South Mountaineer Volume 41, Issue 15

              SouthMountaineer
Volume 12, Issue 15
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
December 8,1998
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IfiSl
iLehigh-PENN
| Lehigh fell to the University of
Pennsylvania 73-56 on Thursday evening in Philadelphia.
Lehigh's record stands at 3-
3.
Lehigh Individual Stats:
Jared Hess-9 points, 4 rebounds
Peter Delea-4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists
Sah-U-Ra Brown-4 points, 4
rebounds
Tiwaun Hawkins-4 points, 3
assists
Brett Eppehimer-11 points, 2
rebounds, 4 assists
Kyle Gloff-1 point, 1 rebound
Steve Aylsworth-3 points, 1
rebound, 7 assists
Bobby Mbom-8 points, 3 rebounds
Scott Taylor-0 points, 1 rebound
Dan Handerhan-2 points, 1
rebound
I Ed Lacayo-11 points, 1 rebound
Bobby Willis-0 points, 1 rebound
PENN's top scorer was Michael Jordan with 20 points, 3 rebounds. Geoff
Owens had 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3
assists.
UMASS ends Lehigh's ride 24-21
Team Statistics:
LU
PENN
FG %       44.6
52.6
3 PT %    26.7
41.7
FT %        40.0
50.0
Lehigh-PENN
I Lehigh defeated the Quakers
71-62 on Wednesday at Stabler Arena. Lehigh improves
to 4-2.
Lehigh Individual Stats.
Maureen Trigo-16 points, 7
rebounds, 5 assists, 6 steals
Sara Hessel-6 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist
Christina Henry-6 points, 2
rebounds, 2 assists
Kelly Collins-6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists
Dani Baldwin-15 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Charlotte Muller-5 points, 3
rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal
Gina Zang-2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
Allison Sims-1 point, 1 rebound
Alexis Bevington-11 points, 5
rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Amy Thomson-1 point, 1 rebound
Laura Buddemeyer-2 points,
3 rebounds
PENN'S top scorer was
Mandy West 21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals.
Jessica Allen tipped in 12
I points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
Team Statistics:
LU
.339
%     .071
.655
FG%
3-PT<
FT%
PENN
.406
.400
.600
Lehigh-Marist
Lehigh was on the hardwood on Sunday afternoon against the Red Foxes.
Lehigh led the entire game and beat
Marist 63-53. Lehigh is 5-2 on the season.
Lehigh Individual Stats:
Trigo-12 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists
and 4 steals
Hessel-8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist
Henry-13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
Collins-4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
Baldwin-11 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assit
C. Muller-3 rebounds, 1 assist
Zang-4 points, 4 rebounds
Bevington-13 points, 9 rebounds, 2
assists
Thomson-2 points, 2 rebounds
Buddemeyer-2 points
Marist's top sccorer was Sabrina
Vallery with 16 points, 2 rebounds and
1 assist.
Team Statistics:
LU Marist
FG%        .370 .337
3 Pt. %     .211 .200
FT %        .500 .667
Kody Fedorcha gained 73 yards in the Lehigh-UMASS game
What a ride! And the
Lehigh University
football team cannot
believe it is over.
Twelve straight Saturdays.
Twelve consecutive victories in
five different states and two time
zones.
Lehigh soared into the second
round of the NCAA Division I-
AA playoffs on Saturday, the only
non-scholarship football team
still playing, and finally were
defeated 27-21 by the University
of Massachusetts.
Not until the Minutemen
were able to thwart Lehigh four
times from within the shadow of
their end zone in the final two
minutes did Lehigh's incredible
1998 season come to a close.
Everybody rooting for the
Mountain Hawks — even the old
alums who still consider themselves "Engineers" --believed
Kevin Higgins1 players would
pull off one more miracle.
"It's exactly what we wanted,"
Higgins said. "We wanted to
keep the game close going into
the fourth quarter and have the
ball in our hands with an opportunity to score at the end."
Why not?
Lehigh rallied for 15 fourth-
quarter points to defeat St.
Mary's 21-16 in Moraga, Calif.,
on Sept. 19. The following week
Lehigh squandered a 24-10 lead
against Princeton but won in
overtime on quarterback Phil
Stambaugh's 20-yard run.
It continued to get better as
Lehigh made the first of three
journeys Lo the commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
Defending Ivy League champion Harvard jumped to a 17-0
lead. Lehigh shut out the Crimson in the second half and rallied to win 21-17 on touchdowns
from three different players.
Jaron Taaffe solidified his
reputation as Mr. Clutch by kicking a career-long 47-yard field
goal with 1:10 left in the game
to defeat Columbia 20-19. Taaffe
finished the season 50-for-50
kicking extra points, so credit
should also go to the snapper,
Mike Ludwig, and the holder,
freshman punter Jay Heibel.
In the preseason polls, Lehigh
was picked to finish third in the
Patriot League behind defending
champion Colgate and Bucknell.
Lehigh showed they would be a
contender by destroying Towson
55-7 as Stambaugh threw for
five TDs and 388 yards in less
than three quarters.
Trip No. 2 to Massachusetts
was another struggle but Lehigh
again dominated the second half
to subdue Holy Cross 24-14 in
Worcester. The game marked
the emergence of junior halfback
Ronald Jean as a major factor.
Jean rushed for touchdowns of
24 and 6 yards.
Wofford invaded Goodman
Stadium from Greenville, S.C.,
with one of the best rushing offenses in the country. The Terriers are a scholarship team
from the Southern Conference,
which includes Georgia Southern, the No. 1 team in I-AA.
