as Eng set up sophomore Caitlin Donnelly, who tied the game at one just 21 seconds later with her first goal of the season.
Eng then put Lehigh in front at the 48:37 mark with a strong breakaway run that concluded with a hard low-angled shot from the top of the circle. The Mountain Hawk freshman has now scored a goal in three straight games and four of Lehigh’s five this season.
Lehigh added an insurance goal with just over four minutes remaining as senior Morgan Christopher deflected in Eng’s drive off a corner for her second goal of the season.
“They scored early in the second half but we responded right away,” Mazer said. “I’m pleased with how we responded. We made some adjustments at halftime; we used our passing a lot more. We made good adjustments; it just took us a while to get everything working.”
Defensively for the Mountain Hawks, junior goalkeeper Lilia Stefaniwsky made seven saves, subbing for the injured Jess Miller. Classmate Lauren Cawley added to the defensive effort with a pair of defensive saves for the Brown and White.
“Lilia was great,” said Mazer. “She was critical to our success today. She was strong on corners and on clears and definitely took charge in the circle when she needed to.”
Sara Dittmann made seven saves for the Red Flash who enjoyed a 15-9 advantage in penalty corners, while shots were even at 12 on the afternoon.
The Mountain Hawks will be back on the turf on Sunday when they open a seven game home stand against Cornell. Game time is set for 1 p.m. from the new Ulrich Field and streaming video of the contest will be available at Lehighsports.com.
