BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Sophomore Chloe Tremblay broke a scoreless game in the 77th minute with her first-career goal, which proved to be the difference, as the Lehigh women's soccer team downed reigning NEC Regular Season Champion Fairleigh Dickinson 1-0 in its home opener Thursday afternoon. Freshman Courtney Supp assisted the goal, marking her first-career point, while a pair of Lehigh goalkeepers combined for seven saves between the pipes. With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 1-1-0 on the young season while the Knights fall to 1-2-0.
 
The win extends Lehigh's unbeaten streak in home openers to five (4-0-1).
 
"It was really good to get a shutout," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "We made a couple changes that I think positively affected the way we played. We scored a good goal and created a bunch of corner kicks. We're happy with a lot of things that came out of the game."
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Miranda Royds made three first-half saves, including stopping the first two shots of the game, in the seventh and 10th minutes. Lehigh's best first-half chance came midway through the stanza when junior Kayla Arestivo fed freshman Rebecca Van Siclen in a dangerous position near the center of the box, but Van Siclen lost her footing before she could get a shot away.
 
After six combined shots in the first half, the game opened up a bit in the second. In the 48th minute, Van Siclen got a shot off, but FDU goalkeeper Amanda Fitzgerald made an aggressive stop. New Lehigh goalkeeper, senior Lidia Breen, made her first two saves of the season in the 57th and 61st minutes, respectively, before the Mountain Hawks responded with the next four shots and five of the next seven.
 
Fitzgerald made a strong save of a Lisa Kestelboym chance in the 62nd minute, but couldn't stop Tremblay's chance in the 77th minute. Freshman Courtney Supp sprung Tremblay towards goal, who made a move and fired a low shot into the back of the net.
 
FDU pressured down the stretch, but Breen was there to make a big save on Viktorija Miseljic in the 87th minute to preserve the 1-0 final.
 
Final shots were 10-9 in favor of Lehigh while the Mountain Hawks held a 6-4 edge in corner kicks. Royds finished with three saves while Breen had four.
 
"We were able to control the ball a lot better; we were able to move it, keep possession of the ball, move it around and create some chances," said Lambinus. "We were pretty dangerous in the final third and I think we can be more dangerous and dynamic, looking to shoot the ball and looking to score more often. But we got a shutout, two goalies made some big saves for us and our back line was very solid. We felt good about the effort."
 
Lehigh will now hit the road to face Villanova on Sunday, Aug. 26 at 5 p.m.
 
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