BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Navy scored a late first-half goal and doubled its lead in the second half as the Midshipmen went on to beat the Lehigh women's soccer team, 3-0 on Wednesday evening. The Mountain Hawks had some strong chances in the second half, but couldn't covert as they were shut-out for the first time since the season opener. Lehigh dropped its first home game of the season and now stands 7-2-1 on the year and 1-2-0 in the Patriot League, heading into a home matchup against Army West Point Saturday.
 
"It absolutely wasn't one of our better performances," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "We didn't do a lot of the things that we worked on, we didn't do a lot of the things we've done in previous games, and we allowed them to dictate the pace of play. When that happens, that team is going to put the ball in the back of the net. Give a lot of credit to Navy. They pushed us, they were physical, and they got in behind us and created a bunch of goals. We'll see how we react."
 
Navy fired the game's first five shots, but only one was on goal, which freshman Sam Miller stopped. Lehigh's first shot came in the 23rd minute off the foot of junior Adrian Vitello from just outside the box.
 
Miller was forced to make her second save following a corner kick. Then in the 43rd minute, Miller came out strong to knock the ball away, but she was whistled for a foul and Navy's Rachel Feldman converted the penalty kick to give the Mids a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
 
In the 65th minute, the Mountain Hawks had a flurry of shots, looking to pull even. Following a free kick, goalkeeper Dayton Wetherby punched the ball away, but sophomore Sabrina Mertz fired a shot towards goal, which was blocked by a Navy defender. Senior Laura Courtney then fired a shot from distance, which sailed just high.
 
Navy quickly responded by doubling its lead. Baseley McClaskey's original shot was blocked, but the ball fell at the feet Feldman, who converted her second goal of the game at the 68:56 mark.
 
"I think we were more reactive and let them dictate the physicality," said Lambinus. "We didn't calm down in the first half. It was way too frantic. The ball wasn't moving cleanly and we didn't have a lot of purpose with what we were trying to do. Once we settled down, I thought we did okay, then that second goal really hurt us."
 
The Midshipmen added to their lead in the 85th minute as Clare MacAdam played a ball to Ash Fairow from the midfield. Fairow fired a strike into the top left corner of the goal to give Navy a 3-0 lead, which proved to be the final.
 
Final shots were 16-8 in favor of Navy while the Mids held a 6-1 edge in corner kicks. Miller finished with three saves, as did Navy's Wetherby. 
 
Lehigh returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Army West Point at 7 p.m.
 
"We have to complete more passes and move the ball across the field," said Lambinus. "I think we got very one-dimensional in the way we were trying to attack and they read it well. There are things we can do a lot better and things we can work on. Hopefully, we can work on it over the next couple days and perform better against Army."
 
Like Lehigh Women's Soccer on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.