South Mountaineer Volume 42, Issue 15

              No South Mountaineer?
No problem!
Website:   www.lehigh.edu/sports
Hotline  :(610)758-LULU "
Volume 13, Issue 15
SoufliMTt/nfoJrasr
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
Tis the Season
South Mountaineer returns
Wednesday, January 12, 2000
December 14,1999
Snake-bitten in Big Apple
Lehigh lost a heartbr.eaker in
New York City on Saturday
evening, losing to Columbia 67-
65, on a pair of last second free
throws by Craig Austin with 3.8
seconds to go in the game. Austin had a break away lay-up in
which he slowed down to try and
run the clock down as low as he
could when Fido Willybiro
came from behind and fouled
Austin to send him to the line
for two. Austin hit both and
Lehigh was unable to get a shot
off before the buzzer.
Fido Willybiro led Lehigh
with 19 points and six rebounds.
Jared Hess was the only other
Mountain Hawk in double figures with 14 points. Sah Brown
scored nine points and two
blocks while Steve Aylsworth
scored eight points and dished
out seven assists. Lehigh shot
47% from the floor and out rebounded the Lions 28-26
in the losing effort.
Craig Austin led Columbia with 24 points including two three pointers. Ten of Austin's 24
came from the free throw
line as he missed only
one of his attempts. Joe
Case and Treg Duerksen
were the only other Lions in double digits with
15 points and 11 points
respectively.
The Mountain Hawks
will return to the Big
Apple on Monday
evening to take on Manhattan at 7:30.
Mountain Hawks Fall in
Final Second
The Lehigh women dropped an
emotional contest in the last second to host Maryland-Baltimore
County in the second round of
the Conference Challenge at
UMBC. UMBC's Jami Lange hit
a jumper and was fouled with
just :05 remaining in the game
to tie the game at 79. Lange then
sealed the win by sinking the
foul shot, and UMBC grabbed an
80-79 win.
Lehigh freshman forward
Anne Tierney scored a career-
high 29 points and hauled in 11
rebounds. Tierney has proved
impressive in all 10 games thus
far this season. Seniors
Maureen Trigo (16 points) and
Danielle Baldwin (12 points)
also reached double figures.
In the opening round, Lehigh
dropped a 75-61 decision to
Drexel University. The Dragons
were ahead at the half 41-21,
after shooting an amazing 62%
from the field, dropping four-of-
five from beyond the arc. The
Mountain Hawks came storming back, however, cutting the
Drexel lead in half in the early
stages of the second half.
Lehigh's comeback proved too
little, too late, as Drexel pulled
away late in the game to seal the
victory.
Top performers for Lehigh
were Anne Tierney (18 points
and nine rebounds), Sara
Hessel (13 points) and Danielle
Baldwin (12 points).
Lehigh returns to action at
the tough Tulane Tournament on
December 27. The Mountain
Hawks spar with West Virginia
on December 27 and Providence
on December 28.
Wrestling improves to 6-9
Photo by Chris Blake
Shawn Laughlin (left) sizes up his Pitt opponent, Matt Mueller, in action at Grace Hall on
Friday evening. Laughlin defeated Mueller, 6-4, at heavyweight.
The llth-ranked Mountain
Hawks improved to 6-0 on
the season with convincing victories over nationally-
ranked Pitt and Rider this past
weekend. Lehigh defeated 19th-
ranked Pitt 26-10, and dismantled 25th-ranked Rider 33-
6.
Dave Esposito, ranked
fourth, continued his reign of
terror on opponents by defeating Pitt's Justin Giovinco 18-6
at 149 lbs. The bout of the night
went to 174-pounder Mark
Dufresne in a battle with Pitt's
Nick Mengerick, currently
ranked 18th. Dufresne pulled
out the win with a takedown in
the second period and held on
for the 2-1 victory.
SUMMARY VS. PITT
125. Bruce Kelly (LU) def. James
Thornton (fft.)
133. Rob Loper (UP) def. Tristan
Boyd (14-3)
141. Matt Goldstein (LU) def.
Blaise Mucci (6-4)
149. Dave Esposito (LU) def. Justin Giovinco (18-6)
157.   Mike  Ziska  (UP)
Garrett Knutson (5-3)
def.
165. Travis Doto (LU) def. Carl
Fronhofer (4-3)
174. Mark Dufesne (LU) def.
Nick Mengerick (2-1)
184. Rob Rohn (LU) def. Fabian
Sciullo (19-7)
197. Dan Stine (UP) def. Samir
Mahmoud (6-2)
HWT. Shawn Laughlin (LU) def.
