Lehigh Falls to Holy Cross in Back-and-Forth Matchup

Saturday, March 14

Bethlehem, Pa.

12:00 PM

Lehigh University

5-4, 0-2

Holy Cross

4-4, 2-0

Holy Cross

Lehigh

Photo by: Tommy Herstich

Lehigh Falls to Holy Cross in Back-and-Forth Matchup

3/14/2026 3:37:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh hosted Holy Cross for the first game of eight straight league games to close out the regular season. The Crusaders bested the Mountain Hawks in a closely contested 12-9 game.

"We played a talanted and well rounded Holy Cross team," said head coach Steph Lazo. "I'm really proud of how we bounced back from our last game and never gave up."

Holy Cross went out to a fast start, scoring the first four goals of the game. Goals by Molly Snow, Logan Barry, and Gracie Shoup in the final 2:14 of the first period brought the Holy Cross lead down to one.

Nina DeNicola tied the game at four early in the second period, but two Holy Cross scores gave the Crusaders back the lead. Shoup scored her second of the game with five seconds remaining in the half. The score sat at 6-5 in Holy Cross' favor at halftime.

The third period featured back-and-forth scoring between the two opponents. Snow sent a shot between the pipes less than two minutes into the period to tie the game at six, just for Kate Avitabile of Holy Cross to net a goal 30 seconds later. Lehigh tied the game once again with a goal from Kacie Wines with 8:21 to go in the period. Holy Cross fired back by scoring twice, and a Grace Martel goal with 44 seconds left in the period put Holy Cross' lead at 9-8 heading into the fourth quarter.

Annabel Brennan and Hadley Cepiel scored for the Crusaders to put them up by three halfway through the final period. Wines found the back of the net for a second time to try to mount a comeback, but a Jenn Prince goal sealed the Holy Cross victory.

Along with her team-leading two goals, Wines led the Mountain Hawks with four assists, giving her six points on the day. Snow also tallied one assist, to go along with two goals.

Micaela Jennings was Lehigh's defensive anchor for all 60 minutes. She stopped 16 shots, caused a game high two turnovers, and picked up a game-high three ground balls. Brynn Freeman picked up two ground balls of her own, along with causing one turnover. Freeman was also Lehigh's frontrunner in draw controls, getting two.

Coach Lazo spoke on this, saying, "the defense played as a unit and Micaela Jennings really anchored us on that end."

Brennan and Cepiel were Holy Cross' top goal scorers, earning a hat trick each. Janie Baringer and Anna Affolter each picked up two goals as well. Racheli Levy-Smith dominated the draw circle, controlling a massive 13 draws for the Crusaders.

The Mountain Hawks (5-4, 0-2 PL) will look to bounce back against American on Friday in the second of two game homestand. Opening draw is set for 3 p.m.