Lehigh and Bucknell Play to Scoreless Draw

March 22, 2021

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Regulation and two overtime periods weren't enough to determine a winner on Sunday as the Lehigh women's soccer team played Bucknell to a scoreless tie. With the draw, the Mountain Hawks stand 1-1-1 in the Patriot League, including 1-0-1 in the North Division. Lehigh finished with a 16-13 edge in shots and 7-4 advantage in shots on goal, but the two goalkeepers combined to make 11 stops.
 
"Overall, I thought we played better than we've played in our first two games," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "It was definitely a tough transition going from all that time on turf to a grass field in March in Pennsylvania. It took a while to adapt even though we've trained on grass [recently]. Once we got our feet underneath us, we were fine. We created some good chances. We just have to work to capitalize on those chances as we move forward."
 
After Bucknell fired the game's first three shots, the Bison ended the stanza with four of the final five. Sophomore Julianna Bonner had both of Lehigh's first-half shots on goal.
 
Bucknell held a 6-5 edge in second-half shots, but only one of the Bison chances was on target while Lehigh had a pair on frame – off the foot of sophomore Mattie Murphy in the 53rd minute and freshman Emma Roesing in the 80th minute.
 
Over the two overtime periods, Lehigh held a 7-3 edge in shots, including 3-0 in the second overtime (along with three corner kicks), but the Mountain Hawks couldn't put one past Bucknell goalkeeper Jenna Hall.
 
"I thought our fitness was good and we did better in the second half and overtime," said Lambinus.
 
Final shots were 16-13 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 9-6 advantage in corner kicks. Senior Miranda Royds finished with four saves while Hall made seven for Bucknell.
 
"Defensively, our whole team worked pretty well together," said Lambinus. "I thought we were more organized with our pressure throughout. Bucknell definitely had a different playing style than Army and American, so we had to be a little bit more organized. We had to withstand some services in deep areas and free kicks. They were a different team than the last two we've played, but we adapted well defensively. It was definitely a solid effort."
 
The Mountain Hawks will return home on Saturday when they host Loyola at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
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