Matt Mueller (6-4)
Against Rider, Rob Rohn and
Dave Esposito remained perfect
on the season with easy victories. Rohn improved to 10-0 with
a win at 184 lbs while Esposito
was a 10-3 victor at 149 lbs.
Mark Dufresne improved his
record to 13-1 this season.
Lehigh will now break for final exams before participating
in the Midlands Tournament after Christmas.
SUMMARY VS. RIDER
125. Bruce Kelly (LU) dec. Jerry
Limongelli 11-3
133. Tristan Boyd (LU) dec. Joe
Pollard 17-5
141. Matt Goldstein (Lehigh)
dec. Cam Plocus 3-1
149. Dave Esposito (LU) dec.
Derrick Jenkins 10-3
157. Nick Harrington (RU) dec.
Garrett Knutson 3-0
165. Travis Doto (LU) pinned
R.J. Haynes (4:09)
174. Mark Dufresne (LU) dec.
Bob Pezzuto 15-4
184. Rob Rohn (LU) dec. Shawn
Scannell 7-2
197. Todd Palmisano (RU) dec.
Sahmir Mahmoud 1-0
285. Shawn Laughlin (LU) won
by forfeit
Danielle Lavoie was honored
as the Scholar-Athlete in
women's cross country
Athletes Lauded at Fall Sports Banquet
Lehigh student-athletes, coaches, athletic administrators, and
parents gathered Tuesday evening on the Mountaintop campus for
the annual Lehigh University Fall Sports Banquet. Eighteen student-athletes were awarded laurels for their outstanding play,
performance in the classroom, and leadership contributions.
Three awards were presented for each sport: "Athlete of the
Year" (for outstanding athletic contribution to the accomplishments
of the team); "Scholar-Athlete" award (given to the student-athlete who exemplifies the ideal of the scholar-athlete), and the
"Coaches Award" (for the individual who made significant contributions to the well-being of the team in terms of attitude, improvement, or special leadership.
Those receiving Athlete of the Year honors included: Caitlin
Gibbons (women's soccer), Kevin Jackson (men's soccer), Katie
Hopping (field hockey); Lucinda Hull (women's cross country);
Steve Gourley (men's cross country) and Veronica Ret (volleyball).
Scholar-Athlete recipients included: Jen Karpovich (women's
soccer), Nate Laver (men's soccer), Jodi Renner (field hockey),
Danielle Lavoie (women's cross country), Nate Harkins (men's
cross country) and Danielle Puceta (volleyball).
Those receiving Coaches Award accolades included: Meghan
Foley (women's soccer), Brady Ryan (men's soccer), Lesley Havens (field hockey), Colleen Glass (women's cross country), Steve
Gourley (men's cross country) and Marta Mielcarz (volleyball).
Photo by Christopher J. Christian
Healea is Patriot League's
Top Rookie
Lehigh freshman Rochelle
Healea (No. 11 above) was
tabbed by the Patriot League
coaches as the 1999 Patriot
League Rookie of the Year.
Healea and seniors Veronica
Ret and Marta Mielcarz were
also named to the All-Patriot
League second team.
Healea hit .271 in her rookie
season, with 93 kills, 22 service
aces and 39 total blocks. She
was the top player in Lehigh's
highly-touted recruiting class
and her return next season
should encourage future success
for the squad. Healea was honored as the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week on
three occasions.
Mielcarz, a former league
Player of the Year who sat out
last year with a knee injury, hit
.189 with a team-high 112 kills,
25 aces and 40 blocks. She
earned Offensive Player of the
Week kudos on two occasions.
Ret hit .244 with a team-high
103 blocks, placing her second
in the league in blocks per game
at 1.10. Lehigh finished the season at 14-12 and qualified for
the four-team Patriot League
Tournament for the tenth time
in ten seasons.
Koski, Jackson say "YES"
to NCAA
Lehigh head soccer coach Dean
Koski and senior captain Kevin
Jackson participated in this
year's Youth Education through
Sports (YES) Clinic at the Division I Men's Soccer Championship hosted by the University of
North Carolina, Charlotte.
Some of the nation's top collegiate coaches and student-
athlete's were in attendance
when the NCAA conducted the
free youth clinic on Saturday,
December 11. Approximately
500 participants were registered.
Each year, YES clinics, held
at selected NCAA championships, provide a free program to
nearly 10,000 youth ages 10 to
18 who engage in fun and challenging sports-skill, life-skill
and conditioning sessions conducted by top collegiate coaches.
The program provides youth
programming which focuses on
participant development and
the student-athlete mentoring
program.
"Being a guest at the YES
clinic will allow Kevin and myself to give back to the game of
soccer," said Koski. "Hundreds
of youth soccer players will have
the opportunity to be taught by
college players and coaches. We
are delighted to be a part of such
an outstanding program."