LEWISBURG, Pa. – Chelsea McGorry (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill Regional) got Bucknell going with a goal just 1:56 into the game and later she assisted on a big insurance goal as the Bison toppled Lehigh 3-1 Sunday afternoon in Patriot League women’s soccer action. The victory completed an important six-point weekend for Bucknell, which also defeated Lafayette 2-0 at home on Friday night.

Kelliann Doherty (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) also had a goal and an assist for the Bison, who are now 7-6-1 overall and 2-1-0 in the Patriot League. Lehigh, which trounced Colgate 4-1 on the road on Friday, fell to 7-3-3, 1-1-1.

Bucknell applied pressure right from the opening whistle and capitalized on a break just under two minutes in. The Bison forced the Lehigh defense to play the ball back to goalkeeper Lauren Mains, who fanned as she tried to kick the ball back out. McGorry pounced on the loose ball and slipped it into the net for her first goal of the season.

McGorry was at her very best in this one, and she almost had a hand in two more goals in the early stages of the match. Just three minutes after scoring, McGorry played a perfect through ball to Matlack, who could not quite get all of her boot on the ball and sent a shot wide. In the seventh minute, Kayla Yee (Centennial, Colo./Heritage) had a point-blank header go over the bar on a corner kick, and then about 15 minutes later McGorry got behind the defense but Mains came up with a big save.

There were plenty of shots from both sides as the game developed. Lehigh outshot Bucknell 12-7 in the first half and 20-18 overall, but the Bison had plenty more dangerous chances. Almost all of the Mountain Hawks’ shots came from well outside the 18, and Bison keeper Kathryn Sutton (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) finished with nine saves but had little trouble with any of them.

The Bison padded their lead with the wind behind them in the second half. In the 51st minute, Christa Matlack (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) tracked down a loose ball on the end line to the right of the goal, then chipped a pass to Doherty in front. Doherty shielded off a defender and volleyed the ball into the open cage for her second goal of the year and a 2-0 Bucknell lead.

McGorry and Doherty combined to set up Bucknell’s third goal inside 14 minutes to play. On the left side of the field McGorry passed to Doherty, who lobbed a perfect crossing pass over the head of two defenders right to Molly Linhart (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel), who volleyed it in.

Lehigh broke up the shutout with exactly 10 minutes remaining. Liz Carlos dribbled into the box, spun back to her right and sent a 15-yard shot off the crossbar and down over the line for her third goal of the season.

Matlack, who scored both Bison goals in Friday’s 2-0 win over Lafayette, did not score in this one but was dangerous all day. She led all players with five shots, had a number of quality runs that just missed connecting, and she picked up her second assist of the season. That moved her into the top 10 on Bucknell’s career assists chart with 11. She is now tied with Jennifer Margolis for 10th place.

Mains finished with seven saves for Lehigh, which came in having allowed only eight goals 12 games all season.

With the victory, the Bison moved into sole possession of third place in Patriot League standings with six points, trailing only American (9) and Navy (7).

Bucknell has an important home game next Saturday against Navy at 1 p.m. at Emmitt Field. That will be the team’s final regular-season home game, and the team will honor its seniors prior to the game.