BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh women’s soccer team finished with a convincing 24-9 edge in shots, but Towson scored the game’s lone goal in the 67th minute to hand the Mountain Hawks (2-1-1) a 1-0 loss on Thursday evening. Sophomore Sam Miller made five saves in the defeat, across from the Tigers’ (3-1-1) Taylor Sebolao, who stopped all nine shots sent her way.

 

“We have to execute better,” said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. “I think we settled for too many shots from distance. We were trying to be too intricate at times. There were times when we needed to be a little bit simpler, work together and create better chances. We work on it every day. We have to execute in the games.”

 

The Mountain Hawks fired 10 of the 13 first-half shots, including a number of glittering opportunities. In the seventh minute, junior Sabrina Mertz headed a cross from freshman Lisa Kestelboym, which looked ticketed for the left corner of the goal, but Sebolao made a strong save to keep the ball from going over the line.

 

Another chance came in the 20th minute as Vitello’s strike from distance was punched out of harm’s way by Sebolao. Over 10 minutes later, senior Lexi Chang took a pass from sophomore Kayla Arestivo, but the ensuing shot just missed the right post. Meanwhile, all three of Towson’s first-half shots were on goal, but Miller stood tall.

 

Lehigh also held a dominant 14-6 edge in second-half shots, but Towson scored the lone goal at the 66:52 mark. Elizabeth Coletti made a move at the end line and lofted a shot from a tough angle into the right side of the goal to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage.

 

The Mountain Hawks forced Sebolao to make seven second-half saves, including one in the 77th minute as Wadsworth fired a shot from in close. Lehigh had two more shots in the final three minutes, from Wadsworth and senior Alyssa Riporti, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

 

“There were definitely moments when we played a lot better than other games, but it’s still a 1-0 loss,” said Lambinus. “Over a 90-minute period, we played better than we played in some of the games over the weekend. We’re going to give up goals, but we should be able to score two or three goals on a regular occasion, especially with the amount of time we had the ball. It’s something we’re going to continue to work on.”

 

Lehigh will look to bounce back on Sunday when it travels to Delaware to face the Blue Hens. Opening kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

 

“We have to work on execution and decision-making in the final third, and even in the midfield,” said Lambinus. “We could have crisper and cleaner in there, and even in the back as well. We could be a little bit more aggressive, but a good, patient aggressiveness. We seemed to rush when we tried to take too many shots from distance.”

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