Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh climbs in polls, is honored for recent play
10/16/2006 4:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer
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On Monday, the Mountain Hawks jumped ten spots to No. 17 in the College Soccer News national poll and debuted at No. 23 in the Soccer America poll. Also, four Mountain Hawks received Patriot League recognition on Monday as senior Joe Verdi was named the Defensive Player of the Week and seniors Jim Morahan and Tom Zubulake and sophomore Jim Taranto all received honorable mention honors.
Lehigh remains one of the nation’s top teams in the NCAA’s statistical standings, which only lists the top 30. After tying Patriot League foe Colgate for top shutout percentage last week, the Mountain Hawks claimed sole possession of the category this week with a 0.77 while also topping the goals against average list with a 0.3. Lehigh only trails No. 1 Southern Methodist in Win-Lost-Tied Percentage (0.885) and is third in save percentage with 0.907. To round out the statistical standings, the Mountain Hawks are No. 18 in the offense scoring category. Individually, Morahan is still among the nation’s goalkeeping leaders. Morahan is second in goals against average (0.306) and in save percentage (0.9), only trailing Colgate’s David Cappuccio.
For his second Defensive Player of the Week honor, Verdi was a key component to the defense against Adelphi and scored the game-winning goal against Bucknell. Against Adelphi, the Mountain Hawks had to protect their lead as they played man-down for most of the second half. Verdi recorded his third game-winning goal on Saturday night as his header sailed into the net in the 75th minute.
Morahan recorded four saves in the two shutouts. He has only allowed one goal at home all season, and only four for the year. With his flip throw-in, Zubulake assisted on the game-winning goal against Bucknell as his throw found Verdi in the box. Just a few minutes before, Zubulake almost had a goal of his own when his throw sailed to the net. Although, Bucknell’s Joey Kuterbach caught the ball, Kuterbach stepped into the goal, but kept the ball from crossing the goal line. Meanwhile,
Lehigh returns to action on Tuesday night when the Philadelphia University Rams visit the Ulrich Sports Complex. Game time is set for 7:00.
