Lehigh Football Nation

Lehigh's wrestling and men's basketball teams have one mission this weekend: to travel to the cow pastures in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and silence Sojka. And no, I don't mean the Polish jazz musician, either. Bucknell's Sojka Pavillion will be hosting two huge events this weekend that are of interest to Lehigh fans: the 107th EIWA Wrestling Championships (which will determine the Lehigh wrestlers that will go on and compete in the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia, PA), and Lehigh's win-or-go-home game against the Bucknell Bison in the semifinals of the men's Patriot League basketball tournament. It's going to be a "deluxe" weekend out in the cow pastures they call Lewisburg, PA for Lehigh fans.  Their goal will be to allow the locals to hear the mooing in the pastures - and keep Sojka's home fans in stunned silence for 72 hours. (more)

Isn't it supposed to be basketball season? Well, yes, it is.  It still very much is.  Lehigh's men's and women's basketball teams close out their respective regular seasons this weekend - and we'll find out where they end up seeded in the Patriot League tournament. But for the first time in a long time around these parts, however, it's also the beginning of a new football era as well. On Saturday in Reading, PA, the newest member of the IFL, or Indoor Football League, will be facing off against the Reading Express.  That's the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks, who will be headlined by a certain Lehigh football star named LB Matt Cohen . (more)

It's usually called "March madness", but for the Lehigh men's basketball team it might as well be called "February Madness". "The Rivalry" on the hardwood, of course, would be a big deal even if both teams were winless going into this so-called winter month, with Madness-like temperatures outside possibly reaching 70 degrees. But with Bucknell and American, in effect, locking up the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the Patriot League tournament in March, this weekend's game, televised nationally on CBS College Sports this Sunday at 2:00 PM Eastern, will have gigantic implications for the incredibly valuable No. 3 seed.  The winner will have the inside track at the No. 3 seed, a home game in the first round of the playoffs, and a fighting chance to play in the championship.  The loser could be the No. 5 seed or worse, playing on the road in the first round and facing a very, very uphill climb at a shot at the Patriot League championship. It's ...

In a twist to the famous proverb "revenge is a dish best served cold," an icy, cold, possibly snowy weekend looks poised to have Lehigh's winter sports teams offer sweet revenge against American, the school that has bedeviled the Mountain Hawks and is rapidly becoming a winter sports rival. Before I get to the men's and women's basketball teams, however - who got the better of Lehigh the first Patriot League weekend of the year - it's worth noting that American has something else, too: a squad that head coach Mark Cody took from being on the brink of collapse into one that has produced an NCAA champion ( Josh Glenn , in 2007) and has become a Top 25 powerhouse in EIWA as well.  The Eagle wrestling program sits at No. 18, while Lehigh sits at No. 11. That means the path of all three Winter Sports titles this weekend goes through American. And, by definition, through the small, friendly, raucous confines of tiny Grace Hall at 1PM on Sunday. (more)

Lehigh returns to the hardwood this weekend after a twelve day layoff for final exams. On the men's side, the 3-5 Mountain Hawks (Real Time RPI: 198) have the quintessential trap game against 2-6 Dartmouth (Real Time RPI: 311) tonight at 7:00 PM at Stabler Arena (that will also be broadcast online courtesy of Yahoo! Broadcast). LU65 on the Lehigh Sports Forum has done such a good analysis of the game, I'm just going to reprint it here: There can never be a "must win" game in OOC play, right? Well, this one comes close. Lehigh has dropped its last three (one excusably to Dayton, one we could have had against Columbia in well played game and the other a truly awful effort in a 19 point loss to Stony Brook) after winning three in a row and beginning the year with two other losses to solid programs in Richmond and Rider. Now, it's time we got back on track and formed an identity - especially on defense - against a team who was picked to finish at the bottom of the I...

The men's basketball team has not made things easy for themselves this weekend after their 72-51 embarassment at Sojka Pavillion on Wednesday. With 15 points in the first half in that game against Bucknell - that's not a typo - it's amazing to think that 15-12 Lehigh (Real Time RPI: 243) is still in the running for the No. 4 seed. But should Lehigh win at 15-13 Holy Cross (Real Time RPI: 177) - and get some help from Navy or Bucknell - Lehigh will be hosting a first-round game for the third straight year. Think the athletic department is upbeat about Lehigh's chances at 3:30 p.m. at Worcester? Think again: The Mountain Hawks last win over the Crusaders in Worcester was a 70-69 victory on February 11, 1998. Since then Lehigh has averaged 53 points per game with a high of only 67 in the 1999 meeting. The last time Lehigh defeated the Crusaders in Worcester Justin Maneri was eight years old and the number-one song in America was Celine Dion’s "My Heart Will Go On...

Of all the ation this weekend, it was the match that didn't make ESPNU - the Lehigh grapplers' final home wrestling dual before the EIWA championships in two weeks - that was the story of thw weekend. The Mountain Hawk wrestlers ended their historic dual season in style with a 24-12 win , giving them a perfect dual record against EIWA foes and also set a school record for dual wrestling wins in a season (23). Tied going into the final three matches, it was junior 184 lb David Craig , freshman 197 lb Joe Kennedy and freshman heavyweight Zach Rey who swept the last three bouts to secure the historic win at home. Probably the best match of the afternoon came with senior 149 ln Trevor Chinn, wrestling for the last time in Leeman-Turner arena: Once again the Lehigh fans were on their feet after No. 15 Trevor Chinn earned a tight 3-1 victory over No. 11 Cesar Grajales at 149. Each wrestler earned an escape to start the second and third periods, and with less than one minute remain...

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...