Lehigh Football Nation

It's that time of the week where I share with you your weekly Lehigh fan viewing guide for Week 11 of the college football season. But for Lehigh fans, though, with the kickoff of the winter sports season, there's a lot more than just that. Tonight, men's hoops kicks off vs. Minnesota in an attempt to ruin Richard Pitino 's head coaching debut; women's hoops kicks off vs. Niagara, with Matt Markus on the call;  for LehighSports.com; and after Holy Cross is wrestling's first meet of the year vs. Bucknell. To take any of it in here are the links: Friday, 7:00 PM WBB: Lehigh at Niagara: Audio at WLVR.org Video via Niagara/Sidearm Sports Live Stats Friday: 8:00 PM MBB: Lehigh at Minnesota: Audio at ESPN Lehigh Valley Video via ESPN3 Live Stats Saturday, 12:30 PM, Football: Holy Cross at Lehigh: Audio at LehighSports.Com Video via Patriot League Network Live Stats Saturday, 5:00 PM, Wrestling: Bucknell vs. Lehigh: Audio at ESPN Lehigh Vall...

For the men's basketball team, the dream of a repeat trip to the NCAA tournament was dashed in Sojka pavillion in a surprise snow in rural Lewisburg, PA. But for the Lady Hawks, the march for a three-peat continues tonight at home in a matchup that most might have pegged in the preseason for the finals, not the semifinals. The red-hot Lady Hawks, winners of ten straight, look to advance to the Patriot League championship game for the third straight year. And also - just like last weekend's quarterfinal match vs. Lafayette - it allows the Lady Hawks to once again avenge one of their toughest - and lopsided - home losses in recent memory during the regular season. (more)

A nine game winning streak to end the year?  That's good, I think. Achieving two thirty-point wins against Bucknell and Holy Cross at home last week?  That's OK, I guess. A well-deserved Patriot League Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year award for senior G Erica Prosser ? That's nice. But you've got to believe that the Lady Hawks are excited about one thing, and one thing only about the first round of the Patriot League tournament Saturday night at Stabler arena - the fact that Lehigh has the opportunity to enact some revenge. (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)

So you're sitting there reveling in the fact that Lehigh wrestling just knocked off the No. 1 program in the country last night .  You see that Lehigh women's basketball got back on it's winning ways this Wednesday with a dominant win over Colgate , while Lehigh's men's team slipped to 1-3 in the Patriot League with their big slip at Colgate . It's a big weekend in the Lehigh Valley, with both hoops squads facing off against "that school in Easton".  It's always a big deal to beat the Leopards in all sports, and a sweep this weekend would be particularly gratifying - especially on the men's side. In a weekend filled with "Rivalry"-themed exploits, though, there's another national showcase for Lehigh Athletics that should not be on the TV - or DVR.  It's the East-West Shrine Game in Orlando, Florida, and - for Lehigh fans - OL Will Rackley will be the focal point of the NFL Network broadcast at 4:00 PM. (more)

In most circumstances, a 10-7 record in basketball - with five of those losses to the top 75 teams in the country, in terms of RPI - would be a reason for celebration in Bethlehem. But for the Lady Hawks, who are two-time defending champions of the Patriot League and seemed in December to be oh-so-close to becoming a team capable of an upset in the NCAA tournament, the situation is very, very different. First came the humbling home loss to American, 64-51 - on Lehigh's home court.  Losing at Stabler Arena?  That almost never happens. But then came the nip-and-tuck game at Navy this past Wednesday, where the game ended with an offensive foul called on F Courtney Dentler with eleven seconds left (no, really, when was the last time you saw THAT happen in a Division I basketball game?), and a choice to shoot a two instead of a three at the end of the game meant that the Midshipwomen pulled off the "upset", 63-62 . In a year where Sue Troyan 's Lady Hawks seemed ...

