HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Lehigh women's soccer team outplayed Colgate for a large part of the game, but the Raiders found the game's only goal just 23 seconds into the second half to down the Mountain Hawks 1-0 on Saturday evening. Lehigh fired five shots on Colgate goalie Brenna Mason, two from sophomore Tori Pantaleo. With the loss, the Mountain Hawks fall to 2-2-4 in league play heading into the Patriot League finale at Holy Cross next weekend.
 
"We played a really good game," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "You take one of the best teams in the league down to the wire on Senior Night on their home field, I thought we played tremendously. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to execute. We tried to dictate the game and I thought we did that very well. We are creating a number of chances; we're dangerous, but we're just not putting the ball in."
 
Lehigh came out with the game's first shot, first from freshman Adrian Vitello in the fourth minute then by classmate Grace Correll in the 10th minute, but Mason was there both times to make the saves.
 
The Mountain Hawks only allowed two first-half shots (none on goal) to the high-powered Raiders' offense and had a great look of their own in the 38th minute as senior Darby Dustman was stationed near the back post, but her ensuing shot went high. That proved to be the last shot by either side in the first half.
 
Colgate made it 1-0 on its first opportunity of the second half as Caroline Brawner headed a cross into the back of the net at the 45:23 mark.
 
Minutes later, the teams traded shots that were off target then senior goalie Ashley Blanks recorded her first save of the evening. From there, Lehigh fired the final three shots on goal looking to pull even. In the 53rd minute, Pantaleo unleashed a chance which was stopped. Just over eight minutes later, sophomore Madeline Walsh also had a shot on goal followed by another Pantaleo chance just over a minute after that. Mason was there to make all the saves.
 
The Mountain Hawks continued to attack, but couldn't find the equalizer. Lehigh generated consecutive corner kicks in the 77th minute and finished the game with a 6-3 edge in that category, but it wasn't enough.
 
Final shots were 10-9 in favor of Lehigh while Blanks made one save across Mason's five.
 
"We just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net tonight," said Lambinus. "I thought their goalie was awesome. We had some good chances and we'd expect one of them to go in. They're just not falling for us right now."
 
Lehigh will now turn its attention to a nonleague matchup against Penn on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Mountain Hawks will then head to Holy Cross next Saturday (Nov. 1) for a 5 p.m. showdown with the Crusaders. Lehigh will likely need a win if it hopes to clinch a second Patriot League Tournament berth in the last three years.
 
"I'm pretty proud of the team," said Lambinus. "We've played a bunch of good games and had disappointing results - some ties, some losses where we hoped and expected more. We are what our record is, but they haven't stopped working. Every game has been 100 percent. I have no doubt our seniors will lead us through a great week of training. We'll play a great game against Penn Tuesday then Holy Cross next weekend. This team won't quit; they're disappointed, but they're going to bust their butt. We know they're going to do that."
 
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