South Mountaineer Volume 33, Issue 25

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Volume 33, Number 25
April 17, 1991
Bethlehem, Pa.
Men's lacrosse crushes Crusaders 14-7
The men's lacrosse team evened its record at 4-4
with a 14-7 drubbing of Holy Cross on the Crusader's
home field Saturday. The win moves the Engineers to
a perfect 2-0 in the Patriot League heading into
Tuesday night's showdown with Army at West Point
for first place in the Patriot League. The Army team
is ranked ninth in the nation.
The Lehigh defense held Holy Cross scoreless in the
first period as the Engineers rang up five unanswered
goals. Lehigh led 9-2 at the half, and each team scored
five goals in the second half for the 14-7 final.
Geoff Hebert (Fairport, N.Y.) took over the Lehigh
lead in points scored, as the junior midfielder scored
four goals and added two assists in Lehigh's domination of the Crusaders.
Last week's Patriot League Player of the Week,
Lehigh's Ben Ognibene (Ossining, N.Y.), scored two
goals, Pat Gilligan (Montclair, NJ.) added three.
Senior co-captain Marty Droney (Baltimore, Md.)
dished off three assists.
In the first half, Engineer co-captain and goalie John
Francis (Waterbury, Conn.) had nine saves and allowed just two goals. Teammate Peter Nyland (Arnold, Md.), a freshman, had nine saves of his own in
the second frame.
In action earlier in the week, Lehigh outdueled St.
John's 11-10 April 10 in a game that featured several
lead changes, a goal by Lehigh goalie Francis, and a
brawl that saw Lehigh's Scott Redington and Droney
thrown out. Lehigh won the game playing two down.
The score was tied seven-all after three quarters, but
Lehigh outscored the Redmen 4-3 in the fourth for the
narrow margin of victory.
Ognibene scored three goals and had one assist in
the win, Droney and redington each scored two before
their early exits. Hebert scored a goal and had one
assist.
St. John's took an incredible 29 shots on goal in the
second half and 48 for the game. Francis allowed just
10 of those into the net.
Defender John Padvrano takes on a St. John's player
photo by KEITH RAPPAPORT
Ognibene leads lacrosse team
By SCOTT D. MORSE
Sports Information Assistant
With a last name like "Ognibene," Lehigh fans are finding
it hard to forget who the leading
scorer on the Engineer lacrosse
team is. Fortunately it's Ben
Ognibene's skills and not his rare
name that the professional scouts
are remembering.
"I'd really like to
play in the Major In
door Lacrosse Association some
day," says the 6-3, 190-pound junior attack from Ossining, N.Y.
"Right now, I just want to help the
team as much as I can."
His recent scoring rampage has
made it hard for the scouts not to
notice.
Two weeks ago, Ognibene,
Lehigh's leading scorer last season
with 24 goals and 22 assists, led
the Engineers (4-4,2-0 in the Patriot
League) to a 17-12 victory at archrival Lafayette to end a four-game
losing skid. He scored three goals
and dished off three assists in the
game, good enough for Patriot
League Player of the Week honors.
After  being  pretty   silent
See OGNIBENE page 4
Wall gets an early start on
softball success
Lehigh freshman pitcher Meri Wall
photo by KEITH RAPPAPORT
By MARC GESUALDO
South Mountaineer Writer
Meri Wall says she had mixed emotions
when she took the mound for her first start as a
member of the Lehigh softball team.
On the one hand she was thrilled with the opportunity to be the team's number-one starter as
a freshman. But she admits she couldn't help
being equally nervous in that situation.
"I was a little nervous, especially about the
change in distance from the mound to home plate
in college," Wall said. "I was really happy to
come and get a position right away, though."
With the way Wall has pitched, head coach
Sue Troyan must be pretty happy herself. Head
ing into this past weekend's action, Wall had
compiled three victories and an earned run
average of 3.20.
Wall's first victory as an Engineer came
during the team's trip to Florida when Lehigh
defeated Union College, 2-1. The win ended a
20-game losing streak for the Engineers dating
back to last season as Wall came up with one of
her finest performances to date.
That victory was one of the few bright spots
in what has been a rough season so far. The team
is currently 3-17-1 and still in search of its first
See WALL page 4