The Colgate women’s soccer team battled Lehigh in the Patriot League semi-finals on Friday November 2 at 7:30 p.m. and came up one goal short, ultimately falling 2-1 to the Mountain Hawks.

Lehigh started off the game with a lot of momentum, leveling a goal on Colgate in the first 18 minutes of the game. Maggie Wadsworth a junior midfielder/forward for Lehigh, got past Colgate’s back line of defense. Wadsworth gave a pass to freshman midfielder/forward Courtney Supp who was on the left wing. Supp gained possession of the ball and shot towards the right post to put the ball past Colgate’s junior goalkeeper Kelly Chiavaro.

The Raiders had many scoring opportunities that were not converted throughout the game. Sophomore midfielder Sage DiGiulio crossed an excellent pass towards the far post of the goal to sophomore defender Sydney Maxson. Maxson was able to head the ball towards the net, but Lehigh’s junior goalkeeper, Sam Miller came up with a save to shut down the opportunity. The Raiders took many strong shots on goal, but did not have any success come the end of the first half.

The Raiders offensive pressure continued into the second half, led by the junior Patriot League Midfielder of the Year, Mara Cosentino. She fed an excellent ball towards the box to first-year forward Adreinne Vaughn, who received the pass and buried a hard shot towards the right of the goal to tie the game, 1-1.

As time was running out, both the Raiders and the Mountain Hawks battled back and forth, trying to put in one more goal to secure the win. With just 40 seconds left in regulation time, Clare Severe, a senior midfielder/defender, placed a corner kick towards the back post of the goal. Sabrina Mertz, a senior midfielder, was ready for the ball and had herself placed in the perfect position to receive the pass and head it into the back of the net to go up 2-1. The Raiders did not let up. They had one more possession, but were not successful and fell short of victory. With this defeat, the season is over for the Raiders. Chiavaro, who ended the season as the Patriot League’s top goal- keeper based on goals against average (.555) and save percentage (.886) commented on the, semifinal effort.

“We’re really upset with the loss. We didn’t come out strong enough in the first half and Lehigh capitalized on the two chances they had. It’s unfortunate that our season has to end this way as we really were the better team out there. We need to focus on next year to make sure we don’t slip again as our team will be just as good if not better,” Chiavaro said. Senior midfielder/ forward Martina Loncar also offered some concluding comments on the season.

“Obviously, our last game did not go the way we wanted it to. Losing in the last 40 seconds was heartbreaking, especially after we tied up the score early on in the second half. Lehigh is a good team and made the most of their chances, but this result is definitely going to sting for a while,” Loncar said.