March 14, 2009

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EASTON, Pa. - After being held to just one goal in the opening half, the Lafayette offense erupted for six second-half goals but they were too little too late as the women's lacrosse team suffered a 14-7 setback to rival Lehigh. Lauren Brown led the Leopards' offense with a hat trick, scoring all three of her goals in the second period.

The Mountain Hawks (3-3, 1-1) took 29 shots while Lafayette (0-7, 0-2) finished with 16. Lehigh, which recorded its first league win of the season, was led in scoring by Lauren Dykstra's game-high five goals.

Leopard goalie Alexa Biale earned her first start of the year and played a season-high 60 minutes. The rookie finished with double-digit saves (10), including six in the opening half.

Lehigh jumped out a 3-0 lead after just over 10 minutes of play. Lafayette's Michaela Corn put her team on the scoreboard with a free position goal at 14:19.

The Mountain Hawks, however, closed out the half just as they had started it--with three unanswered goals. The Leopards did keep Lehigh off the scoreboard for the final 8:48 of the period to keep the lead within reach (6-1) at the midway point.

Lafayette gave up three more goals to the Mountain Hawks over the first six minutes of the second half, two of which came on free position shots, as Lehigh's lead increased to eight (9-1).

The Leopards' offense began to hit its stride when Kristin Ruminski's score at 23:54 sparked a 3-0 Lafayette run with the final two goals coming from Brown.

Lehigh responded with two goals to make it 11-4 with 20 minutes remaining. Both teams found the back of the net before Brown and Andrea Corpora netted two straight to cut Lehigh's lead back to five (12-7) with 4:45 to play. However, the Mountain Hawks scored the game's final two goals to seal the 14-7 win.

Lafayette hits the road to face Big East powerhouse Louisville on Wednesday at 12 p.m.