Both Lafayette and Lehigh will enter Friday night’s contest with a place in the Patriot League tournament. But there are still things to be settled. Lafayette still has an outside chance of hosting with a win over Lehigh and Bucknell and American losing to Boston and Colgate. Boston lost to a very good Harvard team on a penalty stroke Monday night….maybe with an end of season surprise with Colgate…I can dream can’t I.
On a more realistic plane there is still the seedings to be decided. If Lehigh were to lose they would most likely have to play American in the first round, while Bucknell would duke it out with Lafayette to play in the championship game. BUT THIS IS THE RIVALRY and Lehigh has been improving year by year. Lafayette has a 41-14-3 record against the Mountain Hawks but since 2015 each of these games have been one goal affairs with two of them settled in overtime. Since that date the games have gone back and forth with Lafayette having a 4-2 edge.
Tomorrow the two teams will have the two leading offenses in the Patriot League with Lafayette having a 2.93 average and Lehigh having a 2.80 average. Sarah Bothus and Lenke Havase are the leading goal makers with the former having 9 goals and the latter 10 goals. ( Lehigh has one more game on its books). Lafayette has a diversified attack with Audrey Sawers collecting 9 goals, Felicitas Hannes getting 7 goals, Molly McAndrew and Alix Talkow collecting 6 each, and Lineke Spanns getting 5.
Lafayette has played 3 ranked teams and Lehigh has played only one ( American). Lehigh has 217 shots in 15 games and Lafayette has 234 shots in 14 games. The big difference to my mind is Lafayette’s defense which has allowed 125 shots and Lehigh has allowed 150 shots. Hailey Abbott Lafayette’s goalkeeper has a .767 save percentage while Maddie Kahn from Lehigh has a .719 save percentage.
This will be senior night for Lehigh which will just add to the intensity and they are giving out towels to the first 100 students who show. Lehigh is pulling out all the stops as will Jennifer Stone and her Lafayette Leopards. It should be a great game we need our fans to be there.
Go Pards!!!
Lafayette College Field Hockey 