BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh hung tough with Penn through 109 minutes but the Quakers' Emily Sands found the game winner with just 52 seconds remaining to send the Quakers past the Mountain Hawks 1-0 in double overtime Monday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
 
"I think they're a really good team," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "I thought our second half was tremendous. I thought we controlled the tempo and created a bunch of chances. We were just about there. We turned them into a team who was pretty direct. A lot of their chances were off free kicks and longer balls, so I thought we executed what we wanted to do really well. We forced them to be pretty one-dimensional. We played pretty well, just unfortunate not to get the result."
 
The Mountain Hawks were held without a shot in the opening half but put together a quality second half in which they outshot the Quakers 10-7. Sands' final minute winner was her sixth of the season, with all six goals serving as game-winners.
 
Penn's win extends its unbeaten streak to eight as the Quakers improve to 9-1-1, while Lehigh falls to 4-9 on the season, with four Patriot League games remaining games remaining as it looks to make a run to the Patriot League Tournament, currently one game out.
 
The first half saw Penn outshoot Lehigh 7-0 with the Quakers' first chances serving as their best. Junior Sam Miller saved a shot from Allie Trzaska in the eighth minute with the Lehigh defense coming up with two blocks on ensuing chances.
 
Lehigh's first shot of the night was a free kick from sophomore Ally Friedman that was saved by Kiera Towell early in the second half. The Mountain Hawks put five shots on target in the second half, with senior Clare Severe forcing a diving Towell save in the 66th minute. Juniors Kayla Arestivo and Maggie Wadsworth forced saves from Towell later in the half, but the game went into overtime scoreless.
 
Penn outshot Lehigh 5-2 in the first overtime period, with Miller coming up with the best two of her five saves to keep the game deadlocked.
 
The game-winning goal came on the only chance of the second overtime when a Quaker cross was headed down by Abbey Duncan to Sands, who scored at the far post.
 
Shots finished 20-12 in favor of Penn, while the Quakers had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks. Miller made five saves for Lehigh, while Towell made five after coming on at halftime for Kitty Qu.
 
"Our backline was really solid," said Lambinus. "Sam made a couple nice decisions and a couple nice saves early to keep us in it, but we defended all over the field and did well. We have to stay hungry. It was a consistent effort; we never dropped or dipped. It was just the ball bouncing the wrong way on the goal."
 
The Mountain Hawks resume Patriot League play on Saturday when they host rival Lafayette on Senior Night. Game time is set for 7 p.m. with video coverage on the Patriot League Network.
 
Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.

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