Smith wins major award; Lehigh preps for tourney

11/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh senior midfielder Christy Smith has been named the Patriot League’s Offensive Player of the Year, it was announced Thursday evening at the league’s pre-tournament banquet. Smith has been a key component to the Mountain Hawks success in 2007, leading the Patriot League in scoring during league games and scoring overtime game-winning goals in all three of Lehigh’s league wins.

 

“This is certainly a tremendous honor for Christy,” said Lehigh head coach Julie Mazer. “She’s a hard worker and she hard not just for herself, but for her teammates as well. We’ve always looked at individual accolades as a reflection of the teams’ success. It’s a huge accomplishment for the program and the team, and because of Christy’s talent and hard work she’s very deserving of this honor.”

 

Smith becomes the first Mountain Hawk to be named Offensive Player of the Year since Amy Earley was named Player of the Year in 1992.

 

On Wednesday Smith was named to the All-Patriot League first team, her third All-League honor in field hockey and her second appearance on the first team. Smith ranks third on the Mountain Hawks with eight goals and 21 points overall, but has saved her best for Patriot League games. In five league contests, Smith scored five goals and recorded a league-leading 13 points. All three of Lehigh’s Patriot League wins came in overtime, and Smith scored the game winning goal in all three contests.

 

The Downingtown, Pa. native equaled a career high with five points (two goals and an assist) in league wins over Holy Cross and Colgate. For her career, Smith has scored 22 goals and handed out eleven assists, for 55 points. She was a second team All-Mideast Region selection after last season, and recently became the first Lehigh player since 2001 to be selected for the NFHCA Senior All-Star Game.

 

The Mountain Hawks enter this weekend’s Patriot League tournament with an 8-9 overall record. Lehigh was picked sixth in the league’s preseason poll, but proved the preseason prognosticators wrong by posting a 3-2 league record and capturing the No. 2 seed in this weekend’s tournament, where the Mountain Hawks earned a semifinal rematch with a Lafayette team that defeated Lehigh 3-2 in Easton on October 6.

 

“The people in the league picked us to be the weakest team in the preseason, and we really used that as motivation,” said Mazer. “We said that if we couldn’t be the top seed, we wanted to get into the 2-3 game and we were able to do that. When the first Lafayette game was over, our seniors expressed a desire to play them again. We did not play well in the first game, but we are looking forward to the challenge of playing them again.”

 

Lehigh and Lafayette will meet in Friday’s second semifinal, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. from American’s William I Jacobs Recreational Complex in Washington, D.C. The host and top-seeded Eagles will meet No. 4 Colgate in the day’s first game. The semifinal winners will meet Saturday for the Patriot League championship at 1 p.m. All of Lehigh’s Patriot League tournament action will be broadcast online at Lehighsports.com with streaming audio provided by Yahoo! Sports.

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