I debated during the drive home whether to write when I got home, after being bummed out after the game. Lehigh had their mental face on when they arrived on the field tonight. They tackled well and moved around making space to execute a well thought out game plan. The Leopards on the other hand yesterday suffered several game changing injuries decimating their defensive lineup yesterday. One need only look at the box score to discover who was missing. Some players were playing in key positions who were not there before.
So before I go into some other elements of the game I have to salute the efforts of India Ralph, Sydney Woolston, Hailey Abbott, Molly McAndrew and Felcitas Hannes in this Rivalry game. Not so much the referees. The cardinal rule for a referee in any sport is not to become part of the outcome of the game.
The Leopards were awarded 3 green cards and one yellow card meaning, for 11 minutes, nearly a whole quarter, Lafayette played one short. There were numerous calls for penalty corners outside of the circle. And finally to end the game the deciding call was a penalty stroke on a non-shot for a deliberate foul inside the circle, an unusual call under any circumstance with seconds remaining in overtime.
Hopefully, many of our injuries will heal, and there will be a second chance at Lehigh during the playoffs. That will require a win against Bucknell next week or we will meet American in the first round.
There are no pictures because the Lehigh field is a terrible place to try to take pictures. Congratulations to Lehigh on winning the rivalry game at the moment under those circumstances. Hopefully the outcome is different on November 4th. Now let’s concentrate on Bucknell.
Lafayette College Field Hockey 