Lehigh and Temple play to scoreless tie
PHILADELPHIA – The Lehigh women's soccer team headed to double overtime for a fourth straight game on Thursday evening at Temple and in the end, the Mountain Hawks walked away with their third tie of the season, 0-0. Lehigh had consistent pressure with 17 shots, nine on goal, but was shut out on the road for the first time this season. Goalkeeper Miranda Royds finished with six saves, including multiple spectacular stops, posting her second clean sheet of her junior campaign.
"We took a lot of positive steps this game," said associate head coach Lauren Calabrese. "We're really starting to develop in respect to tactics, but also just execution in terms of focus and intensity, I thought this game was the most consistent minutes we put together as a group. We were able to find a rhythm and to really execute tactically what we were focusing on, which was possession, movement of the ball and spatial awareness."
The draw extends Lehigh's unbeaten streak against Temple to six dating back to 2005. It marked the fourth time in the last five meetings the Mountain Hawks and Owls went to overtime; Lehigh won the previous three overtime contests.
The first half saw each team fire six shots, three on goal. Lehigh began with the first four shots of the game, but Temple had a stretch of five straight later in the stanza. In the 29th minute, Royds made one of her multiple incredible sprawling stops, denying Temple's Marissa DiGenova.
Less than a minute into the second half, Royds had another phenomenal stop, diving to her left to keep the game scoreless.
"Give them credit. Temple is a very physical, direct team," said Calabrese. "They have some really feisty, tenacious players up top and Miranda made some phenomenal saves to keep us in the game."
The Mountain Hawks answered with six of the next seven shots, controlling play for many of the ensuing minutes. Included were two shots on goal, from seniors Maggie Wadsworth and Kayla Arestivo.
The Owls tallied the final three shots of regulation, but the Lehigh defense stood tall. After Temple held a 1-0 shots edge in the first overtime, the Mountain Hawks attacked the Owls to a 4-1 advantage in the second overtime. Three of the shots were on goal, from sophomores Abby Furtmann and Erin Keefe, and Arestivo, but Lehigh couldn't beat Temple goalkeeper Morgan Basileo, who finished with six saves.
Final shots were 17-14 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 6-3 edge in corner kicks.
Lehigh returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Fordham to face the Rams. Gametime is set for 1 p.m.
Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
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