Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/20/17
From Press Release
The Lehigh women’s lacrosse team jumped out to a 15-5 halftime advantage and wouldn’t look back, dominating archrival Lafayette, 20-11 on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Mountain Hawks (10-4, 5-2 Patriot League) clinch their fourth straight postseason berth, reaching double-figure victories for back-to-back seasons for the first time since they did so four straight years from 2008-11.
Senior Julianne D’Orazio (Merion Mercy) paced the offense with a career-high six goals, five in the first half, reaching 50 career goals in the process.
Lehigh scored 20 goals for the first time since March of 2010. Along with D’Orazio’s career day sophomore Courtney Henig recorded a career-high seven points (two goals, five assists) while senior Allison LaBeau had seven points behind four goals and three assists. LaBeau has now tallied at least five points in seven straight games.
“We had a great start tonight and everyone played very well,” said Lehigh head cocah Jill Redfern. “We shared the ball offensively and made some really nice defensive stops. Shoutout to both of our assistant coaches, Shannon McHugh and Sammy Cermack, who had great game plans for both ends of the field. The team delivered.”
Lehigh’s defense was stellar in holding Lafayette, the nation’s sixth highest scoring offense entering the day, to a season-low 11 goals. Sophomore Kayleen Kelly led the way with three groundballs, four draw controls and three caused turnovers, holding the nation’s leading goal scorer Kirsten Wilhelmsen (Strath Haven) to just a single goal, which came on a fast break off a draw control.
Senior Lauren Beausoleil filled up the stat sheet with a goal, assist, three groundballs and five draw controls while junior Haley Wentzel (Boyertown) and freshman Sondra Dickey (Conestoga) each had a hat trick, tallying three goals and an assist apiece.
Jane Kirby had four goals and two assist for the Leopards (10-5, 5-2).
Lehigh’s goals came early and often in the first half as the Mountain Hawks put 15 on the board at the intermission. D’Orazio began the outburst with two goals in 27 seconds, at the 26:33 and 26:06 marks. After Lafayette pulled within 4-2, the Mountain Hawks scored seven in a row, from six different goal scorers, as Dickey’s second of the game gave Lehigh an 11-2 advantage with 8:56 still remaining in the first.
“Our players and coaches put in a lot of work in advance of the game,” said Redfern. “Some small changes on the offensive end that were a little bit of a different look made a big difference. Having the ball in our seniors’ sticks gives us a lot of confidence as well.”
The Mountain Hawks’ lead eventually swelled to 17-5 after Wentzel and LaBeau opened the second-half scoring. The Leopards pulled within 17-8 and 18-9, but Beausoleil and D’Orazio gave Lehigh a 20-9 advantage, which was more than enough for Lehigh’s 10th victory of the season.
Final shots were 40-22 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 16-15 edge in groundballs and 22-10 advantage in draw controls. Senior Taylor Tvedt made eight saves in goal.
“Our seniors have have never lost to Lafayette and we’re really proud of them,” said Redfern. “Our entire team was on its A game tonight.”
The Mountain Hawks now return home on Saturday for their regular season finale as they host Colgate at 1 p.m. on Senior Day. LaBeau, Beausoleil, D’Orazio, Tvedt and Krista Dampman will all be recognized prior to opening draw.
“We’re excited for Senior Day,” said Redfern. “It’s so bittersweet. These players have been so tremendous for four years. We’re sad it’s coming to an end, but we certainly want to celebrate all their contributions on Saturday.”