Friday, October 30
Washington, D.C.
3:00 pm
Lehigh University
7-8-3, 2-5-2PL
0
at
1
American
5-10-3, 2-4-3PL
1
2
F
LEHIGH
0
0
0
American
1
0
1
First-half goal leads American over Lehigh, 1-0
10/30/2015 5:48:00 PM | Women's Soccer
WASHINGTON, D.C. - American scored a 27th-minute goal, which proved to be the difference as the Lehigh women's soccer team dropped a tough 1-0 final on Friday. With the loss, the Mountain Hawks were eliminated from postseason contention and finish the 2015 season with a 7-8-2 record and 2-5-2 mark in league play.
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"It's a disappointing result, not being able to put one in," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "It was indicative of the way our season has gone, where we had moments to do good things, but it wasn't consistent over a long enough period of time. In order to win Patriot League games, you need to be consistent over longer periods."
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Freshman Sabrina Mertz tallied the first shot of the game, a quality opportunity in the ninth minute. Stationed in the corner of the box, she fired a shot to the near side, trying to pick the top right corner of the goal, but American goalkeeper Charlene Belanger made a strong save.
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The Mountain Hawks continued the pressure, tallying three corner kicks in less than five minutes, but they couldn't convert as the game remained scoreless.
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A little over 10 minutes later, American broke the ice off a corner kick. Kaylee Hillard fired a lefty shot that hit the left post, but the ball bounced to Kelly Donovan, who converted the rebound to make it 1-0 at the 26:03 mark.
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Lehigh answered with strong pressure as the first half came to a close. With less than 10 minutes left in the first, junior Laura Courtney played a dangerous ball into the box off a free kick and sophomore Alyssa Riporti put the ball towards goal, forcing Belanger to aggressively punch the ball out of harm's way. Not long after, Courtney found herself in prime position near the top of the box, but her shot sailed high and wide in the 39th minute.
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Less than 10 minutes into the second half, American attempted to double its lead off a long throw in, but senior goalkeeper Ani Nahapetian was there to make the save. In the 61st minute, Mertz had Lehigh's best chance of the game when she was stationed at the top of the box and fired a shot towards the top right corner of the goal, but Belanger got a piece, the ball ricocheted off the post and parallel to the goal line, keeping American in front 1-0.
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The Mountain Hawks continued to pressure as senior Madi Morgan had a shot in the 65th minute and another in the 70th minute. Not long after, Nahapetian made two saves in the span of 1:22 to keep Lehigh down by just one heading down the stretch.
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With almost everyone forward, Lehigh had a good rush off a free kick in the 86th minute. The chance led to a shot from junior Tori Pantaleo, which went wide. That proved to be Lehigh's final shot of the game as the Mountain Hawks continued to pressure, but couldn't net the equalizer.
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"We had a bunch of good chances, but we had a bunch of other opportunities when we didn't get good shots off either," said Lambinus. "We got the ball in good spots, but the final product wasn't there. At the beginning of the year when we were playing well, we were scoring goals. Over the last couple weeks, we struggled to turn the quality opportunities into good shots, and goals."
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Final shots were 11-8 in favor of American while the Eagles held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Nahapetian finished with three saves, as did Belanger.
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Lehigh enjoyed several highlights in 2015, which included a 3-1 record against Philadelphia area schools - beating Temple, Saint Joseph's and Penn while dropping a slim final to La Salle. The Mountain Hawks also tied MAAC Regular Season Champion Monmouth who stands 13-2-2 overall while earning Patriot League victories over Loyola and archrival Lafayette.
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"I am very proud of the team," said Lambinus. "Over the course of the season, we played some really good soccer over big stretches. When we did that, we looked like a really good team. We had some great wins over very good teams. It's good to see we can play soccer at a high level and be competitive against good teams. Our next step is to take that into the Patriot League."
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Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
AU
Goals
0
1
Shots
8
11
Shots on Goal
3
4
Saves
3
3
Corners
3
4
Fouls
10
7
Scoring Plays
Donovan, Kelly (3)
Assisted By: Hillard, Kaylee
Donovan converts rebound off Hillard sho
26:03
Game Leaders
Shots
2
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
2
SOG
2
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
1
Goals
0
Assists
0
Shots
1
SOG
0
Goals
0
Assists
0
Players Mentioned
D
/ Women's SoccerM
/ Women's SoccerM
/ Women's Soccer
GK
/ Women's Soccer
F
/ Women's Soccer
D
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