BETHLEHEM, Pa. – With only two league games remaining, and five teams currently tied for first place in the Patriot League, Saturday night’s showdown versus Colgate promises to be full of excitement, intensity and action.
Lehigh, which is ranked sixth in the Mid-Atlantic Region, welcomes the Raiders to the Ulrich Sports Complex, where the Mountain Hawks are 25-8-8 at over the past four-plus seasons, including a perfect 5-0 this year.
Saturday is also Senior Night, as Lehigh (9-3-1, 3-2) will honor its senior class, and look to finish the home season undefeated for the first time in school history with a victory.
Lehigh is fresh off of a 1-0 shut out victory over a tough UMBC squad on Wednesday in Catonsville, Md., which ended the Terriers 28-match home unbeaten streak, dating back to 2002. Senior Jim Stevens scored the game-winner, his second game-winning score of the season, in the 18th minute, to lift Lehigh to its third road victory of the year. Stevens leads the Mountain Hawks and the Patriot League in both goals (9) and points (19). In the latest NCAA individual rankings, Stevens was also ranked 19th in America in goals per game at 0.73. Fellow senior Adam Williamson has added six goals and a team-leading five assists, while junior John O’Reilly leads the Brown and White in game-winning goals with three.
In goal for Lehigh, sophomore Charlie Sales is ranked 16th in the country in shots on goal save percentage at 0.837 and 18th in goals against average at 0.676. The Illinois native has recorded six shut outs this season, bringing his career total to ten, and leads the Patriot League in goals against average. Sales has never allowed more than one goal at a home game, and for his career has five shut outs at Ulrich.
The Raiders, who also own a 3-2 league record arrive in Bethlehem following a 3-1 loss at American on October 22. Colgate is ranked ninth in the New York regional poll and is just 1-3-3 on the road this year. Devin Deane leads Colgate with five goals and 12 points, while Eric Anton and Bryant Meckley have added four goals apiece. In goal, Doug Litvack has played 1,324 minutes, stopping 71 shots along the way, and posting a 1.02 goals against average.
With five teams currently tied for first in the league, every school is still alive for a berth in next month’s Patriot League Tournament, and no school can clinch a berth this weekend. Lehigh, along with American, Bucknell, Colgate, and Lafayette, all control their own destiny heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
Lehigh has not beaten Colgate since a 2-0 victory in 2002 in Hamilton, N.Y. The Raiders emerged victorious last season in New York, while the last time these two teams got together in Bethlehem, they ended in a 1-1 draw. Saturday’s match is scheduled to get underway at 7:00 from Ulrich. All of the action will be broadcast live on lehighsports.com with streaming audio and video provided by Yahoo! Sports.
