ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Lehigh women's soccer team hit the road on Saturday night and gave host Navy all it could handle, but the Mids scored the game's only goal in the 80th minute to pull out a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Earlier in the half, it appeared as if the Mountain Hawks may have taken a lead, but the officials whistled a handball in the box, so the goal was called back.
 
"It was a good, competitive game. Both teams battled and both teams fought," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "I'm proud of the team. We didn't play as cleanly as we would have liked. The conditions may have played a little bit into it, but I'm proud of the way we fought the entire game. We gave ourselves good opportunities in the second half. If we can execute a little better, maybe we can turn the results around."
 
A pretty even second half saw the Mids hold a 5-4 edge in shots. Lehigh's early second-half shots came from sophomore Courtney Supp in the 57th minute and freshman Ryelle Shuey in the 70th minute, but both were off the mark.
 
Not long after Shuey's shot came a chance that almost gave Lehigh a 1-0 advantage.
 
"We were disappointed the goal got called back, but more disappointed we didn't put chances home with some clean looks at goal," said Lambinus. "We were starting to put a lot of pressure on them. Give credit to Navy; they came out and worked hard. They didn't allow us to do the things we wanted to, but I like the way we battled in the first half and came out in the second half with energy."
 
A few moments later, the Midshipmen struck on a rebound off a Royds save to take a 1-0 advantage at the 79:33 mark.
 
The Mountain Hawks pressured down the stretch, leading to a shot on goal from Shuey in the 87th minute, and a shot from senior Kayla Arestivo that sailed wide in the game's final minute.
 
Navy officially held a 10-2 shots edge in the first half, but the Mountain Hawks' defense kept quality opportunities at a minimum. Offensively, one of Lehigh's shots was on goal, from junior Ally Friedman in the 41st minute.
 
"Our defense played really well," said Lambinus. "Miranda had a number of saves from further out. I thought we limited them well on their set pieces. In the second half, they had a couple corners and direct kicks, but for the most part, we kept Navy in front of us and didn't give them clean looks. Their best look was the one they scored on."
 
Final shots were 15-6 in favor of Navy while the Mids held a 6-4 edge in corner kicks. Royds finished with five saves across Sydney Fortson, who made two.
 
Lehigh entered the week facing two teams tied for first place, finishing with three points vs. Bucknell (3-1 win) and a hard-fought contest against Navy.
 
The Mountain Hawks now return home next Saturday (Oct. 12) to host Boston University at 1 p.m. in a rematch of the 2018 Patriot League Championship Game.

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