Lehigh heads to Bucknell Wednesday night

October 17, 2017

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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Coming off a pair of shutout victories, the Lehigh women's soccer team looks to continue its success when it travels to Bucknell on Wednesday. Opening kickoff against the Bison is set for 7 p.m. The Mountain Hawks are 5-1-3 over their last nine games to improve to 7-3-4 on the season, 3-1-2 in Patriot League play. Bucknell stands in third place in the league standings with 15 points while Lehigh is in fifth with 11.
 
Last season, the Mountain Hawks traveled to Bucknell and handed the Bison their first (and what would prove to be only) loss of the regular season. Bucknell's only other loss was against Penn State in the NCAA Tournament. In that game, Lehigh jumped out to a 3-0 first-half lead behind goals from Tori PantaleoSabrina Mertz and Sidonie Warnecker. The Bison pulled within 3-2 in the 84th minute, but the Mountain Hawks held on.
 
Most recently, Lehigh picked up a 2-0 victory at archrival Lafayette. Freshman Ally Friedman scored in the 29th minute while sophomore Maggie Wadsworth added an 86th-minute insurance tally. In between, sophomore Sam Miller made a huge 83rd-minute penalty kick save to preserve Lehigh's 1-0 advantage (at the time). Miller finished with five saves for her seventh shutout of the season and 19th shutout since the beginning of last year. On Monday, she was recognized with Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honors for a league-record fifth time this season.
 
As a team, Lehigh has allowed one goal or fewer in 12 of 14 games this season, allowing an average of just 0.64 goals per contest. Miller's goals against average is down to 0.54 (which would be second in school history for a single season), while her save percentage stands at 0.875.
 
Bucknell is 8-7-0 overall, 5-1-0 in Patriot League play coming off its first league defeat of the season on Saturday, 3-2 at Colgate. Prior to that game, the Bison defeated Lafayette (1-0), American (4-0), Loyola (3-0), Holy Cross (3-0) and Army West Point (3-0) in the league. Kendall Ham leads the offense in goals (6) and points (15) while Alex Catanzarite and Maddie Dano are tied for the team lead in assists with four. Brianna Kropinack leads the Bison with three game-winning goals. Dani Kaufman has started all 15 games in net, recording a 1.28 goals against average and 0.814 save percentage.
 
Bucknell leads the all-time series with Lehigh, 14-11-3. The Mountain Hawks' win last season was their first vs. the Bison since 2012, but Lehigh is 4-3-1 against Bucknell over the last eight meetings. The teams first met in 1991, a 3-1 Bucknell victory while Lehigh's first win was the following season via a 2-0 final.
 
Following Wednesday's game, the Mountain Hawks return home on Saturday to host Loyola at 5 p.m.
 
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