Lehigh Football Nation

I've got a confession to make: March 16th, 2012 did not start out well for me. It was not a day that felt like history was going to be made, starting with a sleepless night, and another long workday ahead after already logging more than forty hours at the office. But by the end of the night, all the stress, all the frustration and all the hard work of the last week were gone. There was nothing else but the extraordinary achievement of this very, very special Lehigh men's basketball team. The best Lehigh basketball player I've ever seen out-performed one of the best guards in the ACC - and played a huge part in writing the Mountain Hawks into NCAA tournament history.

Game One for the ladies offered no surprises, thankfully. The Lady Hawks trounced the No. 8-seeded Colgate Lady Raiders 78-54 - and set up an intriguing (and dangerous) second round matchup with Army, who knocked out Holy Cross 54-47 . I'm off to see the game, quite literally, in the next few moments. Lehigh will have to do a better job holding G Nalini Hawkins in check than the Crusaders did, who had 24 points yesterday. Of course, if sophomore G Erica Prosser and junior G Alex Ross have days like they did yesterday (15 points and 19 points respectively), I like our chances. Finally, with Lafayette upsetting No. 2-seeded American yesterday 68-66 - can you say, Lehigh/Lafayette final? You hate to root for "that school in Easton, but...

One game at a time, Lady Hawks. While it's tempting to chalk up an automatic win for the 23-6 Lady Hawks over the 5-24 Lady Raiders today at 12:00 p.m. today, it's still "win or go home" time , and Colgate would love nothing better than to salvage their season with an historic No.8-seed upsetting the No. 1-seed in the Patriot League tournament - breaking the Lady Hawks perfect home winning streak (14-0) in the process. But if games are played on paper, let's just say Lehigh comes out... ahead. Start with an average margin of victory of more than 20 points in their two regular-season games. Colgate only managed 35 points in a 65-35 blowout loss to Navy; Lehigh managed 34 points in the first half against Holy Cross last weekend en route to their 71-60 victory. The Lady Raiders have one starter averaging more than double figures, sophomore G Tayler Weinert (11.1 ppg), while the Lady Hawks have two superstars: sophomore G Erica Prosser (14.4 ppg, 4.4 apg) and j...

I certainly don't hopethe No. 5 seeded Lehigh men's basketball team (15-13, Real Time RPI: 244) is one-and-done against No .4 Army (10-18, Real Time RPI: 288) for the third straight year at 7:00 p.m. tonight at Christl Arena . But if you look at the obvious in the last five games, you clearly see two teams heading in opposite directions. After Army beat Lehigh 82-75 in the same venue on Valentine's day, Army went 2-2, battled Navy to the wire and scored more than 70 points in two wins (on the road, no less) against Lafayette and Bucknell. The Mountain Hawks, on the other hand, went 1-3 in the same stretch, losing to both Lafayette and Bucknell and failing to eclipse the 52 point barrier in two straight games. The optimist looks at junior G Marquis Hall , who has averaged 17 points a game against Army this year and certainly has the capability of carrying the team on his back in the tournament, who, along with junior F Zahor Carrington (14.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg), made the f...

Most of the weekend action will be taking place a day later than usual, but the women's basketball, men's basketball, and wrestling teams all need big wins - and two of them against "that school in Easton", no less. - to go to the Patriot League (or EIWA) tournaments in shape for a shot at the NCAAs. The women's team - who enjoyed their first 20 win season in 19 years with a 71-42 domination of Colgate on Wednesday - look to extend their Patriot League lead Saturday over American (who lost 60-58 in overtime to Army on Wednesday ) at 1:00 p.m. at Kirby Field House where they take on the 8-18 Leopards. While it's tempting to look at the statistics and project an easy Lehigh victory - with the game notes helpfully pointing out that Lafayette's loss to Lehigh triggered a 7 game losing streak for them, and a "tale of the tape" pointing the advantage to Lehigh on *every single statistic* - whenever Lehigh and Lafayette meet in "The Rivalry...

