Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo courtesy: Brian Freed, the Easton Express-Times) In John Feinstein's book on Patriot League basketball, " The Last Amateurs ", the sometime commentator on the CBS College Sports Network said Lehigh was first and foremost "a wrestling school". With three basketball victories this weekend that weren't even close, the Hawks hoops teams have suddenly and resoundingly put that characterization into question in terms of winter sports. While this weekend's EIWA wresting championships were somewhat disappointing to the Lehigh wrestling faithful, both the men's and women's basketball teams made sure there will be two more championships coming to Stabler Arena this weekend.  Let's put it this way: buy your tickets - and make plans for early dismissal - on Friday. (more)

Lehigh athletes don't " play for pizza ", but they do play for the postseason: the NCAA's, if you will. This weekend, Lehigh is playing for conference superiority in all their winter sports: Patriot League men's basketball, Patriot League women's basketball, and EIWA wrestling. Saturday and Sunday at Stabler Arena (or the STAR, as it's being called now), literally eighteen hours of athletic events will be happening - sixteen of them wrestling.  The EIWA championships - which, like basketball, determine the qualifiers for the NCAA championships - start this Saturday, and deserve a full preview.  Tomorrow will be devoted to men's and women's basketball, but I got my friend 'ngineer', the biggest Lehigh wrestling fan I know, to give a synopsis of the upcoming EIWA nationals right below the flip.  (more)

It's been a dream ride for Lehigh this year in terms of winter sports.  Wrestling?  Try a 5-0-1 dual record - tied for tops in EIWA with eight wrestlers ranked in the top 33.  Women's basketball?  Try a 26-3 record, an RPI of 75, and the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament starting at Holy Cross this Saturday. And the men's wild and crazy ride in a daffy Patriot League regular season has ended with only the sixth freshman athlete in the 23 year history of the League to win both freshman of the year and player of the year .  Freshman G C.J. McCollum unanimously was voted the honor thanks to his 23.5 points per league game and - frighteningly - seems to be improving his overall game every time he hits the court.  "Jay" - as well as senior F Zahir "Z" Carrington , senior G Marquis Hall and freshman F Gabe Knutson making second team all-League and the all-rookie team respectively. And - oh yeah - we also got the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League tourn...

It's been a long, trying week for me, so I haven't had any time to write up the weekends' matchups.  And you'd better believe there's a lot to watch this weekend - Lehigh's wrestlers closing out their EIWA dual schedule with two nationally-ranked opponents, and the men's and women's basketball teams both playing crucial games against - you guessed it - "that school in Easton". What I'm going to do is paste a bit of each release, with a bit of a commentary from me, perhaps, to hype up the weekend's sports events - just in case they needed hyping up any more already.  (more)

Despite the amount of "signing day" hoopla" - and there will be some more next week -there's an awful lot of winter sports taking center stage this weekend, with the final home wrestling duals before the EIWA championships and two huge basketball games this weekend - if any of them get played due to the impending "storm of the century".  (At least down here, closer to Philadelphia, that's what they're calling it.) There's that football game in Miami, too, yet to play as well.  But before that, we have a ton of huge events at Stabler.  Let's all hope the snow holds off and we can "play two" at at Stabler, shall we?  (more)

As the Lehigh men's basketball team put their finishing touches on their 74-60 rout of 5-13 Colgate yesterday , somewhere the people in the offices of the Patriot League had to be smiling. It's not because that the folks working in the Patriot League offices are Lehigh fans in particular, but the Mountain Hawks' win over the Raiders, along with Lafayette's 61-57 escape over 6-14 Bucknell, means that first place in the Patriot League will be on the line when Lehigh and Lafayette face off at Stabler Arena at 7:00 pm this Saturday. A possible sellout at Stabler this Saturday.  The 12-7 Mountain Hawks vs. the 13-6 Leopards.  One historic rivalry.  189 vs. 190 in the Real Time RPI .  First place.  What's not to love?  (more)

While I wasn't exactly as relaxed as the adorable (ecch) furry thing pictured to my left this weekend, shortly after RB Tim Hightower gave this Saints fan a brief scare Saturday afternoon after the University of Richmond graduate rumbled basically untouched for 70 yards to give the Cardinals a 7-0 lead my blood pressure never blipped above, oh, 121 over 83 the rest of the weekend. Considering there were four big sporting events this weekend, that's pretty remarkable.  (More)

Starting tonight, Lehigh winter sports are going to be featured on five straight evenings of fun. And one of those features are going to involve national television. For starters, the Lehigh women's basketball team kicks off their home Patriot League schedule at Stabler when they take on Navy in a crucial game tonight . The Lady Hawks return to Stabler to keep their 25 game home court winning streak alive after a rare loss: a heartbreaking 69-65 setback on the road against American .  Junior G Erica Prosser (13 points, 10 assists), senior G Erica Smith (7 points, 11 boards) and junior F Emily Gratc h (13 points, 12 boards) played their hearts out in a tough, hard-working effort, but American j unior F Michele Kirk was able to carry the team on her back (with an amazing 31 points) for the win. While senior G Alex Ross struggled (2-13 from 3-point range), she did hit the tying shot to send the game to OT, but the Lady Eagles were able to outlast the Lady Hawks - despite th...

