South Mountaineer Volume 41, Issue 02

              SouthMountaineer
Volume 12, Issue 2
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
September 1,1998
Get connected with Lehigh Football
Lehigh football report will air Monday,
September 7, at 8:30 pm on WFMZ-TV
Channel 69.
BKfflR. be Football Looks to Seniors tor 1998 Success
Lehigh football can be
heard all season long in
the Lehigh Valley on
WKAP (1470-AM) in
Allentown. Veteran
WAEB news director
Matt Kerr returns for his
second season as play-
by-play announcer, and
former Lehigh quarterback Marty Horn will
provide expert analysis
for the 11th straight
year.
Teamline
You can hear the live play-byplay of any Lehigh football game
anywhere in the country by calling Lehigh TeamLine. Call
1-800-846-4700 and enter access
code 2064 and your Visa or
Mastercard number when
prompted. You can listen as long
as you like and pay only for the
time you listen. Charges are between 30 and 50 cents per
minute, depending on how long
you listen. You can call from any
phone-home, office, car, even a
payphone-from anywhere in the
United States or Canada.
1-The place the volleyball team was picked to
finish in the Patriot
League preseason poll.
' 85-Fall sports athletes
from the state of Pennsylvania.
56-Athletcs hail from
the state of New
Jersey.
11-Studcnt athletes, including nine football
players, come to
Lehigh from "the Sunshine State"  Florida.
22-Of our Engineer student-athletes are from
New York state.
1-Golfer comes to the
Valley all the way from
Puerto Rico.
10-The number of athletes
from Connecticut. Most of
them play on the men's and
women's soccer teams.
2-Athletcs have left the
Rocky Mountain state (Colorado) to come to the mountainous campus of Lehigh.
Golf/Tennis Classic
Come participate in the 14th annual Athletics Partnership Golf/
Tennis Classic at Saucon Valley
Country Club and Locust Valley,
Friday, October 16. For more information, contact Craig Anderson at 758-4301.
Group Sales and
Promotions
Bring a group of 10 or more
people for special rates. Perfect
for alumni reunions. Special
youth programs including autograph sessions and pre-game
field passes are availabe. Call
(610) 758-6617 for more information.
Senior Brian Baker breaks through the hole.
Joe Ryan
With Lehigh's all-time
ground gainer Rabih
Abdullah picking up
yardage for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there are several holes
to fill in the offensive line and the
defensive play must improve for
a successful season. For this,
head coach Kevin Higgins has 19
seniors to count on. The return of
a solid receiving corps and All-Patriot League quarterback Phil
Stambaugh certainly will aid the
offense.
Senior Brian Baker played
both wide receiver and running
back last season and filled in for
the injured Abdullah in 1996 and
surpassed the 1,000 yard marker
that year. He will start and junior Ron Jean likely will be in the
second spot.
Junior Brett Snyder returns
for his third year in the starting
role at fullback.
The perimeter of the offense
is bolstered by the return of every starter. All-Patriot League
wide receiver senior Deron
Braswell heads the list with
more than 2,300 career receiving yards. Also returning are the
duo of senior Joe Falzone and
junior Kody Fedorcha, both of
whom have starting experience
and caught 100 combined
passes last season. A freshman
with good hands who has stood
out during the preseason has
been Josh Snyder.
Two tight ends with experience return as starting senior
R.J. Ryan is back as well as last
year's back-up, junior Bruce
Peltzer.
The offense line will need to
plug a few holes with the departure of three stalwarts: Caleb
Moyer, Mike Kadow and Ryan
Pohlke. Senior captain and starting center Jon Stiegler, junior
Phil Anderson and senior Rich
Bodnar will have to step into the
leadership roles. Also returning
with experience will be juniors
Michael Ludwig and Ryan
Sullivan with senior Steve
Ludwig vying for starting spots
on the line.
Lehigh's defense will be anchored by a core of veterans. Seniors David Merrifield and Nick
Martucci return as four-year
starters on the defensive line.
Also returning with starting experience will be senior Jon
Regina and junior Andrew
Badurina. Junior Roobhenn
Smith, sophomore David Petett
and junior Jason Stanley will
add depth and compete for time.
Junior Ian Eason will anchor
the linebacking group after registering more than 100 tackles
for the second straight season.
Drew Poppleton's decision to
leave football after an injury-
plagued career will leave the
team short of starting experience.
Sophomore, James "Bubba"
Young started several games
last season and junior Alex Clift,
a backup the past two years, and
senior Tom Oropeza will all see
considerable time at linebacker.
