Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)

VESTAL, N.Y. - Visiting Lehigh (2-1) tallied twice in each half and pinned a 4-0 loss on Binghamton women's soccer (1-1-1) Sunday afternoon from the Bearcats Sports Complex.

Playing their second game in less than 72 hours, BU was on the defensive from the opening whistle and the Mountain Hawks got on the board just 1:50 into the contest. After the second of two straight corner kicks was fed into the box, Lehigh freshman Sabrina Mertz banked a shot off the crossbar and sophomore back Alyssa Riporti knocked in the rebound from in close. Just over 10 minutes later, the visitors converted another chance off a corner. A header was partially blocked by a BU defender but sat open for freshman midfielder Amanda Marques, who tapped it in for a 2-0 Lehigh lead just 12:02 into the game.

Lehigh added a third goal on an unlucky sequence just 4:29 into the second half. An attempted clear from a Bearcats defender instead bounced off Mertz and straight into the corner of the net. The Mountain Hawks added a fourth goal just 34 seconds before the final whistle when junior back Kalin Ojert struck a volley off a direct kick.

"We got caught on our heels," head coach Sarah McClellan said of the slow start. "Lehigh did a great job coming out really agressive and attacking right off the whislte, and we weren't up for the challenge that first 10-15 minutes. We struggled all game to get into a rhythm. I thought we did a better job in the second half getting the ball forward and at least giving some relief of the pressure on our midfield and back line. We battled for the full 90 minutes but the first 20 we were flat and it took us too long to find out what would be effective. We felt it from a fatigue level (playing two games in a weekend) and we know we have to play better."

Sophomore keeper Katie Hatziyianis made seven saves. Lehigh held a 16-3 shots advantage.

The Bearcats are off until hosting Niagara at 5 p.m. on Friday. The game will finish off a stretch of four straight home games to open the 2015 campaign.