The big news for Lehigh Athletics this weekend was two big home wins for the wrestlers and women's basketball teams - and a tough, shorthanded effort at West Point by the men's basketball team that fell just short. The wrestlers made short work of two EIWA foes on Saturday : winning seven of ten matches against Army (27-12) before drilling Franklin & Marshall (29-18) to cruise to a perfect 8-0 against EIWA foes and an amazing 22-1 overall dual record. Only one dual remains before the EIWA championships and NCAA nationals in March. I mentioned in my preview that Lehigh would need big performances at 133 (with No. 15-ranked Matt Fisk ) and at 165 (with No. 14-ranked Mike Galante ) in order to beat Army, and they delivered with Fisk's pin of Michael McCarthy and Galante's major decision over Mike Gorman for bonus points. Not to be lost, though, in the weekend's bouts were two wins by freshman 157 lb Sean Bilodeau (one for bouns points against Army) and sophomore...

For the Lehigh wrestling team, momentum is something everyone knew about with five straight dual wins and a 20-1 overall record. But after last weekend's double hoops defeat to American last weekend, few dared to hope that both the men's and women's basketball teams would be riding a one-game winning streak going into the weekend. The Lady Hawks, after their 66-48 win over Navy on Wednesday , sport a 7-2 record at sit tied with American at 7-2 atop the Patriot League standings. Leading only by 3 at the break, Lehigh's depth proved to be too much as the Lady Hawks surged to a 30-15 run the rest of the way to put away Navy. Senior G Claire Sullivan contributed 8 assists, while the bench also contributed 12 of Lehigh's 39 rebounds on the game. Junior G Alex Ross (13 points, 4 rebounds) and sophomore G Erica Prosser (15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) had their typical great games as well. (Prosser (pictured) was just featured in a nice article in the Pittsburgh P...

Give the Mountain Hawk basketball team some credit: undermanned in Stabler Arena against the defending Patriot League champions, they had a chance to come away with the biggest victory of the season. But the 13-9 men's hoopsters (Real Time RPI: 225) ultimately couldn't overcome a dismal 18.8% shooting percentage from 3-point range and fell 66-58 to first-placed 15-7 American (Real Time RPI: 85). An early season full of possibilities may be rapidly becoming one of "wait 'til next year". Junior F Zahir Carrington , with 20 points and 11 boards, is clearly one of the premier players in the Patriot League with performances like these. Sophomore G Rob Keefer also stepped up with 12 points, while junior G Marquis Hall added three steals and four assists - but it was defense (allowing 44.2% shooting for American for the game) and rebounding (losing the battle of the boards 36-30) which did in Lehigh on Saturday. And the road gets no easier with a trip to Annapolis ...

Normally I'd do a much more thorough job of this, but considering I've been busy with football recruiting news all week (and not to mention the day job), I'm only going to do a quick preview of this weekend's action - though it's going to be quite a weekend. Start tonight at Turner Arena at Grace Hall, where 19-1 Lehigh will take on Bucknell in a key EIWA battle . While Lehigh is 5-0 lifetime against Bucknell in duals, that hardly means the Mountain Hawks should rest easy: with two nationally-ranked wrestlers, this won't be a cakewalk. Two bouts stand out: No. 15-ranked junior 149 lb Matt Fisk takes on No. 20 ranked David Marble, and No. 12-ranked junior 165 lb Mike Galante takes on No. 14 Andy Rendos, while junior 184 lb David Craig attempts to add to his No. 9 overall ranking by knocking out unranked David Thompson. Next up, the 17-5 Lady Hawks (Real Time RPI: 91) will be competing at American at 4:00 p.m. in what could be their toughest test of the yea...

The Lady Hawks can cross another thing off of their "bucket list": beating Holy Cross at the Hart Center. It went down to the very end - and two huge defensive stops at the end of the game - but Sue Troyan's squad held on for a gutty 72-70 win in a venue where Lehigh has been 2-18 (now 3-18) lifetime. Balanced scoring - and, yes, unselfish play - has allowed the Lady Hawks to soar to sole possession of first place in the Patriot League. The Lady Hawks soared to a 6-0 lead, thanks to a pair of treys from junior G Alex Ross (whe ended the afternoon with a game-high 20 points and 7 rebounds) and appeared on their way to a laugher while jumping to a 13 point halftime lead. Sophomore G Erica Prosser failed to break double digits for the first time for what seems like forever - clearly Holy Cross made it a point to pressure her all game - but she responded with 9 assists, including a huge one to senior G Tricia Smith (11 points, 4 rebounds) with 30 seconds to play to incre...

