BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women's soccer team bounced back from a couple tough games to earn a hard-fought 1-0 win over Army West Point on Saturday evening at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Senior Tori Pantaleo scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season in the 20th minute, which proved to be the difference as the defense pitched its nation's leading ninth shutout of 2016. Lehigh improves to 8-2-1 on the season, 2-2-0 in Patriot League play.
 
"This was a really big game for us," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "It wasn't just important to get a win and a shutout, but also, to just play better. I thought our first half was a lot better than our second. We reacted to what happened over the last two games. There are some things we can absolutely do better and I think the team knows that, but this was a good result for us."
 
After each team fired one shot over the game's first 16 minutes, the Mountain Hawks had a flurry which saw them record three shots in succession, but none were on target. Lehigh continued to push forward and a few minutes later, put its first shot on goal, which led to a 1-0 lead at the 19:34 mark. From the defensive zone, junior Alyssa Riporti passed ahead to Pantaleo, who made a move to shake one defender, then fired a shot into the top left corner of the goal.
 
The Black Knights quickly responded with a shot on goal less than a minute later, but freshman goalkeeper Sam Miller made the first of her five saves, keeping the Mountain Hawks in front. Lehigh held a 7-6 shots edge and 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
 
"It was a great goal," said Lambinus. "We were rewarded for playing a good first half. I would have liked to see us string a couple more passes together in the second half because I think if we did that, we might have been able to finish the game. But all credit to Army. They battled, they kept coming at us and threw some different things at us. We finished the game, which is important."
 
Army increased the pressure in the second half, firing 11 shots, three on goal, but the Lehigh defense stood tall. One of the Mountain Hawks' best chances came in the 78th minute when sophomore Sabrina Mertz fired a hard shot towards goal, but goalkeeper Jordan Cassalia made the save. Less than a minute later, Miller made a strong play, aggressively coming out to intercept a potentially dangerous cross. Miller made one last save in the 89th minute to preserve her ninth shutout.
 
Final shots were 17-11 in favor of Army while the Black Knights held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Miller's five saves came across Cassalia, who made four.
 
"We got back to the way we want to play defensively," said Lambinus. "It was good to keep people outside the box and keep them further away. I still think we gave up too many corner kicks and too many chances, but it's an opportunity to build, get a result and see where we go from here."
 
The Mountain Hawks wrap up their three-game homestand on Tuesday when they host Princeton at 7 p.m.
 
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