South Mountaineer Volume 40, Issue 02

              Lehigh Athletics
Website: http://www.lehlgh.edu
Hotline: (610) 758-LULU
SEASON PREVIEWS: Previews of all Olympic sports
11
SOCCER: Men split at Nike Tournament, Women drop opener       12
SCHEDULES: The complete 1997 fall schedules 9
South Mountaineer
Volume 11, Issue 2
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
September 3,1997
Soccer
Lehigh Soccer Kicks Off Season
Both men's and women's squads open season with good defense
Lehigh sports got under way with the
soccer teams in action this past weekend
as both squads exhibited outstanding
defense to begin their campaigns.
In the Nike Tournament at New
Hampshire, the men's team dropped a 1 -0
decision to the University of New Hampshire on Saturday and played to a 0-0 draw
with Vermont on Sunday.
Andrew Mittendorf and goalkeeper
Nick DiCello were both named to the All-
Tournament team.
On the women's side, a strong
Richmond team invaded Goodman Campus
on Saturday and came away with a 1 -0 win
over Lehigh.
Freshman goalie JamieBissetti made
her collegiate debut with 27 saves in the
loss.
The following are the previews for
both the men's and women's teams.
Women's Soccer
With only one
graduating senior
departing the team,
Head Coach Julie
Leonhardt will look
to have a sound
inaugural season
with a great deal of
experience returning
for the 1997 season.
"We have a good
nucleus of players
coming back, but there is also solid group
of incoming freshmen," Leonhardt said.
Senior Captain
Liz Burnham
Both captains from the 1996 squad
return with their proven leadership
abilities. SeniormidfielderLizBurnham
(three goals) and senior defender Debbie
Damelio help anchor a more seasoned
team that has ten starters returning. "We
hope to input a new system of play and
having quality leadership is critical,"
Leonhardt said.
The leading scorer from a year ago,
All-Patriot League member Kathryn
Chrnelich, returns for her junior season
after recording five goals and a pair of
assists for a team-high 12 points.
In the backfield, Damelio will be
joined by Jessica Glomb, who both return
after starting every game last season.
Audrey Aloi also returns after seeing
considerable playing time last season.
"One of the goals for this team in this
year will be to compete with the perennial
strong teams of the Patriot League -- like
Colgate and Army," Leonhardt added.
The incoming freshmen include
goalkeeper Jami Bisetti from Colorado,
midfielder Heidi Schauer from Florida,
defender Michelle Kantor and midfielder
Rhonda Roberts from New Jersey.
According to Leonhardt, "Jami has the
ability to be an immediate impact player.
She is a natural leader and a talented
goalkeeper."
Alsojoiningtheteamin 1997 will be
transfer Laura Hanrahan from Connecticut.
"Laura walked-on to the Connecticut
squad, a school that is consistently a top-
10 national-cal iber team," said
Leonhardt. "She'll bring the
experience and knowledge of a
top-notch program to Lehigh that
will help us move up the ladder."
Head Coach
Dean Koski
Men's Soccer
Atrait
that can never
be attributed to
Lehigh men's
soccer is
repose. After a
disappointing
0-5-1 finish in
the Patriot
League 1995
season, the
Engineers shocked opponents with
uncanny performances by standout
players in 1996, and greatly improved despite dubious predictions
made by critics and preseason polls.
With a final record of 9-6-2, Lehigh
worked its way back into playoff
contention and gained the respect it
had been missing in years past.
An unnerving 0-2 start last
season had the Engineers hanging
their heads, fearing the ominous
ghosts of their past. Then suddenly
on September 7, like an eerie spell,
Lehigh defeated St. Peter's and
started what would eventually be a
seven game vvdnning streak. It was
during this period that the Mountain
Hawks achieved their greatest feat of the
season and defeated the nationally ranked
Eagles of American University. Mario
Monfardini, one of Lehigh's four Second
Team All-Patriot players (Andrew
Mittendorf, Kevin Jackson, Nick DiCello)
scored one of the most important goals of
his career, and Nick DiCello supported his
team with saves, not only in this game, but
all season long. The combined play of
these two athletes and First Team All-
Patriot League players Allan Charles and
Will Orben made for the best overall
winning percentage in the league.
After the seventh win of the Engineers' unbeaten streak, they went on to
win four of the next eight games defeating
Iona, Drexel, Rider, and the Patriot
League's U.S. Naval Academy.
Joe Ryan
Senior Matt Senkowski
Through rigorous workouts and
training, Head Coach Dean Koski and the
coaching staff taught their players the
values of a strong work ethic and the
rewards that inevitably follow. The first
two losses of the season could have sent
the Engineers crashing to the ground, but
what followed was anything but failure.
Team camaraderie and belief in one another
made Lehigh's campaign far from what
skeptics called a "cinderella" season, but
rather a season of legitimacy.
In 1997 there's something else that
motivates Coach Koski: To prove last
season was not a fluke. This is what makes
him and his players not succumb to
complacency. The strong work ethic and
discipline established by last year's team
will certainly continue into the fall of'97.
Joe Ryan
Junior Kate Nickel
1997 Football Schedule
Sept. 13
atFordham      ^reatr
(telestar 5, Transponder K-12)
1:00
Sept. 20
at Towson State
1:00
Sept. 27
HARVARD     ■&■»
(satellite TBA)
1:00
Oct. 4
at Colgate
1:00
Oct. 11
PENNSYLVANIA "grar (satellite TBA)
1:00
Oct. 18
atHofetra        ■g«=r
(satellite TBA)
1:00
Oct. 25
atDartmouth
1:00
Nov.l
atBucknell       tGrssr
(satellite TBA)
12:30
Nov. 8
HOLYCROSS
12:30
Nov. 15
DELAWARE
12:30
Nov. 22
LAFAYETTE -greEr
(satellite TBA)
12:30