"Unselfish" greets you when you visit Lehighsports.com to preview this weekend's basketball games, starting with a No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown up at the Hart Center in Worcester, MA. The 16-5 Lady Hawks (Real Time RPI: 111) travel to a place where they haven't won since 2004 and have only won twice in twenty tries - and also playing against the team who beat in the semifinals of the Patriot League tournament last year. Lehigh enters this game red-hot, winners of six of their last seven games - including their latest victory, a 66-53 win over Bucknell. Sophomore G Erica Prosser "only" had 13 points on the evening, but it's the other two of the guard trio - junior G Alex Ross and senior G Tricia Smith - who would score 10 and 17 points, respectively, to blow past the Lady Bison. But 7-12 Holy Cross (Real Time RPI: 230) have always given Lehigh problems, and their record is misleading with losses to No. 1 UConn (96-37), Boston College (82-69) and other...

I'm trying to remember the last time that Lehigh won five different sporting events on the same weekend. I can't think of any time it's ever happened... and if it has, it's doubtful if it involved not one, but two sweeps of "that school in Easton". I'm also trying to remember the last time the Lehigh men's and women's basketball teams all competed in front of crowds more than 1,000 strong. With 1,748 packing into Stabler to see the Lady Hawks, over 3,000 in Easton to see the Lehigh men beat "that school in Easton", and an average of over 1,700 fans in Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall for three wrestling duals on campus - that's got to be some sort of record. Start with the wrestling trifecta this weekend - and while it's not totally unexpected that the Lehigh grapplers beat Drexel , Harvard and Brown on Friday and Saturday, the way they did it - with only six defeats in twenty-seven matches - has to leave smiles with Lehigh wr...

Hard to believe, but the last time Lehigh wrestled at home, the Mountain Hawks were 4-0 with folks intrigued with the potential of this team - but nothing more. Granted, there were indicators that something special was brewing, with an upset win against No. 9 ranked Michigan - but few thought that the Mountain Hawks would be comming back to Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall with a 15-1 record and a No. 8 national ranking. Lehigh will make up for the layoff with three duals this weekend , starting with the one on Friday versus Drexel at 7:00 p.m., and back-to-back duals against Harvard and Brown at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Satruday. Lehigh will be favored in all three duals, and has some pretty impressive win percentages against these three schools: try 40-5 combined. (Lehigh is even a perfect 14-0 versus Drexel.) The biggest test will certainly be for freshman 197 lb wrestler Joe Kennedy , who will be lining up against one nationally-ranked wrestler (Drexel's Jon Oplinger) a...

For the men's basketball team, it was good times again this weekend at Stabler Arena. Faced with the prospect of an 0-3 start, junior G Marquis Hall responded to criticism from the Allentown Morning Call (and, to a lesser extent, on this blog) by exploding for 8 assists, 20 points (with an inpressive 60% shooting percentage) in a 77-57 demolition of Army . Lehigh never trailed in this game, jumping to a 9-0 lead and never letting the game get to within seven points the rest of the way. That aspect was really encouraging, especially considering the way that the Mountain Hawks had let the games against American and Navy get away from them late. Junior F Zahir Carrington , who got his second Patriot League Player of the Week award , continued his incredible play, nabbing 8 rebounds and scoring 18 points - hitting double digit scoring for the seventh straight game. Sophomore G Rob Keefer also added 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting to help reverse Lehigh's three-game skid. In the ...

(Photo Credit: Bill Adams/The Easton Express-Times ) Perhaps if junior G Marquis Hall looked more like he does in this photo than the brick-layer he's appeared in the last three games, perhaps followers of Lehigh Basketball wouldn't be in a near-panic that their historic season is getting away from them. But Hall's play in the last three games has been a key part of Lehigh's three-game losing streak - and he'll need to heat back up this Saturday in what has become a must win game against a 4-12 Army team at 7:00 PM Saturday night at Stabler Arena. It's not just me that has been noticing, as Andre Williams of the Allentown Morning Call has also been saying that it's time for Lehigh to go back to the drawing board . It's time for Lehigh men's coach Brett Reed to go back to the drawing board to quickly figure out how he can turn around a season that has gone from promising to upsetting after three straight defeats. Lehigh has a bad tendency to play i...

