Lehigh Women Earn Top Seed in Patriot
from press release
HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Lehigh women’s
lacrosse team captured a share of the 2010 Patriot League regular
season championship on Saturday with a 15-12 victory over
Colgate. It is Lehigh’s first regular season title
since 1994. With the win the Mountain Hawks earn the right to
host the upcoming Patriot League Tournament and they set a school
record for the most league victories with five. Lehigh
improves to 13-3 overall and have won four straight, while the
Raiders fall to 9-7 overall and 4-2 in the league.
“We have good momentum going right now following this
win,” Lehigh head coach Jill Redfern commented
afterwards. “For the team to set its sights on hosting
the tournament back when we started this year and to watch how
determined they were, it’s an incredible
accomplishment. I feel like we are peaking at the right time,
but I think our best game is still ahead of us.”
Junior Lauren Dykstra scored a game-high six goals for Lehigh,
while senior Inneke Carmola and sophomore Lauren Murray netted
three scores each. Lehigh outshot the Raiders 33-26 and won
15 draw controls to Colgate’s 14. Murray and Leigh Ann
Torcivia led the Mountain Hawks with four draw controls each and
Torcivia scooped up a team-high four ground balls. Sophomore
Kelly Draper handed out all three of Lehigh’s assists and
senior Kelsy Ferris earned another win in goal as she sent back
nine shots.
Redfern gave her thoughts on the performance of several individual
Mountain Hawks. “Lauren had an outstanding day.
She was terrific all game for us. I thought Kelly Draper
played well; she scored when we really needed them
today. Alissa Hardiman came in and played well for us,
Leigh Ann Torcivia was key on (Meghan) Lawler in the midfield and
Inneke Carmola had a fine performance as well.
Kate Bergstrom led Colgate with four goals and three other Raiders
scored two goals. Colleen Bubnack led the home team with four
ground balls and eight draw controls, while Meghan Lawler caused
four turnovers and Christina Roa stopped ten shots in goal.
With nearly nine minutes gone in the opening half Colgate led
Lehigh 2-0, but Murray got the Mountain Hawks on the board when she
scored with 18:47 remaining before halftime. Two more goals
by Colgate put Lehigh in a 4-1 hole with 17:36 to play, but Allison
Thomas and Dykstra netted back-to-back scores for the Brown and
White and the score was 4-3.
Following a goal by Colgate’s Courtney Miller Lehigh ripped
off five straight scores, including two from Dykstra and three from
Carmola as the Mountain Hawks surged in front 8-5. Miller
ended the Lehigh run when she scored at the 4:29 mark, but Dykstra
netted the final goal of the half and Lehigh took a 9-6 lead into
halftime.
Freshman Meg Kelly gave Lehigh a 10-6 advantage with her score 4:30
into the second half, and Murray’s score at the 24:29 mark
upped the Mountain Hawks lead to 11-7. The Raiders scored two
straight goals to pull within 11-9 with 19:54 left but
Dykstra’s 50th goal of the season 17 seconds later gave
Lehigh a 12-9 cushion.
Dykstra and Draper scored two straight for Lehigh in less than two
minutes to make it a 14-10 gave and Murray’s score with 41
seconds to play sealed the win and gave the Brown and White its
first regular season championship in 16 years.
Lehigh will host No. 4 Holy Cross on Friday, April 30 in one of the
Patriot League semifinals with second seeded Navy taking on No. 3
seed Colgate in the other. The Mountain Hawks met the
Crusaders on April 10 at home and earned a 14-7 victory.
