South Mountaineer Volume 40, Issue 09

              Lehigh Olympic Sports Report
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This Week: Women's Soccer &
Women's Tennis
SOCCER:   Lehigh Moves into Playoff Contention
FOOTBALL: Hofstra Outlasts Lehigh
STATISTICS: The Complete Week's Scores
South Mountaineer
Volume 11, Issue 9
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
October 21,1997
Men's Soccer
Lehigh Feasts on Leopards
Victory over Lafayette Moves Team into Playoff Contention
Patriot League
Soccer Standings
by Glenn Hofmann
Sports Communications Director
Easton, Pa. - Entering the
homestretch and in need of a win to
further enhance its chances of a
postseason berth the Lehigh men's
soccer team came through with flying
colors as it defeated arch-rival
Lafayette 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
This game wasn't nearly as close
as the final score indicated as from
the opening whistle Lehigh totally
dominated play. The Mountain Hawks
had no fewer than four 2-on-l breaks
in the first five minutes of play. After
being stopped the first couple of times
junior Andy Mittendorf put an end to
the Lafayette heroics with his ninth
goal of the season at the 7:38 mark of
the first half.
The rest of the half was played
primarily on the Leopard side of the
field. Lehigh made it 2-0 when Mark
Swartz finished a serve off an indirect
kick from Kevin Jackson just outside
the 18-yard line. Going into the
lockerroom Lehigh held a 2-0 advantage,
one that Lafayette would never be able to
overcome.
"I think we approached the game like
we would any other one," head coach
Dean Koski said. "We wanted to play with
emotion, with confidence and play 45
minutes   at a time."
Lafayette came back in the second
half to cut the Lehigh lead in half, but
Mittendorf put an end to any
thoughts the Leopards had of
a complete comeback with his
second tally of the game off of
an indirect kick.
"I'm really proud of the
team," Koski said afterwards.
"This was a good win in many
respects. Most important to
me was that when Lafayette
got that goal we didn't fall
apart."
Lehigh improves to 2-1-1
in Patriot League play and
with Bucknell and Navy left Sophomore
seems to have an excellent shot of
making the postseason playoffs for
the first time since 1991.
"I think it's always important
to beat a team like Lafayette,"
Koski said. "The win against Army
gave us confidence that we could
beat the good teams. Lafayette in
the past has been in the upper
echelon of the league so this feels
real good."
W-L-T
Colgate
4-0-1
Holy Cross
3-1-0
LEHIGH
2-1-1
Navy
1-2-0
Army
1-3-0
Lafayette
1-2-0
Bucknell
0-3-0
**Top 4 teams make the
postseason tournament which will
be played at the highest seed.
League Games Remaining:
October 25 at Bucknell
October 31 vs. Navy
Lehigh Scoring Leaders:
G      A      PTS
Mittendorf        10     6       22
Jackson 4       10     18
Monfardini       5       4       14
Kevin Jackson
Mittendorf Move Brings Immediate Results
Andrew Mittendorf
by Toni Giorgio
Sports Comm. Student Intern
Something needed to be done
about the offense. Coach Dean Koski
of the men's varsity soccer team knew
that they needed a
change, so he took
a chance with
junior defensive
midfielder Andrew
Mittendorf.
Coach Koski
asked Mittendorf
to move to a
forward for the
fourth game of the
season at St.
Peter's. "Whatever will make our
team do well and whatever it takes to
win games, I'll do for the team,"
Mittendorf said.
That day Mittendorf told his
teammates "I am going to have a hat-
trick, I'm telling you guys I can feel
it."
"He just knew it," said sophomore
and '96 Patriot League Rookie-of-the-
Year Kevin Jackson. "We were all
kidding around and we said 'Great
Mitt go for it'."
During that game Mittendorf
scored three unanswered goals and
Lehigh returned with their first win of
the season, a 3-0 victory.
After the game, Coach Koski told
Mittendorf: "You know Mitt, you made
the coaching staff look smart."
Mittendorf switched positions with
Jackson and both players are pleased
with the new position.
"I like certain aspects of it, especially
the opportunities to get more involved as
far as scoring, to have more impact on
the game," Mittendorf said.
With six goals and six assists for a
total of 18 points, Mittendorf is now
leading the league in scoring and is one
of the top scorers in the region.
Mittendorf has started every game in
his Lehigh career. He scored four goals
as a sophomore and two as a freshman.
Only halfway into this season he has
doubled his career total.
He does not, however, take all of the
credit for his accomplishments. He knows
it was the contributions of his team that
brought him to this level.
"I attribute a lot of this, especially the
goals I've scored this year, to the quality
of the players around me. Without them
nothing would be possible," Mittendorf
said.
In describing the type of player
Mittendorf is, two words seem to be the
consensus of the coaching staff and his
teammates: passionate and committed.
"Few players who have come through
this program have surpassed his commitment to wanting to be the best player he
can be," Koski said.
Koski describes the type of player he
is and the dedication he has to the team
as being of the highest caliber.
"In the past two-and-a-half years I
have never had to ask him to pick it up,
or to work harder." Koski said. "He plays
from his heart every minute of every
practice and every minute of every
game.
"It's fun playing with him out
there," Jackson said, "As soon as
he crosses the line to step on the
field it's a totally different
mindset, everything is focused on
the game and nothing else."
"When you have people enjoying themselves, they seem to relax
and perform better, it takes away
the nervousness," Mittendorf said.
Mittendorf has always been a
soccer junky. He could tell you
anything about what he calls,
"English football." He is a student
of the sport and always eager to
learn all he can to improve his
game. According to Koski, he has
done just that.
As a player, Mittendorf is
applying what he has learned into
getting himself into the right spot
at the right time. He has taken his
game to a new level in the past
two years and has shaped and
molded his style of play.
"He has taken all of his passion, enthusiasm and fervor to
establish a style which really suits
his personality," Koski said.
Mittendorf s interest and
experience in soccer goes well
beyond Lehigh. He played this
summer for the Northport Cow
Harbor club team. The team was
one of the top four teams in the
country and they went on to play
in the nationals.
Mittendorf started on the team
and played with national team
members.
"The level was so high and so
fast. It was a great experience
and a good jump-start coming
into the season," Mittendorf said.
Even though he is concentrating on his career as a Division I
player, Mittendorf has aspirations which go beyond collegiate
athletics — all the way to a
professional level.
"I see Lehigh as a step toward
where I hopefully want to go in
the future, its leading me in the
right direction through a quality
program," Mittendorf said.
Coach Koski strives to create
opportunities for his players and
a program which would facilitate
the growth of dedicated and
talented athletes into professional players.
"We are preparing players so
if they do want to go on to play
professionally, they can," Coach
Koski said. "Mitt is the perfect
candidate because of his commitment."
He is well aware of what it is
going to take to play professional
soccer and he is up for the
challenge.
"With the right amount of
determination, which I feel I
have," Mittendorf said, "and the
right amount of drive, which I
try and give myself, it's a goal
which is definitely obtainable."