Lehigh Football Nation

Last week, I introduced a new feature called "Football Prospect Friday", where I simply crib of the research that nameless hard-working folks (usually named RichH) have already done for me and posted to the Lehigh Sports Forum already.  (Just kidding... if you read my blog postings, you'll see that I actually give some background on all these players!) For those that missed last week's episode, where I detail six offensive players , you can follow the link. For those readers who have already enjoyed thinking about those players all week, I have a fresh new batch of players to consider this afternoon.  Let's look at the possible Mountain Hawks on the defensive side of the ball, shall we? (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...

This offseason has been one of worry for Eastern football fans. If you're a member of the CAA, you've been floored by the sudden disappearance of Northeastern and Hofstra football , causing a scheduling mess for 2010 and a sudden worry about the "Northeast Four"'s continued inclusion in the league. If you're a member of the Patriot League, you have to be worried about the makeup of the teams that were terminated: private schools that both looked like prime candidates for Patriot League inclusion at one time or another. If you're a member of the NEC, you're looking forward to your autobid in the FCS playoffs starting in 2010, but you're worried about the lack of forward momentum on scholarships - and the growing gap between the top (Albany, Central Connecticut State) and bottom (St. Francis).  (More)

A new year, and a new feature to get everyone to "Signing Day" 2010.  I'll cherry-pick five recruits that have listed Lehigh as "schools of interest" and recount what I've been able to find out about them.  I can think of no better place to start than in Lehigh's backyard. (more)

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 courtesy Athlon Sports) I don't pretend to be an expert on recruiting, but with "signing day" only a month away I do turn my attention to football recruiting and Lehigh's needs on the recruiting front.  I'll break this into two parts: one, my analysis on what Lehigh's needs are in the recruiting offseason, and two, what I can scrape up about some of the prospective incoming athletes for the class of 2015.  Today, I'll be analyzing what I feel Lehigh's recruiting needs are. So for me, it is sort of a recruiting "blitz" in the sense that I haven't prepared all season for this, and (much like my undergraduate years, I might add) I crammed the night before this blog posting to scrape something presentable together.  (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)