Sophomore Emily Stankiewicz found the back of the net four times — a career best — and helped power the AU women’s lacrosse team to a 17-16 victory over Lehigh University on Saturday at Jacobs Field.
Stankiewicz’s parents surprised her when they showed up the night before the lacrosse blowout game. The next day, Stankiewicz had a surprise of her own for undefeated Lehigh. Her four goals came during key junctures in the game and capped a breakout performance.
“It feels especially good to win against an undefeated Patriot League opponent,” Stankiewicz said after the game. “I wanted to show [Lehigh] what I have and what the team has.”
Freshman Chiara Speziale had a hat trick of her own. AU sophomore Lauren Schoenberger racked up five points with two goals and three assists in the game.
The Eagles jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, with goals by Schoenberger, Emma Larkin, Paige Lin and Emily Burton. The 8-0 Lehigh squad did not go down without a fight. The Mountain Hawks stormed back with four goals in less than a minute to erase the early deficit.
“We had a lot going for us with the home-field advantage. We came out fighting,” Head Coach Katie Woods said. “Even after Lehigh tied it up, we just made sure we stayed calm and stuck with the game plan.”
AU got the lead back with goals by Schoenberger and Stankiewicz to make it 6-4. Lehigh responded again with two of their own to tie the game at six, with 12:01 remaining in the first half. The teams traded goals to tie the game at seven. Just before halftime, Lehigh’s Lauren Murray caught Carmola Inneke’s pass and put the ball past Kaska Komosinski to give the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the game, 8-7.
AU was quick to answer every Lehigh goal in the second half. When Lehigh went up 9-8, Stankiewicz quickly scored to tie it up at 9-9. Lehigh then scored two in a row to make it 11-9, but Speziale and Stankiewicz responded to tie it at 11. Lehigh took the final lead 15-14 with 13:12 left, but much like the rest of the game, AU responded to tie it up. Goals by Emily Burton and Amanda Makoid knotted the game up at 16.
With 10:23 remaining, Bernadette Maher zigzagged through midfield and took the ball all the way to the cage for the score. The goal gave AU a 17-15 advantage and proved to be the deciding point in the contest. Lehigh scored with 4:33 remaining, but the Eagles controlled the ball in the offensive zone for the remainder of the game to seal the 17-16 victory.
With the win, AU improved their season record to 4-7 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League.
“It was a good win ... a Patriot League win,” Stankiewicz said.
For a team that won just three games last season, knocking off an undefeated opponent was a big statement. The strong performance by young talent showed the team can be competitive in the Patriot League this season.
“This is a huge win for the program,” Woods said. “It should serve as momentum in the next few weeks with the big games we have coming up.”
AU’s next game is against Lafayette College Saturday at home.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
