The Eagles had a tough road test this weekend with consecutive away games against Lehigh University and Princeton University.
The Eagles opened their weekend road trip with a 9-0 win against Patriot League rival Lehigh. The Eagles cruised with seven different Eagles scoring.
Senior forward Christine Fingerhuth and junior forward Melissa Casale led the Eagles’ scoring with two goals each. In addition, Gina Hofmann, Lotte Van De Mierop, Anne van Erp, Jenn Bradley, and Shelly Montgomery each scored a goal. Junior midfielder Natalie Ellenberger and senior midfielder Kirstin Gebhart each had three assists.
The Eagles scoring began at 10:25 when Casale scored the first goal. AU then scored four goals in seven minutes. The Eagles continued to dominate the game with four more goals in the second half.
The nine goals the Eagles scored is a season high and the 9-0 win is the largest margin of victory of the season. The win marks the Eagles seventh straight win against Lehigh. The Eagles out shot Lehigh 30 to three.
“The team did a great job of finishing today and it was important to start out league play with a strong performance,” Head Coach Steve Jennings told AU Athletics. “We have been working hard to continue improving week by week, game by game, and I think we definitely made some extra strides in this match.”
On Sunday, the Eagles did not have the same offensive power they had against Lehigh but still managed to defeat the Princeton Tigers, who are ranked fourth in the nation, 3-2.
Christine Fingerhuth scored two goals and again led the Eagles’ offense. Gina Hoffmann contributed the only assist of the day. The Eagles only had four shots the entire game. The Tigers had nine shots on goal but were only able to score twice.
The Eagles scored all of their goals in the first half. Princeton rallied for two second half goals but could not get the equalizer before the final buzzer. The Eagles did a good job of keeping Princeton’s Kathleen Sharkey, who leads the NCAA in goals, from having a big game.
Prior to the game, The Eagles had lost their last two matches against Princeton. The win also marks only the second time this year that the Eagles have won by only one goal. The two goals the Eagles allowed snapped a five period shutout streak.
The win against Lehigh marks the team’s first conference win. The two wins this weekend give the Eagles an eight-game winning streak. They are also undefeated on the road this season. The Eagles haven’t lost a game since early September. AU still leads the Patriot league with a commanding 9-2 record. Statistically, the Eagles are dominating the rest of the Patriot League with 4.76 goals per game (the next closest has 2.61) and a mere 1.41 goals against average (compared to the second fewest 2.36).
The Eagles continue their season this weekend when they host The College of the Holy Cross and Duke University.
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