BALTIMORE – Sarah Bayer scored twice, including the game-winning goal in the 73^rd minute Saturday night, and the Loyola University Maryland women's soccer team celebrated its Class of 2019 on Senior Night with a 4-3 Patriot League victory over visiting Lehigh University.
 
"Tonight, was certainly an exciting game, a lot of transition attacking from both teams and two teams really fighting to stay alive in their postseason hunt," said Head Coach Naomi Meiburger. "I thought Sarah Bayer was excellent for us tonight, and she was rewarded for her play with two goals. It is nice to play well and get the result to go along with it and I am happy for this group of seniors to finish their last game here at Ridley with a win. 

"That being said there is still work to do, we need some results to fall our way and then have a tough game against Lafayette next Saturday. One thing this team has shown me over the season is they will always fight and work to grind out a result."

Bayer's goal in the 73^rd minute gave Loyola (6-9-1 overall, 2-5-1 Patriot League) a 4-2 lead, an edge it would need as the Mountain Hawks (5-11-0, 2-6-0) came back to score just over four minutes later.
 
The Loyola freshman logged her first career multi-goal game while Hannah Hoefs and Jourdan Ziff each scored for the Greyhounds. Hoefs had an assist, as well, while Kaleigh Gallagher had a pair of assists.
 
Bayer put the Greyhounds on the board less than nine minutes into the contest, finishing a shot from inside of six yards with a hard drive past Lehigh goalkeeper Sam Miller. Gallagher started the play by running past her defender on the right flank and crossing the ball inside the six to Hoefs who touched to her left where Bayer was charging.
 
Lehigh, however, rallied to tie the score in the 28^th minute when Sabrina Mertz was on the scoring end of passes from Bridget Casey and Maggie Wadsworth.
 
The Mountain Hawks added a goal in the 40^th minute when Annika Jansa's shots from the left wing rebounded off a Loyola defender and directly to Kayla Arestivo who one-timed it into the goal, giving Lehigh a 2-1 lead.
 
Loyola evened the score before halftime when Sarah Ensor drew at the top of the 18-yard arc. Hoefs stood over the free kick and drove it over the Lehigh wall and into the top right corner of the goal, equalizing the score 1:35 before the break.
 
Hoefs was involved in the go-ahead goal minutes after the second half commenced. Gallagher won a 50-50 ball in Loyola's offensive end and nudged it to Hoefs who promptly sent a side-footed pass to an on-sides Ziff who raced past her defender.
 
Ziff was one-on-one with Miller and beat her low and to Miller's right with a shot at 47:14 that gave the Greyhounds a 3-2 advantage.
 
Bayer's second goal of the night at 72:49 made it 4-2, after she headed home a perfectly bent corner kick by Mia Sardella. The margin was huge as Rebecca Van Siclen took a Ally Friedman pass and shot it to the far post at 76:56, pulling Lehigh within one.
 
The four goals scored by Loyola were the most it has tallied in a Patriot League match since joining the conference in 2013.
 
Prior to the game, the Greyhounds recognized their six seniors – Julianna Cabrera, Ensor, Sumer Rahe, Kate Reese, Sardella and Ziff – in a pregame ceremony with their parents.
 
Loyola will close the regular-season on Saturday, October 27, with a possible berth to the Patriot League Championships on the line. The Greyhounds travel to Lafayette College for the match.