Lehigh women’s lacrosse crushes Mount St. Mary’s 12-3

Lehigh women’s lacrosse rolled over Mount St. Mary’s University 12-3 on Saturday at the Ulrich Sports Complex.

After opening the season in a loss to Penn State University and then beating Yale University last weekend in a late rally, the team was looking to put another win under its belt as Patriot League play approaches.

“Our team’s goals were to play our game and focus on the little things,” she said. “We have been practicing our fast breaks, and the key is starting our momentum on the offensive end, especially in the first half.”

That seemed to work for Lehigh as the team came out of the first half with a 6-2 lead. Sophomore attacker Haley Wentzel scored her first of a career-high four goals in less than two minutes into the game. Wentzel scored another and junior attacker Alli LaBeau scored three goals to put them at 5-0. Mount St. Mary’s answered with two goals in the last nine minutes, and Lehigh scored another before halftime.

“Alli and Haley really stepped up and took control, leading the way on the offensive end,” D’Orazio said. “Kendall Garden was key in transition and getting those caused turnovers, while Taylor Tvedt made key saves that translated to goals on our offensive end.”

Lehigh dominated the second half with Garden tallying a goal in the first minute. Lehigh scored five more goals to gain a definitive lead, and Mount St. Mary’s scored one more to make the final score 12-3. Lehigh dominated in the numbers game in several ways, beating the opponent in shots 38-13 and 9-8 in draw controls. The Hawks had an advantage in ground balls 21-13 and caused 12 of Mount St. Mary’s turnovers.

Tvedt saw many strengths come out of this game.

“Our offense executed beautifully, and it was fun to see the plays come together,” Tvedt said. “We have a young team but we have a lot of depth on our bench. It’s good for our program that we were not only able to play a bunch of different players, but they were also successful, and we even had two freshman score their first goals.”

Although this game did not have an effect on Lehigh’s Patriot League standing, D’Orazio insists that every game is a learning experience for the team.

“Since we are young, these first few games are key in getting our younger players experience and meshing as a team on the field,” she said. “These first couple of wins are huge in giving us confidence in our ability and getting us ready for Patriot League play.”

The Mountain Hawks will have their next game at home on March 5 against Iona College at 3 p.m.