WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Lehigh women's soccer team opened the 2016-17 Lehigh Athletics school year with a hard-fought 0-0 tie at preseason MAAC favorite on Monday evening. Freshman goalkeeper Sam Miller helped spearhead the defense, making eight saves for the Mountain Hawks. Monday marked the second straight season Lehigh and Monmouth have played to a draw.

 

"Going against a team that's favored to win its conference, going on the road and getting a result, it's not a bad thing," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "We definitely defended more than we would have liked, but we defended well. We created a couple good chances. I thought their keeper made some good saves."
 
Despite only posting four shots for the game, the Mountain Hawks created several quality opportunities. Monmouth fired an early shot, but Lehigh tallied the game's first shot on goal as junior Grace Correll had an opportunity from the corner of the box, which was stopped and led to the Mountain Hawks' first corner kick.
 
Lehigh's next shot came in the 36th minute, but sophomore Sabrina Mertz's opportunity was stopped by Monmouth goalkeeper Amanda Knaub
 
Monmouth controlled play early in the second half, but the Lehigh defense stood tall and Miller made some impressive stops. The freshman keeper made four second-half stops, including in the 75th minute, diving to her right off a free kick just outside the box.
 
The overtime periods saw strong changes from each side. Lehigh's best chances came in the 95th minute off the foot of senior Tori Pantaleo. Her first shot was saved while her second went just wide. Monmouth went on to fire seven shots in the second overtime, but Lehigh held Monmouth off the scoreboard.
 
"Moving forward, when we're defending for so long, we can't give the ball back as quickly as we did," said Lambinus. "We've got to keep it a little bit longer to relieve some pressure and allow us to build an attack. You could tell it was our first game. We have some things to build on."
 
Final shots were 28-4, Monmouth while Monmouth held an 11-2 edge in corner kicks. Miller's eight saves came across Knaub, who made three.
 
"As much as they got a lot of shots, a lot were from distance which I'm not overly concerned about," said Lambinus. "They got in behind a couple times on some deflections and crosses, and Sam handled them really well. I'm not really worried about her getting beat from distance. Even a couple that hit the crossbar, I thought she had them covered. She is composed; we were impressed."
 
Miller wasn't the only freshman to impress in her collegiate debut.
 
"Annika Jansa also had a really good performance too against a very good player," said Lambinus. "I don't know if we're going to play against too many players as good as their number 18 (Alexis McTamney). Anika was composed and did a good job."
 
Lehigh returns to action on Friday when the Mountain Hawks host LIU Brooklyn at 8 p.m.


"We're excited about getting home," said Lambinus. "It's another opportunity to see how we can play. I think we'll have the ball a little bit more at home and on the grass field, I think we'll be able to attack a little bit more. We have to work on a couple things between now and then to get there."
 
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