I found myself saying after this weekend focusing on one positive thing that happened for my teams this weekend: "Well, at least it wasn't Lafayette that performed the double-sweep on Lehigh this weekend." Lehigh's basketball sweep against American was only part of the story, however. In a Wild Card weekend where my defending Super Bowl champion Saints had their hearts broken by a head coach ( Pete Carroll ) that did his best John Calipari impersonation to flee USC in a swirl of NCAA sactions, and ultimately won the game after " off the field thug " RB Marshawn Lynch on Saturday, and a Sunday when QB Michael Vick underthrew a TD pass to secure an excruciating 21-16 defeat at the hands of the Packers, the theme of the weekend would unquestionably be one of collapsing leads and repeated shots to the stomach. (more)

Contrary to popular belief, I am not employed in any capacity by the Patriot League or Lehigh Athletics, though sometimes it must seem like I am. But there were two Patriot League championships clinched by teams from Lehigh this weekend, not just the the co-championship clinch by the Mountain Hawk football team this weekend at Fitton Field in Worcester. A surprising turn of events in the Patriot League women's soccer tournament meant No. 3 seeded Lehigh, after upsetting top-seeded Army 1-0 Sunday afternoon , won the Patriot League championship and got to their first-ever NCAA tournament. It caps off an extraordinary year for Lehigh Athletics in general - most of whom play this weekend, too. (more)

Taking advantage of a holiday weekend - and a 5:00PM start for the women's game - I hustled my family into the car on a frigid Saturday afternoon to make my pilgrimage to Stabler to take in a women's/men's basketball doubleheader featuring my Mountain Hawks. After pulling into the parking lot, we walked into Stabler as a physical, emotional Akron team started to really take it to the flat Lady Hawks, who was playing their third basketball game in five days. The 6-6 Zips, who just fell to Temple 55-43 a few days ago, surged to a 23-14 lead after Akron senior G Ayla Guzzardo stole the ball from junior G Erica Prosser to convert an easy transition basket. (more)

Being a rabid Lehigh sports fan during the holidays can be challenging, especially if you want to have any semblance of a normal home life. With time off my day job to celebrate Christmas - and dealing with the inevitable down-time that is necessary after a grueling four months of football coverage - covering all the goings-on foe Lehigh's winter sports, the final awards for Lehigh's football team and commentary on the wider football world is surprisingly tough, sometimes, to cover. (Add to that the the success this year of the NFL's Eagles and Saints, the Red Sox getting John Lackey and probably losing Jason Bay, and there's more opinions I have than time to post.) Add to that the fact that it's a different world from last with Facebook and Twitter entering the mainstream and the increasing expectation that they are a robust, often-updated tools for fans to use. For the football fan, tomorrow will probably provide a Lehigh mention on ESPN during their broadcast of...

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...

Senior LB Matt Cohen can now add something else to his trophy case: all-American . Cohen becomes Lehigh’s first First-Team All-America since 2004 when DL Tom Alfsen and TE Adam Bergen garnered the accolade from various outlets. Cohen, who is a three time All-Patriot League selection, is just the 14th player in Patriot League football history to be named to the Walter Camp All-America Team, which is voted upon by the head coaches and sports information directors of the FCS schools. Cohen was one of three linebackers from around the nation named to the Walter Camp All-America Team, joining J.C. Sherritt of Eastern Washington and Brandin Jordan of Southern Illinois. A native of Allentown, Cohen led the Patriot League in sacks (9.0) and tackles-for-loss (13.5) marking the second consecutive season he has accomplished that feat. A business supply major, Cohen was the first Mountain Hawk to win a major award from the Patriot League since PK Jason Leo in 2006 and the first Lehigh playe...

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Mingora of the Allentown Morning Call ) When I went to Storrs, Connecticut in 1997 to watch a Lehigh team go up against women's basketball royalty, I saw a 70-point blowout win that was not in doubt at any moment - and, to top it off, some UConn fan backed into my car and took out one of my headlights, making it a very dark drive home from Gampel Pavillion. While the scoreboard in this one also didn't give the Lady Hawks their first NCAA tournament victory this Saturday, rest assured that this team was very, very different than that hopelessly overmatched one in 1997. Michael Blouse of the Easton Express-Times said that the difference between Lehigh and Auburn was size, strength and speed , and also saw the Lehigh women's basketball team heap praise Auburn G DeWanna Bonner , calling her "by far the best player they've seen this year." Reading those articles and the Auburn reaction , you'd think that this was over after the open...

