HAMILTON - Paige Foa and Ari Bezanson found the back of the net as the Raiders battled to a 2-2 draw against Lehigh at Beyer-Small '76 Field on Wednesday night.

COACH HOKANSON'S COMMENTS

"Disappointed to come away with a tie, disappointed in the two goals we gave up. I thought it was two lapses in defending, I'm glad we responded after the first one so quickly and they did the same to us. Fair play to Lehigh, they played really hard tonight, they made things really difficult for us. I think at times we lacked a bit of quality for the final piece and we settled for things when we probably could have done something better.

It's a critical part of the year and I would like for us to find some more success at home. We want to have success here, we want to make it really hard to play here and I would have liked to see us come away with a win. We have two more chances to do it starting Saturday with Lafayette. Every game in the league is so hard, so any point you get is important but I would have liked to see us come away with three. We will look ahead to Saturday's home game."

HOW IT HAPPENED

Paige Foa netted her third goal of the season with four minutes left on a corner kick to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead before Lehigh was able to equalize moments later.

Olivia Anderson served a lovely ball into the box that was knocked down by Nikki DiCaprio to the foot of Foa who buried it into the top left corner. The goal appeared to be the match winner before the Mountain Hawks were able to find the top corner on a long range shot just moments later.

Colgate started on the front foot with an early chance as Paige Foa received the ball on the half turn from Sophie Wand and fired on target but the Lehigh goalkeeper parried the ball wide.

Foa got two more great looks just moments later after Ari Bezanson crossed the ball into the Lehigh six yard box, the ball fell to the feet of Foa whose first shot on target was blocked off the line and second chance smothered by the Lehigh goalkeeper.

Ella Poppinga made her first save of the match 15 minutes in after a wayward pass found the Lehigh forward, Poppinga was able to recover and catch the shot towards the Raider goal.

Lehigh found the back of the net 16 minutes in with a shot into the top right corner.

The Raiders responded immediately with a goal from Ari Bezanson. Sophie Wand slid a perfectly weighted through ball down the left flank to Ellie Stokes who fired the ball into the path of Bezanson who poked the ball into the bottom right corner.

With just over five minutes left in the half, Gillian Yonce found herself on the ball with a space just inside the right corner of the Lehigh 18-yard box and took a shot on target but the Mountain Hawk goalie made another save.

Alli Popham started the second half in net for the Raiders.

Foa was able to get the first look of the second half just under ten minutes in. Foa's strike was saved enough to end up on the line of the Lehigh goal but was cleared off the line by the Mountain Hawk center back.

Bezanson spun her defender at half field and dribbled free towards the net but the Lehigh defense was able to recover to reduce the chance to just a blocked shot.

With under 15 minutes left in the match, Yonce hit a cross into the corridor of uncertainty towards the Lehigh goal but nobody was able to get a body part on it before the ball rolled across the touchline.

UP NEXT
Colgate (4-8-3, 2-2-2) stays in Hamilton as they host Lafayette for the Raiders with the Senior Night ceremony taking place before the match. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Beyer-Small '76 Field.