2009 men's lacrosse schedule announced
10/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh head men’s lacrosse coach Kevin Cassese has announced the Mountain Hawks 2009 schedule, which includes a daunting nine road games, matchups versus ten teams that won at least seven games a season ago and a quartet of opponents that qualified for their respective NCAA Tournament. Lehigh will play six games at the Ulrich Sports Complex, which will feature a brand new playing surface, TigerTurf, a state-of-the-art synthetic sport field.
The Mountain Hawks begin their season on Saturday, February 14 versus St. Joseph’s at the Ulrich Sports Complex. The following Saturday, Lehigh welcomes Ivy League foe Brown to town for a 1:00 start. The 2008 Ivy League Champion Bears finished the 2008 season with 11 wins, including a victory over perennial power Princeton.
On Saturday, February 28, Lehigh embarks on a three-game road trip, beginning with a match up versus the North Carolina Tar Heels at St. Paul’s School in Maryland. UNC won eight games a season ago and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. March 4 brings a trip to Stony Brook, while March 7 is the long trek to New Hampshire to take on Dartmouth. The game at Stony Brook will serve as a homecoming for Mountain Hawks assistant coach Brendan Callahan, who was an All-American goal keeper for the Seawolves during his undergrad days.
The Mountain Hawks return home on Tuesday, March 10 when they welcome Patriot League power Navy to the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Midshipmen’s arrival in Bethlehem always promises to draw one of the largest crowds of the season. Last season, Navy once again qualified for the NCAA Tournament and won ten games overall.
Lehigh then hits the road for another long trip, this one spanning four games, beginning on March 14 at Villanova. March 17 will take the Brown and White to West Point where Lehigh takes on Army. Last season the Mountain Hawks and Black Knights played a tough, physical game that went down to the wire with Army prevailing 4-3. It marked the third straight time in which the final margin was a single goal between Lehigh and Army.
The Mountain Hawks close out their road trip with meetings against St. John’s (March 21) and Delaware (March 24), before returning home to face Bryant on March 28. This will be a special game for Cassese and Mountain Hawks assistant coach Taylor Wray who played their collegiate lacrosse under the direction of Bryant’s current head coach Mike Pressler. Pressler, who led the Bulldogs to 14 wins and their second consecutive Northeast-10 Conference championship in 2008, mentored the two Lehigh coaches while all three were at Duke.
On April 4 Lehigh welcomes Patriot League rival Colgate to the Ulrich Sports Complex. The Raiders won the Patriot League Tournament Championship a season ago, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament as a result. This game has grown to be one of the more physical and intense games for the Mountain Hawks during the last several seasons and promises to be no different in 2009.
A pair of league matches on the road, at Bucknell (April 11) and at Holy Cross (April 14) round out Lehigh’s regular season road schedule, before the home finale on Saturday, April 18 against archrival Lafayette. Lehigh has won the last eight meetings versus the Leopards, including a 9-7 victory a year ago in Easton.
