LEWISBURG, Pa. – Fourth-seeded Bucknell opened the scoring in the 19th minute, but the fifth-seeded Lehigh women's soccer team fought back, scoring the equalizer in the 42nd minute then the game-winner with just two seconds left in double overtime to down the two-time defending Patriot League Champion Bison 2-1 on Tuesday evening. Sophomore Ally Friedmanscored the equalizer while junior Kayla Arestivo netted the dramatic game-winner. The Patriot League Quarterfinal victory marked Lehigh's first postseason win since beating Army in the 2010 league championship game.
 
A first team All-Patriot League honoree, Arestivo showed it on Tuesday. She finished the game with eight shots, six on goal, with her final shot sending Lehigh to the Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since 2012 (when the tournament was four teams). Tuesday marked the second straight game Lehigh went down 1-0 early, but fought back for a 2-1 road win.
 
"I had taken a couple shots from distance throughout the game and I really wanted to try and get in so I could slot balls into our forwards making runs up top," said Arestivo. "I just wanted to get closer to the goal. I saw the goalie was towards the post and I just opened my hips and shot lower right."
 
The Bison controlled play through much of the first overtime, but the Mountain Hawks changed that in the second OT. Lehigh outshot Bucknell 4-0, continuing to pepper Bison goalkeeper Theresa Adu-Attobrah, who finished with nine saves. The Mountain Hawks wouldn't quit; just seconds away from penalty kicks, Arestivo made sure that wouldn't happen. 

"I thought we did a good job of moving the ball and getting Kayla the ball deeper into the final third, closer to the goal, and she didn't settle," said Lambinus. "She just kept going. She does that because of her fitness and she does that because she's aggressive. We've been wanting her to do that and were so happy she went all the way to the goal, even with the clock counting down."
 
Lehigh opened regulation with the game's first four shots, two on goal, but Bucknell capitalized on its first chances to take an early 1-0 lead. In the 19th minute, Lehigh junior goalkeeper Sam Miller made a strong initial save, but Gabby Bair put home the rebound.
 
The Mountain Hawks continued to pressure, finishing the first half with a 9-4 edge in shots and forcing Adu-Attobrah to make four saves. She couldn't stop Friedman's shot in the 42nd minute as it sailed perfectly into the top right corner of the goal to pull the Mountain Hawks even.

Lehigh continued to control play in the second half, holding a 7-3 shots advantage and forcing Adu-Attobrah to make three more saves. Perhaps the best stop came from a Bucknell defender in the 84th minute off a corner kick, to prevent Lehigh from going in front.

 
In the end, Lehigh finished the game with a 21-9 edge in shots and 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
 
"I thought the first 15 minutes, we were strong and they scored on their first shot, but we said that might happen, and we continued to work hard," said Lambinus. "Throughout the game, there are always peaks and valleys and we stayed strong, we battled through the valleys and I thought our peaks featured some of the best soccer we've played all season. We were moving the ball around, we created some good chances and were dangerous almost every time we had the ball in the attacking third."
 
The Mountain Hawks advance to Friday's Patriot League Semifinals against second-seeded Colgate. The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. at No. 1 overall seed Boston University.
 
Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.

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