Lehigh trio earns All-Region honors from Soccer Buzz

12/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The internet magazine Soccer Buzz announced its 2005 All-Region teams on Wednesday and a trio of Mountain Hawks were recognized as second team All-Mid-Atlantic performers. Junior midfielder Gina Lewandowski, sophomore defender Michaela Pawlewicz and freshman goalkeeper Julie Kafka all received All-Region accolades, while Kafka was also selected to the All-Mid-Atlantic freshman team. All three players won or shared a Patriot League postseason award for Lehigh, which had its finest season ever on the soccer field, winning a share of the league’s regular season championship with a 14-2-2 record.

Lewandowski garnered All-Region honors from Soccer Buzz for the second straight season. Lehigh’s leading scorer (six goals, 16 points) and the two-time reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year was a third team All-Mid Atlantic selection a year ago and a member of the All-Mid-Atlantic freshman team in 2003. This is Lewandowski’s second All-Region selection of 2005, as the junior tri-captain was named to the NSCAA’s All-Mid Atlantic second team two weeks ago.

The Patriot League’s Defensive Player of the Year, Pawlewicz earns her first All-Region recognition. The sophomore center-back anchored one of the nation’s stingiest back lines. Pawlewicz started every game in 2005, scoring a goal against Temple, but made her mark on the defensive side, where she helped the Mountain Hawks set a school record with 13 shutouts while often marking the opposition’s top scoring threat.

Kafka earned All-Region and All-Freshman honors as the beneficiary of Lehigh’s defensive prowess. The Baltimore native started all but one game in goal for the Brown and White, posting a 13-2-2 record with a miniscule 0.29 goals against average that ranked in the top five nationally. Kafka set a school record with 12 shutouts and went on to earn both Co-Rookie and Co-Goalkeeper of the Year honors from the Patriot League. Kafka served as the backbone of a Mountain Hawks defense that yielded the fewest goals in all of Division I women’s soccer.

Lehigh won a school record 14 games in 2005 and was ranked as high as seventh in the Mid-Atlantic region by Soccer Buzz. The Mountain Hawks will lose just two seniors from this year’s squad and will return this trio of All-Region performers who have been All-Patriot League selections a combined six times.

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