Lehigh University Athletics
Ninth consecutive winning season for Lehigh in 2004
12/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
The Mountain Hawks finished with a record of Lehigh began the season with a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory over Cornell in early September as sophomore John O’Reilly knocked in the game-winning goal in the 109th minute of the match before a packed house at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Mountain Hawks then won three of their next four games, all played within tournaments, including the Lehigh Nike Tournament, which was held in Lehigh then stumbled a bit during the middle of its season, losing two games, and tying another. The big heartbreaker came in a pivotal home match versus league foe American in early October when both teams struggled to score. With less than a minute remaining and the score tied at zero, a fluke own goal by the Mountain Hawks ensued and a 1-0 loss to the Eagles was the result. Following this midseason slump Koski decided to go with Sales for the majority of the season, while Bishop watched from the sidelines. Koski could not have been prouder of the way his senior captain handled the situation. “When Sam stepped aside for us, it was a great demonstration of leadership and character that I believe is essential to any successful program. He realized that he was struggling and had no problem in letting Charlie step in and have a chance.” With Sales in goal, the Mountain Hawks went unbeaten in their next four contests, including a dominating 3-0 effort over Bucknell on a cold, rainy night in mid-October which was huge for Lehigh’s playoff hopes. Following a loss to Colgate in On the night before Halloween the Mountain Hawks welcomed archrival With two goals in a three minute span and a stifling defensive effort, Lehigh downed Navy 2-0 in The Mountain Hawks entered the tourney as the number two seed and went up versus Bucknell in the opening round. Following 90 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods, the teams headed for a shootout where Sales took over. The freshman sensation sent back shot after shot in leading Lehigh to a 6-5 victory in the shootout and onto its second straight appearance in the championship, where the Mountain Hawks would get a shot at redemption versus American. Sales was once again brilliant in goal for Lehigh, sending back 12 shots, but the Eagles would come away victorious on this day, emerging in overtime 1-0. Despite the loss Lehigh had an outside shot at an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, but unfortunately was denied a third trip in five years by the selection committee. Following a successful run deep into the league tournament Lehigh received several accolades, as Williamson and junior Elliot Leonard were both First Team All-League selections, while junior Jim Stevens was a Second Team pick. Williamson was also named to the All-Region First Team and Leonard was selected as a Third Team choice. This marked the eighth consecutive season that Lehigh placed a player on the All-Region team and the sixth time in those eight years that at least two Mountain Hawks were selected. While discussing all of the individual honors for the 2004 Lehigh men’s soccer team, one cannot overlook the many contributions of the outstanding senior class of Brandon Smith, Bishop, Ben Gucciardi and Kyle Hartman. Koski has appreciated each of their efforts over the past four years and knows that each of them will be deeply missed. “These four young men had a challenge this year and they stepped up to that challenge. They all made contributions when they needed to and we will miss these seniors a great deal. They are all going to be irreplaceable.” Koski continues, “I can’t say enough about Ben and how much he has meant to this program. He is probably going to be our biggest loss in terms of heart and the way that he was able to stabilize our defense. All four of these young men have done a great job on and off of the field and have really left their mark on the Lehigh soccer program.” In terms of surprises in 2004, who was Koski pleased with? “I think Jimmy (Stevens) just had a phenomenal season for us. He was a (defensive) back for us last year and made the switch in the spring to forward. He really responded well as evidenced by his all-league selection.” Koski continues, “Elliot came back from a serious foot injury that caused him to miss basically the past two seasons and he responded with an all-league and all-region season so that was pleasing for us as well. And Willy (Adam Williamson) was exceptional all year long, growing stronger as the season wore on and has a chance to be even better next season.” Sales was perhaps the biggest surprise of all for Koski and his staff, but the first year player from As for the winter months and into the spring season, Koski is excited to get to work with the players returning and is looking forward to seeing what 2005’s edition has to offer. “During the winter, we’ll continue to work on developing our speed, strength and power and forge the new leadership, and then we’ll move into the spring where we will look to fill some of the holes we have left by graduation.” Koski continues, “Finding a defensive midfielder to replace Ben is going to be priority number one for us come springtime because that will be one of our biggest question marks heading into next season.” Koski will be looking to several rising sophomores for next season to make noise in the winter and spring workouts and then into the summer months. “Mike Hessemer was definitely the biggest surprise for us out of the freshmen. Here’s a kid that was not heavily recruited but worked his way into the starting lineup and did a really nice job for us. Patrick also did a very good job and Joe (Clemente) complimented him very well.” Koski concludes, “Nick Clemente was playing in full form as well and will be counted on next season, while JD Warner is a potential sleeper to make solid contributions. Robert Quinlan was out with an illness, but he will have a chance to make some noise in the coming months as well.”