With the men's basketball team on the road in Washington, DC and the wrestling team in Hampton Roads, VA, it was the 11-4 Lady Hawks that had Stabler all to themselves (and the MASN television crews ) on Saturday - and treated the home crowd to their eighth win in eight tries at "The kree-eee-ar"to a dominating 77-69 win over 10-5 American. (For those keeping score at home, yes, I am re-christening Stabler instead with the battle cry of the Mountain Hawk, kree-eee-ar. Hey, if New Mexico has the Pit and Lafayette has the Zoo Crew, we need something even better, right?) What has to be most encouraging was not only the final score - a game where the Eagles were down as many as 21 points - but also the way they won, with solid play on the boards. Sophomore F Courtney Dentler (12 points, 7 rebounds) and junior F Courtney Molinaro (12 points, 5 rebounds) both converted in the paint, while sophomore G Erica Prosser (18 points, 8 assists) simply had a banner game, adding ...

Lehigh cruised into the semifinals of the Virginia Duals this Friday, after first destroying Ohio 34-8 and then managing to secure a 21-15 victory over No. 24 Kent State. Junior 165 lb Matt Galante was the biggest star on Friday, securing two falls and getting bonus points against the two MAC schools. Against Ohio, junior 133 lb Matt Fisk and junior 184 lb David Craig also secured falls. Saturday will be a really busy day for Lehigh fans. At 2 p.m., take your pick: listen to the wrestling semifinals against Edinboro, or listen to the 10-4 men's Basketball team travelling to Washington, DC to take on American. At 7 p.m., the 11-3 women's basketball team host American at Stabler, and at 8:30 p.m. the wrestlers will either be wrestling to take the Virginia Duals or wrestling for third place. (All coverage can be found on Lehighsports.com. ) And, of course, there's that Eagles/Giants thing at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Of all the days to be at an Ivy League basketball game, and I pick the wrong one. Yes, I really would have liked to have traveled up to Boston to see Harvard pull off a historic 82-70 pummeling of Boston College (yes, that isn't a typo). Instead, I packed up the family thinking of another team with a great shot at a road win - my Mountain Hawks, of course. I've been outside Jadwin Gym before, but I've never been in the modern, yet intimate, setting for college basketball. My wife, my five year old son and I got there late and had dinner at the "bistro" area - a cordoned area where you can eat your food and still catch the game action while you eat - a really nice touch. Unfortunately Lehigh fell behind right at the end of the first half and never got closer to four points the rest of the way in a 73-64 defeat , breaking a five game Lehigh win streak. The win for Princeton was as ugly as the Harvard win was beautiful. The Tigers won by hitting their shots (to ...

There was an awful lot more than just the Eagles' win over the Vikings to watch this past weekend. For Lehigh, the hits just keep on coming. If there was any doubt about it in 2008, the first two duals of 2009 erased those thoughts. No. 9 Lehigh is firmly on the national stage in wrestling again after prevailing against perennial power No. 16 Penn State in a 17-16 thriller that couldn't have been closer . Lehigh picked a fine day to be on national television on FCS Pacific. After mauling West Virginia 35-3 on Friday, Lehigh started out strong at Rec Hall in State College, PA with two major decisions that gave Lehigh bonus points - one by junior 184 lb David Craig (12-2 over Jack Decker) and another by freshman 197 lb Joe Kennedy (15-3 over Clay Steadman). I'll let the release do the rest of the talking: The dual began at 174 with a wild battle between 14th ranked sophomore 174 lb Alex Caruso and No. 15 Quentin Wright. Caruso scored the opening takedown in the first ...

When I heard that the temperate Pacific Northwest was getting hit by snow from my grandmother, I knew that the Lehigh men's basketball game versus Washington may have been in trouble. And while this picture of a snowman next to Seattle's space needle isn't necessarily a sign of the Apocalypse (though I'm still debating if the course of events that put the Eagles are in the NFL playoffs - a historic blowout of the Cowboys, alongside wins by the Texans and Raiders - the Raiders , fer Crissakes! - may very well be), it was enough to show that the Washington game would be postponed officially - and most likely cancelled. It's worth mentioning, from the official release, what the men's basketball team went through: 8:00 AM – Team departs Taylor Gym for New Jersey to play Monmouth 3:03 PM – Lehigh defeats Monmouth, 80-71 4:00 PM – Team departs Boylan Gymnasium for Newark/Liberty Int’l Airport 5:00 PM – Team arrives at EWR 6:40 PM – Finish checking in for flight 7:15...