Lehigh continues homestand vs. Holy Cross
4/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
 |
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh welcomes the Holy Cross Crusaders to town on Saturday as the Mountain Hawks enter the stretch run of the 2010 season. Lehigh is currently 2-1 in the Patriot League and a win this weekend would go a long way in helping the Mountain Hawks secure a bid to the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The Brown and White was last in action on Wednesday evening when the Mountain Hawks dropped a hard-fought 14-13 decision to No. 18 Penn State in the final seconds at home. Sophomore Lauren Murray led the Lehigh offense with three goals, while three other Mountain Hawks netted two scores.
In Wednesday’s game vs. Penn State Lehigh trailed 13-11 with 10:25 on the clock but fought back to tie the game at 13 with 3:45 remaining. The Nittany Lions then gained possession and ran time down before Theresa Bucci scored the game-winner with only 12 seconds to play. The Mountain Hawks were even with PSU in nearly every statistical category, scooping up ten ground balls to Penn State’s nine and taking 25 shots compared to 26 by the visitors.
Junior captain Lauren Dykstra found the back of the net twice versus Penn State to raise her team-leading total to 35. She also paces the Mountain Hawks with 42 points and 31 ground balls. Classmate Allison Thomas is third on the team with 34 points and she leads LU in draw controls with 27. Sophomore Kelly Draper is the team leader in assists with 13, while sophomore Leigh Ann Torcivia is tied with Dykstra in ground balls and leads the Mountain Hawks with 13 caused turnovers.
Freshman ML DiNisco has played 528 minutes in goal for Lehigh and sent back 68 shots. She has faced 184 shots this season and owns an 8.07 goals against average.
Holy Cross enters this weekend riding a two-game win streak, which includes an impressive 14-12 overtime victory versus Fairfield on April 6. Katie Gardner scored a team best four goals in the win for the Crusaders, while Meg O’Leary’s only score of the day proved to be the game-winner in the extra session.
Gardner leads the Crusaders with 30 points this season (18 goals, 12 assists), while Kat Sutton is the team’s top goal scorer with 24. Taylor Zebrowski is third on the squad in points with 28 (20 goals, eight assists) and Megan Fenton (14) and O’Leary (11) have scored double-digit goals. O’Leary also leads the Crusaders in ground balls with 20, while Sutton’s 23 draw controls are tops on the squad.
In goal for Holy Cross Amy Martin has played every minute this season, 726 in all, and has sent back 136 shots during that time. O’Leary paces the Crusaders in caused turnovers with 12.
Lehigh and Holy Cross will meet for the 19th time with the Mountain Hawks leading the series 11-7. Holy Cross earned an 11-10 victory last season in Worcester, Massachusetts but Lehigh won the last meeting in Bethlehem, a 17-9 decision in 2008.
The Mountain Hawks and Crusaders will get things started at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. The game will be shown live on Lehighsports.com.
Lehigh - Holy Cross Preview
