Lehigh Football Nation

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 ...

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...

You won't find the news in any major newspaper or any official source of Patriot League information. But news coming out of Fordham head coach Tom Masella's "Meet the Recruits" event on March 3rd has exploded onto the Patriot League message board community. While the reality of coach Masella's comments has not been verified, what is certain is that Fordham football supporters were told in no uncertain terms that Fordham laid down the gauntlet to the Patriot League leadership concerning scholarship football. Two different message board postings have been the source of these revelations. First came the following from Fordham's message board : Fordham has told the PL we want scholarships instituted leaguewide by June 09 .. If the PL balks we are prepared and going independent for 2010 season. then find a new home for 2011 and beyond. this is not hearsay, the FU Head Coach and the administration has sat down with PL commissioner Carol Femovich... Masella (HC)...

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...

The expected snow-in yesterday allowed me to get caught up on some Lehigh football news, headlined by word of a very poorly-kept secret - the departure of a Lehigh assistant coach. **** It's not printed anywhere, but the Big Green Alert blog is reporting that Lehigh assistant coach Adam Scheier is headed to Bowling Green to serve under head coach (and former Lehigh offensive coordinator) Dave Clawson. Scheier, who coached wide receivers and was special teams coordinator for the Mountain Hawks, reportedly will be co-special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. It's a great opportunity for Scheier, who now will get to coach for an FBS program. Congratulations! Replacing him on the Mountain Hawks will be interesting. Not so much on the special teams side, where it's possible to envision kicking & punters coach Pete Morelli doing that job going forward, but on the wide receivers side. Here's a bit of wild, unsubstantiated speculation from me: what about Harvard...