April 16, 2002

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - The Leopard women's lacrosse team earned the right to call themselves number one with a 19-5 romp of archrival Lehigh on Tuesday night in Bethlehem, Pa. The win improved Lafayette to a league-leading 5-0 mark and thus earning it the right to host the Patriot League Championships on April 27 & 28th at Rappolt Field.

Senior co-captain Stephanie Tinney tallied five goals and dished out an assist to lead Lafayette while co-captain Heather McClelland notched two goals and added four assists.

Sophomore Erin Gallagher opened the scoring versus Lehigh with an unassisted goal at 25:06 in the first half. McClelland found the back of the net five minutes later, while Tinney tallied two goals in the next five minutes for a 4-1 lead over the Mountain Hawks. Sophomore Jennifer Stone converted a pass from Gallagher for her 25th goal of the season.

Gallagher tallied her second of the game on a pass from defender Andrea MacCullough's first career assist. Tinney added her third of the game and Katie Curtin took a pass from Gallagher to end the scoring in the first half. The Leopard defense limited Lehigh to just two goals in the first stanza to take an 8-2 lead into halftime.

The Leopards picked up where they left off in the second half, outscoring Lehigh 11-3. Sophomore Kim Maron converted a pass from Fallon Cunningham for a goal at 27:49. Cunningham added her first goal of the game 14 seconds later on a pass from McClelland. Lafayette put on a scoring clinic for the remainder of the game on its way to a 19-5 win.

Lehigh goals came from five different players including Jennifer Fleming, Barrie Cominsky, Emily Studdiford, Kristin Strohm and Sarah Starsoneck.

Lafayette's Stone and Gallagher each notched three goals and two assists while Cunningham had three goals and an assist. Maron, Curtin and Jill Marvin added the remaining goals while MacCullough added an assist.

Leopard goalie Leela Strong recorded nine saves in goal while junior Kate Devlin saw time, making three saves. Lehigh's Vanessa Abbott made 11 saves in goal while Val Jackson had two saves.

Lafayette outshot Lehigh 36-17 and picked up 38 ground balls to the Mountain Hawks' 19.

Lafayette (10-5, 5-0) travels to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on league foe Colgate on Saturday at 12 p.m.

SCORINGFirst Half:Time    Team    Goal                    Assist1-25:06 LC  Erin Gallagher          ---1-19:48 LC  Heather McClelland      ---1-16:54 LU  Kristin Strohm          ---1-16:11 LC  Stephanie Tinney        ---1-14:42 LC  Tinney                  ---1-14:00 LC  Jennifer Stone          Gallagher1- 7:20 LC  Gallagher               Andrea MacCullough1- 5:06 LC  Tinney                  ---1- 2:04 LC  Katie Curtin            Gallagher1- 0:21 LU  Sarah Starsoneck        ---
Second Half:Time  Team    Goal                    Assist2-28:31 LU  Barrie Cominsky         ---2-27:49 LC  Kim Maron               Fallon Cunningham2-26:24 LC  Cunningham              McClelland2-22:29 LC  Gallagher               McClelland2-21:50 LC  Cunningham              Tinney2-18:20 LC  McClelland              ---2-16:50 LC  Stone                   McClelland2-15:22 LC  Cunningham              Stone2-12:50 LU  Jennifer Fleming        ---2-10:30 LC  Stone                   McClelland2- 9:40 LC  Jill Marvin             Stone2- 6:05 LC  Tinney                  ---2- 2:00 LU  Emily Studdiford        Ella Studdiford
Goaltending             Minutes    GA       Saves       W/LLeela Strong (LC)       54:00      4          9          WKate Devlin (LC)         6:00      1          3         ---Vanessa Abbott (LU)     54:00     19         11         LVal Jackson (LU)         6:00      0          2         ---
                  SHOTS     GROUND BALLS  DRAW CONTROLSLehigh                17           19               12Lafayette             36           38                8