Lehigh pulls out dramatic OT win at Temple
PHILADELPHIA - For a third straight season, the Lehigh women’s soccer team picked up a double overtime win over Temple as the Mountain Hawks (2-0-1) defeated the Owls 2-1 on Sunday evening. Sophomore Maggie Wadsworth scored the golden goal to wrap up a 2-0 weekend in Philadelphia. Freshman Lisa Kestelboym scored her first-career goal early in the second half while goalkeeper sophomore Sam Miller was sensational, tying a career-high nine saves.
“To get two wins over a road weekend is really impressive,” said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. “You could definitely tell it was a Sunday. We were a little slow in the first half. We didn’t do hardly anything that we wanted to. The second half was much better. We played composed, we played quickly, we created chances and we were rewarded with two good goals.”
Temple finished the first half with a 9-2 edge in shots, but Miller came up big with five first-half saves. Three of them came in the final 5:58 of the first half, including a sensational leaping stop to punch a ball over the crossbar to force a corner kick.
Lehigh increased the pressure in the second half and it led to the game’s first goal. In the 52nd minute, senior Adrian Vitello played a ball across the box to Kestelboym, who buried her first-career goal into the left corner of the net.
Midway through the second, the Mountain Hawks continued the pressure. They had a stretch of six shots in just over six minutes, three on goal, but Temple goalkeeper Jordan Nash kept the score 1-0.
The Owls took advantage, evening the score at the 77:47 mark off a corner kick. From there, both teams had opportunities through the end of regulation and the first overtime until Wadsworth gave Lehigh the victory. Sophomore Kayla Arestivo played the ball to Severe near the midfield, who dribbled up field, passing to Wadsworth in the box, who fired a shot into the back of the net in the 107th minute.
“I’m proud of the team, I’m proud of the work they did and I’m proud of their response in that second half,” said Lambinus. “You’re playing a team with a lot of momentum, a tough team winning tackles and a lot of times you can give in, but they took the challenge and they responded. Not only did they respond to the physicality, but they played tremendously as well. I guarantee we completed more passes in the second half and overtime than a lot of games.”
Lehigh outshot Temple 6-3 in the overtimes to pull within 22-18 of Temple in final shots. The Owls held a 9-3 edge in corner kicks.
“It’s three games and we still have a long way to go,” said Lambinus. “We can take a day off, enjoy and get ready for classes, but then we have Towson coming to town on Thursday so we have to be ready.”
Thursday’s game against the Tigers is set for 6 p.m. and can be seen live through the Patriot League Network.
Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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