BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women’s soccer team exploded for three goals, while the defense pitched a shutout, for an impressive 3-0 win over Marist on Friday evening. The Mountain Hawks (1-4-0) got goals from junior Rosie Vitta, sophomore Darby Dustman and junior Paige Dyrek while freshman goalie Ani Nahapetian made six saves in the second half to clinch the victory. Lehigh will look to continue the momentum on Sunday when it travels to Stony Brook for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff.

 

“We were consistent across our entire team tonight,” said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. “We’ve had some games where a couple girls played well. But we just asked them to take care of what they need to do and we got more consistent throughout the entire lineup. I thought everyone who played tonight had a pretty solid game and if we do that, we’ll give ourselves a good chance to win.”

 

The goal total marked Lehigh’s largest since last Sept. 16 when it had four in a 4-2 win at Quinnipiac.

 

The win came over a strong Marist squad, who entered with a 5-2-0 record and ranked eighth in the NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division I Women’s Northeast Poll. Lehigh’s next opponent (Stony Brook) is currently seventh.

 

A very defensive first half saw only five combined shots (two on goal). Vitta capitalized on one of them, finding the top left corner of the goal to give Lehigh a 1-0 lead at 41:43. The goal marked Vitta’s first of her career.

 

The Mountain Hawks extended the lead in the 64th minute, as sophomore Darby Dustman found the top right corner off a free kick to make it 2-0. Like Vitta, that goal also marked Dustman’s first-career tally.

Dyrek later erased any doubt in the 77th minute when she split two defenders, then unleashed a shot which went off goalie Andrea Wicks’ hands and found the back of the net.

 

Nahapetian was also the story in the second half, making six saves including a few acrobatic stops to keep Marist off the scoreboard. That came after sophomore Ashley Blanks played the entire first half.

 

“Ani’s been doing really well in training, as has Ashley,” said Lambinus. “We made that decision before the game that we wanted to get both of them some time. It’s always hard to make a decision with keepers, but it’s been pretty equal. Ani adds a different dimension; she strikes the ball really well and we’re able to move the ball forward more. It gives us a pretty good dimension in the game and works well in the second half when you get tired.”

 

Marist had the final edge in shots, 13-9 and corner kicks, 3-1. Nahapetian made six saves while Wicks finished with three.

 

Lehigh will head to Stony Brook on Sunday to face the Seawolves before returning home for a pair against Atlantic 10 foes. The Mountain Hawks welcome Saint Joseph’s next Friday (Sept. 21) and La Salle on Sunday (Sept. 23).

 

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