PHILADELPHIA - A header by Saint Joseph's leading scorer Emily Gingrich in the 73rd minute broke a scoreless deadlock and proved to be the difference as the Lehigh women's soccer team dropped its first game of the season, 1-0 on Friday evening. Just over five minutes earlier, the Mountain Hawks had a glittering scoring opportunity that would have been a goal, but the play was whistled offsides. Lehigh will look to bounce back when it travels to Central Connecticut State on Sunday.
 
"Our first half wasn't great; I thought they pushed the tempo a lot in the first half and we were very reactive," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "It was understandable a little bit, but we have to be better. In the second half, we had more urgency and the game opened up a little. We had good chances, including the one we put in which was offsides. It was an opportunity we can't give up."
 
Saint Joseph's held a 5-2 shot advantage in the first half, but it was Lehigh with the first shot on goal as junior Madi Morgan had a chance in the eighth minute which was saved by the Hawks' Allison Ebling. Mountain Hawks' junior goalie Ani Nahapetian went on to make her first save in the 25th minute off a Gingrich shot.
 
"Gingrich was dangerous and is always looking to get in behind, but I thought we did a good job keeping most of her shots from distance," said Lambinus.
 
The game opened up a little more in the second half as Nahapetian made the second of her two saves just over five minutes into the stanza. Lehigh had a golden opportunity in the 66th minute as junior Paige Elliott fed a ball to freshman Adrian Vitello who was open. Vitello beat Ebling on the shot, but was a step offsides.
 
Just 6:42 after that play, Saint Joseph's connected for the game's only goal as Gingrich finished a nifty cross for her sixth goal of the season.
 
"Defensively, we did pretty well and were solid again, but we weren't good enough," said Lambinus. "We have to finish the chances and be a little bit hungrier in the offensive third of the field."
 
Final shots were 9-6 in favor of Saint Joseph's while Saint Joe's also had four corner kicks to Lehigh's one. Nahapetian made two saves across Ebling's three.
 
The Mountain Hawks return to action on Sunday as they travel to Central Connecticut State to face the Blue Devils. Opening kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
 
"We're hoping for a good reaction from this," said Lambinus. "It's our first loss of the season, first game we didn't score. It's good we're playing a game right away. We're playing a team who's similar. We have to put together two good halves. We're excited to play on Sunday."
 
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