I haven't led with wrestling yet this year, but with the Virginia Duals starting tomorrow morning at 11 AM, I figured it was time to highlight the No. 11-ranked wrestling team in the nation, who will be grappling tomorrow at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA. Lehigh currently has six wrestlers ranked in Intermat's Top 20, among them senior 133 lb Matt Fisk (13th), senior 141 lb Seth Ciasulli (18th), senior 165 lb Matt Galante (18th), freshman 174 lb Robert Hamlin (18th), and senior 184 lb David Craig (15th).  But it's the big guy - sophomore heavyweight Zach Rey (6th) - who really has people talking.  His only official loss came to the 5th rated heavyweight in the country, Iowa State's David Zabriskie . (more)

(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.

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...

Since it's still college football season for me (as evidenced by my new poll asking readers for their vote for LFN Player of the Year, my open letter to NCAA President Myles Brand , and my preview of FCS games this weekend , including the playoff quarterfinal games), I haven't had much of a chance to do much hyping of the Lehigh winter sports that I enjoy so much. But while I was busy, Lehigh's wrestling team was - shall we say - busy. Busy resurrecting themselves as a national program. As EIWA title contenders. Maybe even rising from the ashes to make some serious noise this March in the NCAA Championships, too. Lehigh has gone from being unranked starting the year from going an amazing 8-0 in the early going all the way to a No. 10 Intermat ranking. That included an utter 41-3 domination of Princeton . A win over No. 9 Michigan . And last weekend, it meant an upset win over No. 7 Oklahoma State in the Northeast Duals to give the Lehigh wrestlers a perfect 8-0 mark. ...

No, Virginia, Rutgers forward Corey Chandler's blank stare right here isn't from Lehigh's huge upset win today. But after Lehigh's 76-71 victory the day before Turkey Day, I sure can picture Chandler's face looking like this after this game. You thought this was a typo? Lehigh men's basketball team beating Rutgers ? Big East Rutgers? The Scarlet "We Last Lost to the Engineers.. In 1967" Knights? It's not a typo. Lehigh did indeed beat a Big East team for the first time since joining the Patriot League . The Mountain Hawks won at Rutgers for the first time since 1962 . John Feinstein, is Lehigh a wrestling school? How on this Good Green Earth did Lehigh do it? Normally, a "smaller" team wins a game over a power conference team by shooting lights-out - but Lehigh only shot just around 40% from the field. Instead, Lehigh won it by matching the bigger Scarlet Knight team rebound for rebound - with junior G Marquis Hall nabbing 15...

As everyone knows, I'm a football guy. Even with the football season seven months away, I still get a lot of football news to sift through - but this weekend, an old-fashioned basketball "Rivalry" takes center stage. Don't get me wrong, I still have a ton of football news to report. I'm watching the "Goodman 20" DVD for an upcoming DVD review for the blog, I'm discovering great articles about current Lehigh football players such as one gem about junior LB Tim Diamond (is he really getting talked about as a possible NFL prospect? ) and on announcement about former Lehigh coach Casey Creehan getting a position with the Montreal Alouettes as a defensive line coach. But with the 8-11 wrestling team traveling to Harvard and Brown this weekend (after their biggest win of the year this year against nationally-ranked Navy this past week ), the hottest ticket in the Valley are one game in Easton and a possible sellout at Stabler Arena. The first one fea...

Yeah, it's way too late to be saying this, but big congratulations for Matt Ciasulli's EIWA title in the 141 lb weight class in East Stroudsburg this weekend. Although Lehigh's fourth-place finish was a bit of a disappointment, truth be told it's not too bad considering that most though this to be a "rebuilding year" for our grapplers. Next up: the NCAA championships where four other wrestlers will be joining Matt in Ann Arbor: Dave Nakasone (157), Matt Cassidy (197), David Craig (184), and Matt's brother Seth (133), who was a surprise fourth-place finisher. In addition, Matt Fisk (125) and Paul Weibel (Heavyweight) will be hoping to get wild-card spots for nationals as well. As for the Lady Hawks, they gutted out a great game against the #2 seed and won a dandy, 57-53! Or maybe I should say senior F Adrienne Blount won the game, with an incredible 25 point performance! A see-saw affair, Blount iced the game with 2.2 seconds left with a clutch free-th...

The debate may continue, but Lehigh won't be playing on Saturday as the men's basketball teams' season came to a bitter end late last night. The Patriot League issued a statement and appeared to take Lehigh's appeal very seriously, but in the end, as the Morning Call's Andre Williams mentioned today, ended on a technical point which shows that the officials did indeed follow the rules, even though the error was acknowledged. ''We thoroughly reviewed all of the available information, including the applicable NCAA rules and the broadband feed, and it appears that the shot left the player's hand after the clock expired,'' Carolyn Femovich, the Patriot League's executive director, said in a statement. ''The fact that the official's decision on the last-second shot impacted the outcome of the game is regrettable. ''There was a veteran officiating crew working the game. We expect game officials to manage the game according to...

Sure, there's two huge dual meet this weekend versus ranked opponents for Lehigh's wrestling team. Sure, the men's basketball team has an always-huge game against Lafayette in Easton on Sunday. But no game in the Lehigh Valley is more important than the women's basketball team this Saturday at Kirby Sports complex. Why is that? The Lady Hawks (9-16, 4-7) have a unique opportunity - to enter the postseason Patriot League tournament at Navy either as cannon fodder for Bucknell or a chance to wear the home jerseys for a game and put themselves with an opportunity to sweep their way into the NCAA tournament. With four teams at 4-7 (including 6-20 Lafayette) and two more at 5-6 (including next weekend's opponent Holy Cross), if Lehigh can find a way to win these three games this week, you have to like their chances in the tournament to possibly make a run. Beat hated rival Lafayette this weekend, beat league leader Bucknell at home on Wednesday, and finish off Holy ...