Bethlehem, PA – After winning both of its games last week, including the one to put it into the 2005 Patriot League Tournament, Lehigh was honored with a pair of award winners on Monday afternoon, as sophomore
Blake Best was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week, and freshman
Eric Spirko was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the third time this season.
The Mountain Hawks defeated Villanova on Tuesday evening 7-5, and then backed that up with a 9-7 victory over archrival
Lafayette on Saturday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
Spirko picked up his seventh and eighth wins for the Mountain Hawks last week and increased his season saves total to 123 in the two victories. Spirko has posted a save percentage of .547 and a goals against average of just 8.66, while starting all 13 games for the 9-4 Mountain Hawks. In Lehigh’s win over Villanova, Spirko sent back 12 shots, while scooping up eight ground balls and recording a save percentage of 71. Versus Lafayette, the New York native sent back six shots, and scooped up one ground ball, in leading Lehigh to its fourth straight victory.
Best scored two goals versus Villanova and picked up two ground balls, before adding two assists and one ground ball in the win over Lafayette. The sophomore leads the team in assists with 14 this season, and is third on the team in goals with 17 and points with 31.
Lehigh returns to action on Friday afternoon, when the Mountain Hawks make their first appearance ever in the Patriot League Tournament. The Brown and White will enter the tournament as the number four seed and will take on the top-seeded Navy Midshipmen at 2:00 in Annapolis, MD. The game will be broadcast live on lehighsports.com. Lehigh’s nine wins this season are the most ever under head coach Chris Wakely and the most by a Lehigh team since recording 11 in 1997.
