Lehigh University
West Chester
Second-half woes plague Lehigh in loss at WCU
9/2/2009 6:15:00 PM | Field Hockey
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WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Lehigh hung tough with West Chester through 35 minutes, but the host Golden Rams erupted for five second half goals en route to a 5-0 win over the Mountain Hawks Wednesday afternoon at Vonnie Gros Field. The Mountain Hawks out-shot West Chester and had more penalty corners, but could not dent the score sheet. Kristen Foore scored twice in the first 14 minutes of the second half to put the host Golden Rams ahead for good.
The first half favored the Mountain Hawks, who held an 8-3 edge in shots and limited the Golden Rams to just three while keeping West Chester off the scoreboard.
“We dominated the first half,” explained a frustrated Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “We out-shot them. It seemed like we hit every part of the cage except for the back. We simply couldn’t finish.”
Things changed however, in the second half when Foore scored an unassisted goal at the 39:41 mark and then added a second goal nine minutes later to put West Chester up 2-0. The Golden Rams picked up their offense from there, as Alyssa Gallen and Melissa LeNoir added unassisted goals before Nicola Fiorilla capped the scoring by converting a penalty stroke with just over ten minutes remaining.
“It was a situation where we were playing well, moving the ball,” said Mazer. “The defense was taking hard, aggressive tackles and taking the ball away. Everything changed when they scored a couple goals. We stopped doing what was working for us once we went down a few goals."
Mazer continued, “We have to do a better job of recognizing what’s working and continue to do it. It’s hockey. Goals are going to be scored; we need to bounce back when goals are scored against us. It’s something I know this team can do.”
For the game, Lehigh held a 17-11 advantage in shots and a 6-4 edge in penalty corners. Freshman Kim Eng led all players with eight shots, including three on goal.
Joelle Zarefoss was strong in the goal cage for West Chester, turning aside 10 shots to earn the shutout. Junior Jessica Miller made three saves for the Mountain Hawks, while classmate Claire Horn added a pair of defensive saves for the Brown and White.
The Mountain Hawks will try again for win number one on Saturday when they wrap-up their season-opening three-game road trip against Bryant. Game time is set for 1 p.m. from Smithfield, R.I.
