The Lehigh women’s lacrosse team will host Colgate University on Tuesday in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. This will be Lehigh’s first postseason home game since 2010.
The Mountain Hawks (12-4, 6-3 Patriot) completed the regular season with 12 wins, which is the most since 2010. The team is on a nine-game home winning streak.
Lehigh’s only two losses in April were to Patriot League foes — Loyola University (Maryland) and Colgate.
The Mountain Hawks lost a tight game to Loyola in overtime, 14-13. Lehigh fought back and scored the last five goals in regulation to tie the game at 13 apiece, but the Greyhounds scored early in overtime to get the win.
“After the Loyola game, we learned how capable our team is to compete with the best in the league,” junior attacker Allison LaBeau said. “Going into overtime with Loyola boosted our confidence, and we are excited to see them again in the tournament.”
Lehigh suffered a frustrating loss to Colgate in the second to last game of the regular season. The team held a 7-4 lead in the second half, but Colgate scored six of the last seven goals to beat the Hawks.
“We left the field against Colgate frustrated, knowing that we were better than the team that showed up in the second half that day,” LaBeau said. “Our goal since that loss has been to bring our best game every day and improve on our mistakes for Bucknell.”
The team handled its business against the Bison, closing out the regular season with a 12-11 win.
Junior Julianne D’Orazio had a big night for the Mountain Hawks. The defender tallied career highs in both ground balls (eight) and caused turnovers (seven). The eight ground balls were the most by a Lehigh defender since 2010, and the seven caused turnovers were the most by any player in Lehigh coach Jill Redfern’s eight seasons. D’Orazio’s seven caused turnovers is also tied for the fourth most by any player in the country this season and was a school record.
Junior midfielder Lauren Beausoleil had a career high five goals while LaBeau recorded five points (four goals, one assist), upping her point total to 71. She leads the Patriot League in total points.
Senior midfielder Kendall Garden said she is willing to do whatever she can to help her team win and keep the Mountain Hawks season alive.
“I would rather see my teammates score, get ground balls or grab draw controls because of something that I did to get them there,” Garden said. “I will do anything to win and be able to help my teammates succeed.”
Her team-first attitude was evident in the season finale against Bucknell when she dished two assists and scored two goals. Her four-point performance gave her 100 points in her career.
Lehigh is excited to be playing Colgate in the first round of the tournament as it looks for revenge.
“We know we didn’t play to our full potential in our first meeting against Colgate and we are excited to put together a full 60 minutes of lacrosse and get the win and get us to the semifinals,” D’Orazio said.
The No. 4 seed Mountain Hawks take on the No. 5 seed Raiders at 6 p.m. at Frank Banko Field.
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