Preview: Lehigh hosts Penn on Saturday

September 14, 2018

The Mountain Hawks have another opportunity to win their first home match of the season on Saturday evening when Penn visits the Ulrich Sports Complex at 6 p.m.
 
Lehigh is winless on its own field, but 3-1 on the road, defeating Rider on Tuesday 1-0 in double overtime. Freshman Josh Luchini got the feed from sophomore Trevor Koski in the 103rd minute and delivered the game-winning strike.
 
Lehigh's defense was stellar once again, minimizing the effectiveness of the Broncs' aggressive attack in the final two periods. Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week Will Smith recorded his third shutout of the season, stopping six shots, and lowered his goals against average to a cool 0.97 in the process.
 
The Mountain Hawks have won all three of their games this season in shutout fashion by a score of 1-0. All three game-winners were scored by different players. Senior Mark Forrest executed on a penalty kick to defeat George Washington. Junior Tommy Dokho kicked the winning goal to take down St. John's, and Luchini's first-career goal downed Rider.
 
Penn comes to Bethlehem on Saturday night hungry for a victory after being shut out 2-0 at Milwaukee this past Sunday. The Quakers (2-1-1) started the season off with three straight overtime contests, winning two of them against Monmouth and Marquette, and tying Drexel 0-0 in two overtimes. Lehigh's Smith will get himself a pretty intense opposing goalkeeper in Penn's Scott Forbes, who enters Saturday's play with a 0.92 goals against average and two shutouts to his record.
 
The Quakers are also led in scoring by sophomore defender Alex Touche with two goals on eight shots. Sophomore Joey Bhangdia leads Penn in shot attempts with 10 despite only one goal to show for so far.
 
Lehigh doesn't have that favorable of a record against the Quakers all-time, as Penn has the edge at 34-19-6. However, the Mountain Hawks took last year's matchup in Philadelphia, shutting out the Quakers 3-0 on September 14.

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