Lehigh drops season opener at No. 7 Penn State

Saturday, February 18

University Park, Pa.

3 PM

Lehigh University

0-1

Penn State

3-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Lehigh	5	4	9
Penn State	9	9	18

Lehigh drops season opener at No. 7 Penn State

2/18/2017 8:02:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's lacrosse team staged a 4-0 second-half run to pull within 13-9 with 15:44 still remaining, but No. 7 and defending national semifinalist Penn State scored the final five goals to beat the Mountain Hawks, 18-9 on Saturday afternoon. Junior Haley Wentzel tied a career-high four goals to lead the Lehigh offense while senior Lauren Beausoleil tallied two goals, five groundballs and three draw controls.

(2/18/2017) Women's Lacrosse at Penn State

Wentzel's four goals marked her third-career hat trick. Sophomore Kaitlyn Quinn scored a career-high two goals, both coming in the second half. Senior Allison LaBeau recorded a goal, two assists, a groundball and caused turnover. Classmate Julianne D'Orazio dished an assist while adding three groundballs and a team-high three caused turnovers.

The teams traded goals in the early going before Penn State went on a 7-0 run. The Mountain Hawks responded with the next three goals and four of the next five to close out the half. Wentzel scored her second and third goals of the game in that span before LaBeau rounded out the first-half scoring with a tough-angle shot, pulling Lehigh within 9-5 after 30 minutes of play.

Penn State began the half on a 4-0 run to take a 13-5 lead, but Lehigh answered with a four-goal run of its own. Quinn scored twice in that span while Beausoleil scored her second and Wentzel tallied her fourth, pulling Lehigh within 13-9 midway through the stanza.

However, the Nittany Lions ended the game with the final five goals to finish off the 18-9 final.

"We a couple good stretches, but not nearly enough to compete against a team of this caliber," said Redfern. "I actually think our team is capable of better."

Penn State finished with a 33-21 edge in shots while groundballs were 24-19 in favor of the Mountain Hawks. The Nittany Lions held a 17-12 advantage in draw controls. Senior goalkeeper Taylor Tvedt finished with 10 saves, across a pair of Penn State goalies who made seven.

"Haley played a really nice game for us and slipped in on the inside and finished her shots," said Redfern. "I also thought we had some defensive stands where we had really strong communication and we did well. We just didn't put it together for a long-enough period."

Lehigh will now travel to take on Iona on Feb. 25 before its home opener against Wagner the following Saturday, Mar. 4 at 1 p.m.

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