What was a young and inexperienced secondary last season
now will have to display its maturity. The crew is led by senior
Sam Brinley, who returns as a
two-year starter. Also coming
back will be last year's starters
in seniors Saundrell Davison and
Caliphe Buchanan, and junior
Kevin Joseph. Senior B.J. Hill
also will return after starting six
games last season. Sophomore
Matt Andrews
Sophomore Jaron Taaffe will
handle the kicking duties.
The 1998 schedule boasts several new teams and a trip to the
west coast in the second week of
the season. The team will travel
to St. Mary's (outside San Francisco) for its first west coast game
since 1977. Also new on the '98
agenda is Wofford of the Southern Conference and Ivy foes Columbia and Princeton.
K3|
Women's soccer expects to have a successful season
"We'll be better this season," second year Head
Coach Julie Leonhardt says. "Last year was a big
transition for us with a new coaching staff. The
returning players have learned my philosophies
on the game, but we still have some learning to
do."
One of the top scorers from last year, junior
Jessica Glomb, returns to the midfield.
After successful ACL surgery, junior Natalie
Ciampa returns.
Top scorer Katy Chrnelich fell ill over the summer, but is expected to rejoin her teammates on
the pitch well before the season's conclusion.
Other forwards include junior Stephanie
Cesario, senior Kate Nickels, sophomore Jessica
Engel, and sophomore defender Michelle Kantor.
Along with Glomb, Lehigh will look to senior
captain Dani Collins to lead the way in midfield.
Midfielder Laura Hanrahan, a 1997 transfer
from the University of Connecticut, has been
dubbed the "playmaker" for the Mountain Hawks.
Also seeing some midfield time could be sophomore Heidi Schauer and freshman recruit Michi
Matter.
Senior Audrey Aloi, junior Caitlin Gibbons, and
Michelle Kantor all saw significant time during
the 1997 season and have all come back healthy
and ready to play. The Mountain Hawks will also
Junior Jessica Glomb is on the move.
Joe Ryan
benefit from the return of senior Trade Saucier.
Another option Lehigh will have in the back
is freshman Jen Karpovich, who gained a wealth
of experience after competing in the 1997 Youth
National Championship with her club team, the
NJ Strikers.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jami Bisetti and
newcomer Marissa Williams will battle for the
goalkeeper position.
Kelly Harkins
The 1997 field hockey
team ended its season
with a 5-12 record overall, 2-4 in the league.
Lehigh was led by sophomore Stephanie Henry
who finished the season
with five goals and one
assist for a total of 11
points. Henry will return
to the squad this year
and once again be an offensive threat.
Anchoring the defense will be Patriot
League First Team member Kelly Harkins. Lost
from the team was three
year
starting
goalie Carly
Lynch. Tory
Griffing and
Christine
Metz will be
looked upon
to fill the
shoes of
Lynch, who
will go
down as
one of
Lehigh's
best
netminders.
Kate Hopping, Anita Ketty
and Trisha Clark will look to fill
roles as offensive threats. The
trio combined for 18 of Lehigh's
40 points last season. Also on offense will be juniors Kristy
McHale and Stephanie Henry
who led the team in scoring. Both
were voted to the second team All-
Patriot League.
"Our leading scorers from last
season are all returning," Coach
Michelle Finegan said.
As for next season's goals,
Finegan said they will remain
the same.
"Our goal is always to do well
in the league," Finegan said. "We
prepare in the off season to accomplish this goal."
Sept. 1-Women's soccer vs.
Rider, 4pm
Volleyball vs. Fairfield, 7pm
Sept. 2-Men's soccer at
Temple, 7:30 pm
Sept.   4-5-VolleybaIl   at
Duquesne Invitational
Sept. 5-Men's and women's
cross country quad, 10:30
am men/11:15 am women
Field Hockey vs. LaSalle,
lpm
Women's soccer vs. Drexel,
lpm
Men's soccer vs. St. Peters,
3:30pm
Sept.6-Volleyball vs. Montana State, 6pm
South Mountaineer is produced by:
Office of Sports Communications
Lehigh    University,    641    Taylor
Street.Bethlehem, PA 18015
Executive Editor: Glenn Hofmann,
758-3174, gahl ©lehigh.edu
Editor, Designer:
LaTanyaDunn, 758-6631
Contributing Writer:
Frank Thompson,
758-3158, flt2@lehigh.edu