Lehigh dominates Mount St. Mary's 7-0
August 22, 2015
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's soccer team exploded for its most goals since 2003 in a dominating 7-0 season-opening win over Mount St. Mary's on Friday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Junior Tori Pantaleo led the offense with two goals and one assist while freshman Sabrina Mertz scored twice, including Lehigh's first goal of the season. It marked the first-career goals for all five Mountain Hawk goal scorers.
"This performance shows how comfortable our upperclassmen feel," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "They have to feel comfortable to be able to perform like that on the field. You could just see the excitement the freshmen had tonight as well."
The Mountain Hawks came out firing with several early scoring chances. One opportunity came in the 13th minute from sophomore Grace Correll, who took a centering pass in front of the goal, but couldn't find the back of the net. Lehigh continued with two additional shots before Mertz opened the scoring at the 18:51 mark. Off a long pass into the offensive zone from sophomore Amanda Stratton, Correll made a nifty feed to Mertz, who took care of the rest with a low shot into the right corner of the goal.
After nearly 20 minutes without a goal, Pantaleo scored her first of the game at the 37:26 mark, taking a feed from Chang in the box and firing a shot high to make it 2-0. Just under four minutes later, freshman Clare Severe finished a header from sophomore Kendal Jacobus to make it 3-0 at the half.
Mertz made it 4-0 midway through the second half, taking a feed near the middle of the field before going to goal and finishing her second of the game at the 69:16 mark.
Just over one minute later, sophomore Becca Sherry scored her first-career goal off a centering feed from Pantaleo. Less than ten minutes after that, Pantaleo took a feed from senior Alex Sangiuliano and finished her second of the evening, making it 6-0 at 81:08.
"Tori has worked so hard for two and a half years," said Lambinus. "We've seen it in practice and seen her do all that work. We knew it was coming. We're excited for her and we're hoping it's the beginning of some great things for her this year."
Chang added her first-career goal in the 88th minute for the 7-0 final.
Lehigh finished with a 26-9 edge in shots while the Mountaineers had a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks. Senior Ani Nahapetian was stellar in goal, making six saves, including one in the 64th minute when she dove to her right to stop a Shayna Macfarlane shot before pouncing on the rebound. A pair of Mount St. Mary's goalies combined to make five stops.
"Our back line was really solid," said Lambinus. "Defense was much improved from our scrimmages and we're really happy to come away with the shutout. We pride ourselves with being tough to beat. I think we've done that for a while and now, we're starting to add that second half of it where we're pretty dangerous on the attack."
Friday night's game was played in front of a packed Ulrich Sports Complex 825, including many Lehigh first-year students who came as part of freshmen orientation.
"We had so many people in the stands," said Lambinus. "It was great to see. It was one of the biggest crowds I've seen here. It was so exciting with all the different people here and it energized us."
The Mountain Hawks look to carry the momentum on Tuesday when they travel to Marist at 5 p.m. which begins a four-game road trip. Lehigh returns home on Friday, Sept. 11 to host Monmouth at 7 p.m.
Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook and follow on Twitter for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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