Mountain Hawks beat Holy Cross 15-11 for third straight win

Saturday, April 14

Worcester, Mass.

2 p.m.

Lehigh University

9-5, 4-2PL

Holy Cross

5-9, 4-2PL

Lehigh

Holy Cross

Mountain Hawks beat Holy Cross 15-11 for third straight win

4/14/2018 7:01:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - Trailing 6-5 late in the first half, the Lehigh women's lacrosse team scored 10 of the game's final 15 goals to pull away for a 15-11 win at Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon. The win marks Lehigh's third in a row as it improves to 9-5 on the season, 4-2 in Patriot League play. Each of the Mountain Hawks' four wins have come against teams right around them in the standings as Lehigh vies for a fifth straight Patriot League Tournament berth and third straight season with a top-four seed.

"Our draw control to fast break in the second half was the key to our win today," said Lehigh head coach Jill Redfern.

Sophomore Sondra Dickey filled up the stat sheet with four goals, an assist, career-high seven draw controls and career-high four caused turnovers. Freshman Julianne Puckette netted a hat trick for a second straight game while senior Haley Wentzel scored three goals as well. Junior Kellie Gough chipped in with two goals and an assist.

Lehigh's defense caused 14 of Holy Cross' 20 turnovers on the afternoon as eight different Mountain Hawks had at least one caused turnover. Along with Dickey's four, Wentzel, senior Kayleen Kelly and sophomore Alexandra Ladda each recorded two.

Goals from Gough, Wentzel and sophomore Christine Balestra gave the Mountain Hawks a quick 3-0 lead just 6:02 into the game. Holy Cross responded with six of the next eight goals to take a 6-5 advantage, but goals from Puckette and sophomore Olivia Kelly helped Lehigh regain a 7-6 halftime lead.

Wentzel and Dickey began the second half with goals to extend the run to 4-0 and the lead to 9-6. The Crusaders pulled within 9-8, but a 3-0 Lehigh ran, which included two from Dickey and one from Wentzel, gave the Mountain Hawks a 12-8 lead on the way to the 15-11 victory.

Final shots were 37-28 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 31-22 edge in groundballs. Holy Cross finished with a 15-13 advantage in draw controls. Freshman Samantha Sagi was strong in goal, making 13 saves across Holy Cross' Julia Maloney, who tallied 16.

After Saturday's game, the Mountain Hawks return home next Wednesday (Apr. 18) to host rival Lafayette at 7 p.m. Lehigh then hosts Bucknell next Sunday (Apr. 22) at 1 p.m. on Senior Day.

"Our team is doing a great job of focusing on one game at a time," said Redfern.

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