Lehigh field hockey drops another close game, falling to Lafayette 2-1

The Mountain Hawks went into the game looking to break a losing streak that has plagued it since its second game.

However, the Lehigh field hockey team could not push past rival Lafayette College as it lost 2-1 Saturday afternoon at the Ulrich Sports Complex.

Lafayette held the advantage in both shots and penalty corners, 16-6 and 9-2, respectively. Each team scored a goal in the first half, with Lafayette scoring first off of a penalty corner. Lehigh’s senior forward Lindsey Schott scored off of a pass from senior midfielder Zoey Pacheco just two minutes later.

Another goal wasn’t scored until 55 minutes in when Lafayette scored a high shot from the top left of the circle. Lehigh’s (1-8) last opportunity came in a shot from junior forward Marissa Glatt during a penalty corner in the 68^th minute. Junior goalie Julia Ward had six saves while Lafayette’s keeper had two saves.

“So far our season has been very frustrating, a lot of the games we are right there with the other team but we just don’t pull out the win,” High said. “Obviously our team wanted the win today against our all-time rivals. We also wanted to focus most on capitalizing our opportunities.”

This contest, along with others, has not been one-sided. Lehigh has controlled the field more often than not, only having trouble with finishing at the offensive end of the field.

“This season is hard to describe, we definitely have lost more games than we want, but the majority of these games we could have won,” Schott said. “Going into this game we were all extremely pumped because Lafayette is our rival. This game was a huge game to win as we’re playing for a position in the Patriot League tournament.

“We controlled the majority of the game. We were in our offensive end most of the time but we didn’t finish enough goals to win.”

With a score of 2-1, it is another close contest for the Hawks. All eight losses this season have been by three or fewer goals.

Junior forward Gabby Tofig said that despite the loss, the team still showed the competition a fight.

“We had very strong defensive and midfield play and outplayed them for most of the game, we just weren’t able to finish our opportunities,” she said. “We are now entering the second half of the season and using the first half to learn and push forward. We can make the Patriot League tournament, and that is our goal moving into the second half of the season.”

With both Patriot League and non-league games remaining, the Mountain Hawks look to improve and move forward, starting on Sunday when it hosts Sienna College at noon.