The Terriers left with their
tails between their legs as
Lehigh zipped them 26-0. This
same Wofford club nearly beat
Division I Marshall, which won
the Mid American Conference
last Friday.
Finally, there was a feeling
this could be a special season for
Lehigh. But up next at
Goodman Stadium for 8-0
Lehigh was Colgate, which tormented them the previous year,
61-28.
The Red Raiders appeared to
be well on their way to another
61 points when they scored two
touchdowns in the first nine
minutes. Instead of pouting,
Lehigh responded with 35 unanswered points and rolled to a 41-
22 victory.
Lehigh seniors bid adieu to
Goodman Stadium with a 49-7
romp over perennial nemesis
Bucknell. Jean rushed for 193
yards, which was only three
yards shy of the Bison's total
offensive production.
Beating arch-rival Lafayette
31-7 the following week was almost anticlimactic as Lehigh
knew they still had at least one
more game to play. Lehigh
would be representing the Patriot League in the I-AA playoffs.
It was the school's first playoff
appearance since 1981.
Rob Upton
Lehigh was awarded the 14th
seed in the 16-team tournament
and they drew Atlantic 10 Conference champion Richmond, the
No. 3 seed and the top team in I-
AA according to the Sagarin ratings.
While no one outside the
Lehigh community gave Lehigh
a chance, the players and coaches
were confident. They believed
Richmond was a good matchup
for them.
Even trailing 23-21 with 1:18
to go and 69 yards from the goal
line, Lehigh was sure things
would work out for the best.
Taaffe made sure of it when he
was dead-on perfect on a 30-yard
field goal with three seconds left.
So why not Saturday against
Massachusetts, another scholarship team from the Atlantic 10.
Sure, the Minutemen were
physically bigger, faster and
stronger — "Everyone's bigger
than us, even in the Patriot
League," said Lehigh co-captain
and defensive end Nick Martucci
-- but were they mentally
tougher?
Lehigh possessed four shots
into the end zone from the
UMass 9-yard line with well
more than a minute remaining.
This almost seemed too easy, considering their previous Houdini-
like maneuvers.
"We were more than confident; we knew we were going to
win the game," said Deron
Braswell, who's caught more
passes than any other Patriot
League player in his career.
This time, for the first time all
season, the other team made the
big plays that decided the outcome. Massachusetts stuffed
Jean for no gain, dropped
Stambaugh for a 6-yard loss, and
defended two fade passes to the
left corner of the end zone to preserve the six-point victory.
For the first time in their four
years in the program, the Lehigh
seniors saw a goal post come
down. Unfortunately, it was the
UMass students tearing down
their goal post.
The loss, fortunately, won't
tear down one of the most memorable seasons in Lehigh football
history.
-Corky Blake, Express-Times
Statistics
LEHIGH 7 7 0 7-21
UMASS     3 10 7   7-27
First Quarter
LEH-Jean 8 run (Taaffee
kick) 13:59
UMASS-FG Cherry 25,
11:38
Second Quarter
UMASS-Moore 30 pass
rom Bankhead (Cherry
kick), 13:27
UMASS-FG Cherry 33,
11:23
LEH-Jean 1 run (Taaffe
kick), 2:45
Third Quarter
UMASS-Zulio 37 pass
from Bankhead (Cherry
kick), 1:34
Fourth Quarter
UMASS-Shipp 1 run (Cherry
kick), 11:17
LEH-Stambaugh 1 run (Taaffe
kick), 7:11.
LU   UMASS
First Downs        19 25
Rushes-yards      30-77 47-189
Passing 302 270
Punt Returns      4-47 3-16
Kickoff Returns 6-84 4-51
Intercept. Ret.    2-0 0-0
Comp-Att-Int     26-43-0 22-37-2
Sack. Yrd. Lost   1-2 4-32
Punts 8-39 4-43
Fumbles-Lost      1-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards 4-30 5-40
TimeofPoss.   ,   28:11 31:49
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Lehigh, Jean 20-90,
Moore 1-9, Braswell 1-5, Endler
1 (-1), Stambaugh, 7 (-36).
UMASS, Shipp 36-159, Jordan 2-
18, Auinlan 4-11, Zullo i-4;
Bankhead 4 (-3).
Passing-hehigh, Stambaugh 26-
43-0-302. UMASS, Bankhead 22-
36-2-270, Robinson 0-1-0-0.
Receiving-hehigh, Braswell 10-
127, Fedorcha 4-73, Falzone 4
41, Snyder 3-21, Moore 2-?li.
Jean 2-3, Ryan 1-17. UMAS^.
Moore 8-117, Jordan 5-25, ZmV
4-51, shipp 3-41, Taylor 1-26,
Holston 1-10.
Sheridan
Tournament
The Broncs of Rider win their
second consecutive Sheridan
title with an impressive 139
points. Lehigh finished second
(126.5), Rutgers third (85.5),
North Carolina State fourth
(84.0), Army fifth (77.5),
Drexel sixth (50.5), James
Madison seventh (50.0) and
Bloomsburg eighth (48.5). The
Outstanding Wrestler Award
went to Tommy Davis of North
Carolina State at 141.
Lehigh's John Van Doren
(184) was second in the voting.
Lehigh Finalists:
125: Bruce Kelly* d. Witt
(Bloomburg)
149: Blose (Rider) d. Ryan
Bernholz
157: Chris Ayres* d. Pryor (NC
St)
174: Giel (Rider) d. Mark Dufresne
184: John Van Doren* d. Romero
(Rutgers)
197: Robert Rohn* d. Lockhart (Army)
Hwt:Schutte (Rutgers) d. Shawn
Laughlin
'First Place Finishers
KS1