BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh welcomes the No. 19 Stony Brook Seawolves to town on Wednesday evening in a late season non-conference showdown between two teams looking to strengthen their NCAA Tournament resumes. The Mountain Hawks, who will be facing their sixth ranked opponent of the season, are coming off of an emotional 11-10 overtime loss to Colgate on Saturday afternoon in Hamilton, New York. Lehigh was able to come back from a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to force the extra session, but ultimately fell to the Raiders in the second straight one-goal affair played between the schools.
The Mountain Hawks (6-4 overall) are currently eighth in America in scoring defense, allowing just 6.8 scores per game, with sophomore goal keeper John Park checking in at number-six in goals against average (6.22). Other Mountain Hawks that are nationally ranked among statistical leaders are Stephen Marino (26th in points per game and 19th in assists per game), Jeff King (12th in ground balls per game), and Tom Weiss (24th in face-off win percentage).
Marino’s 17 goals and 15 assists this season are both third in the Patriot League, while Blake Best’s 16 goals (fifth) and nine assists (seventh) place him within the top-ten as well.
Stony Brook meanwhile is riding a three-game winning streak that landed the Seawolves in the top-20 poll for the first time all season on Monday. Stony Brook (5-4 overall) has defeated Vermont, No. 19 Denver and Albany in succession to move over .500 on the year and to 2-0 in league play. Jason Cappadoro is seventh in the country in assists per game (2.22) and 19th in points per game (3.33), while teammate Bo Tripodi is tenth in goals per game (2.33). Rhys Duch, who netted five goals in the team’s 13-11 victory over Albany on Saturday, was named the America East Player of the Week on Monday, and for the season, has scored nine goals and dished out four assists.
These two teams have not met since the 2004 season, when Lehigh dropped an 8-6 decision on Long Island. The last Mountain Hawks victory in the series came in 1997, also on Long Island, when the Mountain Hawks picked up a 13-12 win.
Wednesday’s game is scheduled to get underway at 7:05 from the Ulrich Sports Complex. All of the action will be broadcast locally on Service Electric 2 Sports, as well as Fox College Sports (FCS) Atlantic and lehighsports.com with streaming powered by Yahoo! Sports. Former Lehigh standout Scott Youmans ’95 will join Steve Lomangino in the booth. Fox College Sports is available nationally in over 52 million homes via digital cable. To get FCS in your area, call (877) 2 GET FCS.
Photos Copyright (2006), Walt Young.
