Lehigh University women’s lacrosse team defeats University of California Berkley 9-7. (Dave DiFrancesco/B&W photo)
The Lehigh women’s lacrosse team’s season came to an abrupt end on Tuesday when the No. 6 Mountain Hawks dropped a tough Patriot League quarterfinal game to the No. 3 Boston University Terriers. Boston jumped all over Lehigh out of the gate, getting out to a quick lead that the team wouldn’t relinquish in its 14-9 win.
The Hawks kept the score within two for most of the first period and even tied the game at three with 10 minutes left in the half when junior attackman Carli Sukonik scored her team-leading 27th goal on the season. The Terriers would score three unanswered in the next six minutes before first-year midfielder Allison LaBeau notched her second point of the game on a strong move to the net that ended in an unassisted goal.
Lehigh went into halftime down just two goals — with Boston leading 7-5 — and looking to tie the game. However, the Terriers came out of the break and scored three more unanswered goals to open up a 10-5 lead with 18 minutes left in the game.
Junior midfielder Kelsey Yenco would score two more times in the half to notch her first-career hat trick but it wouldn’t be enough for the Hawks who had no answer for Boston’s sophomore midfielder Jill Horka.
The sophomore from Westborough, Mass., scored five goals in the game on just seven shots with all five coming unassisted. First-year attackman Taylor Hardison also proved to be a powerful force as she came up with two late goals in the second half to secure the victory. The Darien, Conn., native also had three assists in the game to help send the Terriers to the Patriot League semifinals.
Boston will head Annapolis to take on No. 2-seeded Navy with a spot in the championship game on the line.
The loss for the Hawks marks the end to a season in which the team went 7-9, including a 4-4 mark in league play. The strong regular season play earned the team an appearance in the Patriot League tournament for the first time since 2011.
Lehigh featured the Patriot League Rookie of the Year in LaBeau. The Mountain Lakes, N.J., native led the team in points on the season with 38 behind 29 goals and nine assists.
The team also had five All-Patriot League honorees, including Sukonik who led the team with 32 goals in 14 games.
Story by Brown and White sports writer Connor Cackovic, ’14.
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