The AU women’s lacrosse team lost its second straight road game 13-6 to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa. The loss pushes the Eagles’ record to 6-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
Lehigh held the lead early, scoring three goals in the first eight minutes. The Eagles responded with a goal from sophomore midfielder Chiara Speziale at the 20:38 mark. The goal was Speziale’s 18th of the season.
The Eagles pulled within one goal when senior attacker Lisa Schaaf scored her first goal of the game. However, a mere 15 seconds after the score, Lehigh’s Anna Patterson scored to push the Mountain Hawks lead back to two goals. Patterson led her team in the first half of the game with three goals, which helped give Lehigh a 6-3 lead going into halftime.
The second half was not much better than the first for AU. The Eagles brought the game within two goals after Schaaf notched her second goal, but Lehigh then went on a five-goal run giving them an 11-4 lead with 13:20 remaining in the game.
A goal from sophomore midfielder Bernadette Maher broke the streak of Mountain Hawks goals, but the opposition responded strong to bury AU for good. With less than four minutes remaining in the game, Lehigh added two goals to put them up 13-5. Maher scored the final goal of the day with just 30 seconds remaining, but at that point, all it did was keep the game somewhat competitive.
Despite the loss, the Eagles were able to get off 25 shots (20 on goal) compared to Lehigh’s 27 (21 on goal). The Eagles lost the turnover battle giving up the ball 17 times, while Lehigh only committed 15 turnovers.
The Eagles scoring leaders included Schaaf and Maher, each with two goals, giving them 13 and 21 goals in the season respectively. Speziale and sophomore Emily Burton each tallied a single goal. In addition to her score, Speziale, along with sophomore Kimberly Collins, contributed an assist.
Junior goalkeeper Kaska Komosinski played all 60 minutes and recorded eight saves.
Lehigh’s Megan Kelly, Lauren Dykstra and Patterson each recorded hat tricks in the game. Dykstra, not satisfied with a hat trick, lead both teams in goals for the day scoring four total. The Mountain Hawks’ goalkeeper, Alex Fitzpatrick, had a good day in goal, grabbing 14 saves.
The Eagles have lost their last three games at Lehigh. The loss puts the Eagles at .500 on their current four-game road trip. The Eagles will challenge George Mason on April 5, then Lafayette before finally returning home to play Navy on April 13 at Jacobs Field.
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