Oct. 22, 2011
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette field hockey team took the lead 3:21 into the game and never looked back from that point, defeating Lehigh 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at Rappolt Field. The win is the third straight for the Leopards, who have won six of their last seven contests.
"Today we had another consistent performance across the field," head coach Andrew Griffiths said. "We are exactly where we want to be in terms of Patriot League play and this win gives us an opportunity to play for home field advantage next weekend."
The first tally came when Deanna DiCroce found her way in front of the cage after inserting a corner to the top of the circle. Freshman Brittany Blass fired a shot on target which DiCroce put her stick on and deflected past Lehigh goalie Sierra Segear. The marker was DiCroce's team-leading tenth of the season and the Leopards are now 8-0 when the junior scores a goal.
Less than three minutes later, Lafayette (9-6, 4-0 Patriot) jumped out to a 2-0 advantage. Blass once again set up the goal, finding Kelsey Mead for a redirection on the far post. Mead's score was her eighth of the year and gave Blass a point in three straight games.
"It was good to get ahead early," Griffiths added. "We were solid defensively throughout the game and played a good passing game in the second half once we had the lead."
With 2:30 left in the opening half, the Maroon and White padded the lead, as Emily Valeo passed across the circle to Carolyn Cabrey who fired a shot into the cage on the far side. The Leopards took the 3-0 lead into halftime and ended the half without surrendering a shot to Lehigh.
Maria Machalick scored her first goal of the year at the 57:09 mark for the only score of the second half. Lehigh (5-11, 2-2 Patriot) did manage two shots on goal in the period, both of which were stopped by goalie Jessica Deutsch, who earned her first career shutout.
Segear made six stops before giving way to Sydney Maltinsky, who made two saves in her 8:17 in the cage. The Leopards took 11 penalty corners, while yielding only one. In addition, Lafayette is now 9-3 when scoring the game's first goal.
Lafayette returns to action on Tuesday evening when its hosts Columbia at Rappolt Field at 5:30 p.m. Conference play resumes on Oct. 29 when the Leopards welcome American to Easton, Pa. for senior day. The winner of the game will earn the right to host the Patriot League Tournament on Nov. 4 and 5.
