Wednesday, September 22
Loudonville, N.Y.
04:00 PM
Lehigh University
4
at
0
Siena
Field hockey bounces back with dominating 4-0 win at Siena
9/22/2010 11:51:00 PM | Field Hockey
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Junior Madison Ingal tied a career-high with two goals and senior Jessica Miller recorded her first-career shutout to help lead the Lehigh field hockey team to an impressive 4-0 win over Siena on Wednesday afternoon. The Mountain Hawks jumped out to an early advantage and wouldn't look back on the way to their first road win of the season.
The shutout marked Lehigh's first since 2008, as the Mountain Hawks improve to a perfect 12-0 all-time against the Saints. The win also moved head coach Julie Mazer to within two of her 100th career victory.
“It was a great team effort,” said Mazer. “I thought we played as a unit. We attacked up the field as a unit and defended as a unit, which was very effective, and it was good to see us take what we've been focusing on in practice and put that into our play.”
Lehigh controlled play from the get-go, scoring its first of four goals less than 10 minutes into the contest. The goal output tied a season-high while the margin of victory equaled Lehigh's largest since defeating Georgetown, 5-1, on Sept. 9, 2006.
The Mountain Hawks took a quick 1-0 advantage when Ingal unleashed a shot from the top of the circle which was deflected by a Siena defender past goalkeeper Beth Meyers at 8:04.
Possession continued to favor Lehigh, as it recorded 15 of the game's first 17 shots, including a string of 11 straight at one point. The Mountain Hawks thwarted off a late first-half charge by the Saints, which included Miller's save of a Jenna Gifford penalty stroke at 28:22 to maintain the 1-0 advantage.
The Mountain Hawks made Siena pay when they doubled their lead with less than a minute to go in the first half. After forcing a penalty corner, senior Lauren Cawley fired a direct shot into the back of the cage to make it 2-0 at 34:23.
The momentum continued into the second half as Cawley unleashed another shot, which was saved. Senior Claire Horn corralled the rebound and made a touch to sophomore Kelsey Zeswitz who beat Meyers inside the near post for her first goal of the season.
Ingal then added her team-leading fifth goal - and second of the game - to make it 4-0 less than nine minutes later, taking a beautiful setup from sophomore Carly Smith and breaking down the middle before finding the far post. That goal chased Meyers, who was replaced by Alison Baillargeon in the cage.
Zeswitz finished the afternoon with a career-high three points via a goal and assist while Smith's assist marked her first-career point.
Freshmen Allison Huckfeldt and Erinn Bonshak saw their first-career action in the second half, as well.
Lehigh led the final shot count, 25-8 while it had a season-high 13 penalty corners, its most since recording 14 in 2007. Miller finished with four saves for her first-career shutout while Meyers recorded 11 and Baillargeon made two in relief.
“We've been struggling to find our groove on the field,” said Mazer. “It was nice to see everyone come together and play well, and to see us play to our potential. It was great to see the hard work pay off.
“Especially on the road, to come up with a win, it's certainly good to snap a streak of games where we weren't playing too well,” continued Mazer. “Everyone was pleased and excited. We played at a high level for an entire game, which was nice.”
The Mountain Hawks return to action on Saturday when they travel to La Salle for a 1 p.m. showdown with the Explorers.
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