Lehigh University
Albany
Fitzer scores late to lead Lehigh past Albany
9/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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ALBANY, N.Y. – For the second straight year Lehigh and Albany were scoreless after 88 minutes, and just like 2008, the Mountain Hawks finally broke through with a goal in the 89th minute to down the Great Danes 1-0 Sunday afternoon at Varsity Field. Junior Glynn Fitzer scored her first goal of the season off a feed from senior Natalie Hojnacki, while junior goalkeeper Lauren Mains pitched her second straight shutout to lead the Mountain Hawks, who improve to 2-1-1 on the season.
“We certainly were feeling the effects of (playing 110 minutes) Friday night early in this game,” explained Lehigh head coach Manny Oudin. “But we still came out and established some good energy. We got some good minutes out of a lot of players. We made a big push in the final five minutes and found that we had something left in the tank and were able to score the goal late.”
With just a minute and a half remaining in regulation, Fitzer took a cross from Hojnacki and beat Albany goalkeeper Brianna Maggio on a breakaway from 12 yards out for her fourth career goal to break the scoreless deadlock.
“Glynn had a great weekend for us,” said Oudin. “She played the full game Friday night and came out and played the full game today and still had something left at the end to score the goal.”
Last season it was Hojnacki scoring a goal in the 89th minute to propel Lehigh to a 1-0 win over Albany at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Lehigh started the contest strong, out-shooting Albany 8-2 in the opening half but the Mountain Hawks were unable to score. The Great Danes offense picked up with 11 shots but the Mountain Hawks finished with a 16-13 advantage in shots for the game and a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Fitzer led Lehigh with five shots on the day while seniors Liz Carlos and Hailey Coonrad added three shots apiece.
Maggio did her best to keep Albany in the game, stopping 10 shots, while Mains made four saves for the Brown and White.
“Our backs were really solid today,” said Oudin. “Everyone looked strong out there and we had a nice rotation going with Hannah Cochran and Stevie Griglak giving us some minutes off the bench. Behind them, Lauren Mains also had a very good weekend with the two shutouts.”
The Mountain Hawks will return to the pitch on Friday when they welcome Cornell to the Ulrich Sports Complex for their 2009 home opener. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