The Lady Hawks are going to the RAC to try to shock the world, and I'll be there reporting and commenting about it, live, at courtside. Here's the keys to the game for Lehigh: 1. It's going to take everybody. The Lady Hawks' depth is what have taken them this far. They'll have to do the same things they've done all year in order to pull off the upset - no intimidation factor allowed. The same jumpshots that put away Lafayette can also put away Auburn. 2. Get Ross involved early. Junior G Alex Ross, when she's on, can shoot the lights out. Getting her in rhythm - preferably, to jump to a quick lead - would be a huge boost. 3. Prosser vs. Bonner. Sophomore G Erica Prosser is known for offense, but it could be her defense - and how she handles one of the best point guards in the nation, senior G DeWanna Bonner - that could be key to a historic upset. Here we go! 12:17 p.m. I'm here at courtside. Lehigh fans dominate and they are LOUD. Students a...

Being a part of the NCAA tournament isn't just a fun trip to New York City and a "thank you for showing up, nice to be here" for the Lehigh women's basketball team. But it is a whirlwind of national media attention for the Lady Hawks - and for reasons off the court as well as on. Earlier in the week, Lehigh was recognized as one of 14 teams in the 64-team women's field that have a perfect 100% graduation rate . In the media day , head coach Sue Troyan expanded on that: “From my perspective, it’s why I do what I do. Being at Lehigh, the type of kids that we get there are truly exceptional in terms of having to balance the things in their lives and truly representing what it means to be a student athlete. This group epitomizes being able to excel academically and athletically. Their team GPA was 3.32, they’ve been ranked in the top 25 in team GPA in six of the last seven years. Our team GPA has been between a 3.25 and a 3.45 every semester, so it’s not a blip on ...

While a 15 seed may seem a bit disappointing, the fact that Lehigh women's basketball fans will be able to make a quick jaunt down 78 to 287 to Piscataway, New Jersey to see their Lady Hawks play in the first round certainly has to be a comfort. Lehigh will be taking on the No. 2-seeded Auburn Lady Tigers , and the other game at the RAC will pit No. 7 Rutgers against No. 10 Virginia Commonwealth. Lehigh's game will take place at noon - it will probably be the first game of the NCAA women's tourney to start or finish - and the second game will be immediately following. Tickets should be available through the Lehigh ticket office, and Rutgers' ticket office. Adult tickets for all three games are $40, while a "family pack" for Saturday is available for $60, including 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, and 4 sodas. Auburn, ranked No. 8 in the AP poll, is a daunting challenge for the Lady Hawks, with a team that has four seniors and balanced production across the board - the...

When my wife and I drove up to Stabler to watch the Rivalry-tinged Patriot League women's basketball championship game yesterday against Lafayette, we saw a sharp-shinned hawk perched on a speed limit sign. Really. Despite this signal of good fortune, I was still nervous about the championship game. I know it didn't make much sense if you saw the matchup on paper - the No. 1-seeded Mountain Hawks were 25-6 and undefeated at home, and the No. 7-seeded Leopards were 10-21 and had been crushed by Lehigh in their two regular-season meetings. But this Lafayette team was different now. They had hit their stride with their two shock wins against American and Navy in front of quasi-home crowds. Now, fueled by "The Rivalry" and a nationally-televised game on ESPNU, the Lady Leopards had nothing to lose, and the Lady Hawks everything. It was everything a college basketball fan could ask for. Sure, Lehigh did their best to make the result inevitable early on. After both team...

It sure didn't look like this was going to be how the Patriot League women's basketball championship would end up going into the tournament. Not so much No. 1-seeded Lehigh's presence in the tournament - but that the opponent is the No. 7 seed Lehigh fans love to hate. My family and I were there yesterday, watching Lehigh overcome a slow start and a three point deficit at halftime to finally overwhelm the Army Lady Knights 61-42 . Facing off against an Army team that beat the Lady Hawks 54-52 at Christl Arena and who gave them a run for their money in a 66-58 game on Valentine's day in Stabler , I was worried about this game from the outset. But the ladies responded with an extraordinary second half where Lehigh shot 57.7% from the field and turned the screws defensively, only allowing 18 points in the second half. The unquestioned hero was senior G Tricia Smith , who came very close to a double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds. When freshman C Alexa Williams ...