Lehigh and Army play to scoreless tie

October 18, 2014

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's soccer team controlled play, holding a 16-7 edge in shots, but the Mountain Hawks couldn't find the back of the net in a scoreless tie against Army on Saturday evening. It was Senior Night as Lehigh's five seniors were recognized prior to opening kickoff. All five started and played tremendously well to help the Mountain Hawks become undefeated through six Patriot League games for the first time in school history. Lehigh is now 2-0-4 and in fifth place in the league standings with three games to go.

 
"I thought our whole team played well. All 27 players contributed in some way," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "This was a great week of practice. We did a lot of really good things and it translated into the game. I thought it was one of our more complete games. We played consistently, we were aggressive and we did all the things we wanted to do. I just think we were unfortunate to not put the ball in the back of the net."
 
Seniors Ashley Blanks, Danielle Salans, Jordan Goodwin, Darby Wiegand and Darby Dustman were all recognized prior to opening kickoff.
 
"All five of our seniors were great tonight," said Lambinus. "Ashley was solid back there organizing the back line. Jordan was great back there, too. Danielle coming off an injury gave us really good minutes and was dangerous. Darby Wiegand held the ball up for us and created a lot of our chances, and I thought Darby Dustman was our best midfielder today. We put her in a spot to defend the right side and I thought she did great."
 
Lehigh began to pressure from the get-go as Wiegand took a good pass from freshman Grace Correll, but her ensuing shot sailed high. Just minutes later, Correll took a feed from classmate Adrian Vitello and unleashed a shot that barely sailed high.
 
The Mountain Hawks tallied two shots on goal in succession in the 15th minute when Correll took a backdoor pass from junior Madi Morgan and unleashed a lefty shot, but Army goalie Jordan Cassalia made a big save. Salans headed the rebound as well, but Cassalia was there to shut the door.
 
The game remained scoreless as the Lehigh defense continued to hold Army without a shot on goal. Early in the second half off an Army free kick, Blanks came out strong to punch the ball in the air, then corralled the rebound.
 
Lehigh earned two glittering chances late in the second half when Wiegand found Correll wide open in the middle, but the freshman couldn't get a shot off and the Black Knights cleared the ball out of harm's way. Not long after in the 80th minute, Blanks made her first save of the evening, jumping up to stop a header. Just seconds later, Correll unleashed a shot near the top of the box that hit the crossbar.
 
Army tallied a shot as the second-half shot expired, but it went wide. Lehigh held a 3-0 edge in shots over the two overtime periods, but couldn't put any past Cassalia.
 
Final shots were 16-7 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. Cassalia finished with four saves across Blanks' one. The shutout is Lehigh's sixth of the season and fourth in league play.
 
The Mountain Hawks return to action on Wednesday evening when they host Navy at 6 p.m.
 
"We're disappointed we didn't get more points tonight, but we're not discouraged," said Lambinus. "We're excited to play Navy. It should be a great matchup on our home field. We are playing well, we're a solid team, we battle and we're going to continue to do that. I don't know if it's going to be a pretty game, but it's going to be a good game."
 
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