Lehigh brings home PL hardware; preps for tournament
11/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
“For the coaches in the league to recognize some of our players is a great thing,” said Lehigh head coach Manny Oudin. “The players are all well deserving and have all made significant contributions to our success this season.”
For the third straight year, Oudin was recognized as the Patriot League’s Coach of the Year. Under his guidance Lehigh has improved steadily in each of his four years, culminating this year where he lead the Mountain Hawks to a 14-2-1 record, a 6-1 Patriot League mark and the number one seed in the upcoming Patriot League tournament.
“While he always credits his players for the turnaround of this program, coach has always been the key factor in our success,” said senior tri-captain Megan Edwards. “Coach has always known the potential of this program and all of its members and he has never expected anything less than our best. He is incredibly deserving of this honor because of his dedication to the team and the trust he holds in all of his players.”
The Mountain Hawks also won or shared all four player awards. Junior midfielder Gina Lewandowski was honored as the league’s Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season. Despite the fact her overall scoring numbers were down from her first two seasons, Lewandowski still led the Brown and White in scoring with five goals and four assists, for 14 points. Three of Lewandowski’s goals were game-winners. In addition to her two straight Offensive Player of the Year awards, she was the league’s Freshman of the Year in 2003.
Sophomore Michaela Pawlewicz was recognized as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. The center-back anchored a defensive unit that pitched 13 shutouts and allowed just four goals all season. Pawlewicz was named Most Valuable Player of the season opening BAE Systems Classic and was honored three times this season as the league’s Defensive Player of the Week.
The beneficiary of Lehigh’s stellar defensive play was freshman goalkeeper Julie Kafka, who was named the Co-Goalkeeper of the Year and the Co-Rookie of the Year. Kafka started all but one game for the Mountain Hawks in 2005 and went 13-2-1 with a school record 12 shutouts, which also ties the Patriot League single season mark. The
Lehigh’s six All-League selections are the most in the Patriot League. Lewandowski and Pawlewicz are joined on the first team by freshman forward Christin Johnson, who tied for the team lead with five goals this season. Four of Johnson’s goals came in Patriot League games and three of her tallies were game-winners.
On the second team, Kafka is joined by junior forward Daniela Molina and freshman defender Hailey Coonrad. Molina tied Lewandowski and Johnson with five goals and three game-winning goals this season, while Coonrad was a versatile performer on defense for one of the nation’s stingiest defensive teams.
On the heels of their stellar regular season, the Mountain Hawks qualified for the Patriot League Tournament for the second straight year and just the third time in school history. Last season, Lehigh advanced to the championship game before losing to host Colgate 2-0. With a 6-1-0 league record and a win against the Raiders in early October, Lehigh will host this year’s tournament at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
“Ultimately our goal is to have a good weekend,” noted Oudin. “I’m sure the players and I would put the awards aside for us to be successful in the tournament this weekend.”
“Last year we weren’t really expecting anything,” said Edwards. “Winning the regular season championship is a huge accomplishment. It’s a lot different from last year. Our expectations heading into the tournament are a lot higher.”
Lehigh will host fourth seeded Bucknell in Friday’s first semifinal. The Mountain Hawks defeated the Bison 1-0 in Lewisburg on October 11, powered by a Christin Johnson goal and four saves from Kafka. The Bison feature the formidable 1-2 combination of junior Jennifer Margolis (13 goals – 3 assists – 29 points) and sophomore Krista Lee Gentile (10-6-26). Bucknell leads the all-time series 9-5-1, but the Mountain Hawks have won the last two meetings.
“It definitely helps having played them (Bucknell) before,” added sophomore midfielder Shannon Lockwood. “It’s different this year because we expected to be here. We just have to go out this weekend and finish the job.”
Second seeded Colgate will take on No. 3 seed Army in the second semifinal at 7:30 Friday night.
The semifinal winners will meet in the championship game, with an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament on the line, Sunday at 1:00.
Lehigh’s semifinal game with Bucknell will get underway at 5:00 on Friday from the Ulrich Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast live online at lehighsports.com with streaming audio and video provided by Yahoo! Sports.
