POUGHKEESPIE, N.Y. - After falling behind 1-0 early, the Lehigh women's soccer team battled back to tie the score and had several opportunities to take a second-half lead, but Marist ended the game 2:02 into overtime to down the Mountain Hawks, 2-1 on Tuesday. Junior Laura Courtney scored Lehigh's goal while senior goalkeeper Ani Nahapetian was strong with five saves.
 
"It was a tough game," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "We came out here, midweek, which is always tough especially in the first week of classes, on turf with a little bit of heat. We came back after giving up an early goal and we started to play our way into the game. I thought we had a little bit of momentum, but we couldn't take advantage. They took advantage of probably a little bit of a mistake where we didn't clear it, and won the game. We're not overly disappointed in our effort, but we are definitely disappointed in the result."
 
Marist was in control early on and turned the momentum into a 1-0 lead exactly seven minutes into the game off a corner kick. In the 11th minute, Nahapetian made a tremendous play coming off her goal line, leaping and grabbing the ball before a shot could get off, keeping Lehigh's deficit at one.
 
The Red Foxes continued the pressure in the 19th minute as Nahapetian made a save off a long shot off a free kick which looked ticketed for just underneath the crossbar. Just under five minutes later, Marist attacked the goal and Nahapetian came out strong to try and clear the ball away. She couldn't get control, but a foul was called.
 
Lehigh owned the final ten minutes of the first half, tallying three of its five first-half shots in the final minutes of the first. In the 37th minute, senior Madi Morgan had a good chance from right outside the box, firing a hard low shot which Marist goalie Makala Foley got a piece to force a corner. The Mountain Hawks converted their first goal at 38:51. After freshman Clare Severe forced a corner kick with a great run down the left side, she took the ensuing corner and played a great ball into the box. Foley tried to deflect the ball away, but Courtney found the open net to make it 1-1, which was the score heading into halftime.
 
An evenly-played second half saw each team first seven shots with Nahapetian making saves in the 62nd, 67th and 69th minutes. Like they did in the first half, the Mountain Hawks ended the second half by controlling play. In the 80th minute, junior Tori Pantaleo took a feed from sophomore Lexi Chang and fired a low shot that was deflected wide by Foley, forcing a corner kick. Sophomore Amanda Stratton added a shot on goal just over one minute later. Lehigh went on to force three corner kicks in the final ten minutes, including two in the final minute, but couldn't put home the game-winner.
 
Just over two minutes into overtime, Marist attacked the goal. Lehigh was unable to clear and Brianna Robinson converted with a low shot amidst a hard-charging Nahapetian.
 
Final shots were 14-12 in favor of Marist while the Mountain Hawks held a 5-4 edge in corner kicks. Nahapetian finished with five saves while Foley made six for Marist.
 
"On turf, the ball is bouncing a lot more and there are more 50-50 balls," said Lambinus. "It's definitely going to end up being a physical, and sometimes ugly, game. This is their home field, so they can take advantage of it. It was new to us. It definitely took us a while to adjust, but I thought we were fine in the second half and had a bunch of momentum. We just didn't take advantage of that momentum when we had it."
 
The Mountain Hawks continue their four-game road swing when they travel to Binghamton on Sunday for a 1 p.m. kickoff. Lehigh's next home game is Friday, Sept. 11 vs. Monmouth at 7 p.m.
 
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