Box Score BETHLEHEM, Penn. – Nichole Tolli scored her first career collegiate goal and Sarah Bergman recorded a goal and an assist on Sunday afternoon as the Sacred Heart university field hockey team fell to Lehigh 4-2.
After Sacred Heart goalkeeper Mary Altepeter saved three consecutive shots in the fourth minute, Lehigh (4-6) opened the scoring in the eleventh minute off of a penalty corner. Erin Recker sent a direct shot from the corner and beat Altepeter low.
Sacred Heart (5-5) responded with a goal from a penalty corner less than five minutes later to tie the score at 1-1. Bergman took the corner from Christine Mace and then dropped it off for Tolli, whose shot from the edge of the box beat Lehigh goalkeeper Julia Ward. Bergman's assist was her first of the season.
Lehigh regained the lead less then four minutes later on yet another goal from a penalty corner. After an Altepeter save, Gabby Tofig found the rebound in front of net and scored to give the Mountain Hawks a 2-1 advantage. Lehigh nearly made it 3-1 five minutes before the half, but Jackie Delannoy was able to save a Marissa Glatt shot after she got around Altepeter to keep the score at 2-1 heading into the break.
Sacred Heart put 12 shots on goal in the second half to the Mountain Hawks four but could not break through to tie the game at 2-2. Lehigh would capitalize as they took a 3-1 lead in the 44th minute off of a breakaway goal by Tofig following a SHU corner. Three minutes later they took a commanding 4-1 lead when Amanda Granger knocked in a rebound.
Bergman converted a penalty stroke in the 64th minute to make the score 4-2. The goal was the first of the season for Bergman. The Pioneers nearly cut the lead to 1 in the last minute, but Kat Kneizys and Ward combined to make four saves off of three SHU penalty corners.
Altepeter was busy in the first half saving eight shots. The Mountain Hawks put all ten of their shots on goal in the period, while SHU's only shot on net beat Ward. Roles reversed in the second half as Ward made 9 saves in the period and Kneizys contributed two defensive saves. For the game, Lehigh outshot the Pioneers 19-14 with a slight edge in shots on goal at 14-13. SHU held the advantage in penalty corners 10-9.
Sacred Heart travels north to Vermont next weekend for two games. The first will be against Maine at 1 pm on Saturday. They will then face Vermont on Sunday at 1 pm.
