Overview
The Lehigh men’s lacrosse team struggled to begin last season, but bounced back to win five of the last six regular season games to advance to its sixth straight Patriot League Tournament. The Mountain Hawks also defeated a pair of nationally-ranked teams in the process, topping Princeton and Stony Brook within a five-day span. Lehigh lost a great deal of production from a senior class that included attackman Dan Taylor, goaltender Matt Poillon and midfielder Kurtis Kaunas, among others… but the Mountain Hawks return plenty of talent. With that talent, combined with a freshman class ranked in the top 20 nationally, Lehigh is excited to see what the 2016 season has in store.
Strengths
Defense – The strength of the Mountain Hawks on paper is their defense. Despite losing Poillon in goal and Lukas Mikelinich at close defense, Lehigh looks to have people in place to fill their roles. Sophomore Adam Sawicki looks to take the reins in goal after showing strong glimpses as a freshman. Sawicki made his first-career start against eventual National Champion Denver and impressed, stopping all five first-quarter shots to help his squad take a 3-0 lead, and finishing the game with 11 stops. Meanwhile, Lehigh has plenty of talent at defense looking to fill in the hole left by Mikelinich. That includes highly-touted freshman Eddie Bouhall, who has received significant notoriety as one of the top incoming players in all of college lacrosse.
Weaknesses
Attack – Keep in mind, a weakness heading into the season could end up becoming a strength. Right now, there are a lot of questions at attack due to the loss of both Taylor and Canadian classmate Patrick Corbett. Senior Reid Weber returns and looks to take the charge as a leader of not only the attack position, but also a young Mountain Hawks’ squad. Weber finished last season with 51 points on 38 goals and 13 assists, including 30 points over his final seven games, coinciding with Lehigh’s late-season surge. The Mountain Hawks have a lot of young talent at attack looking to step into key roles, and there’s no one better to lead the way than Weber.
Top Returnee
There are a lot of candidates for Lehigh’s top returnee. Weber is among the top returnees, along with his fellow senior captains – Casey Eidenshink and Tripp Telesco – on defense. Eidenshink was an All-Patriot League honoree last season while Telesco earned All-League and All-America recognition as a sophomore. The good thing for the Mountain Hawks is they have strong returning players at each position, who look to take the charge and mentor their younger teammates. On-field play for Weber, Eidenshink and Telesco will be significant in 2016, but perhaps more important will be their leadership.
Breakthrough Player
Ian Strain – Strain was a highly-regarded midfield prospect, who was forced to sit out his freshman season due to injury. Strain played in all 16 games last season as a defensive midfielder, recording two goals, one assists, 18 groundballs and six caused turnovers. He moved to defensive midfield because the team needed help there due to injury. Strain showed unselfishness in switching to a more defensive role, which hurt his point production, but helped him develop into one of Lehigh’s best all-around midfielders.
