Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh takes a chance to look back on 2005 season
5/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
“It was a great ’05 year for the program. We accomplished the bulk of our goals,” explains Wakely. “We wanted to finish over .500 and we did that, and we wanted to make it to the Patriot League playoffs, which we also did. I don’t think you can begin the evolution of the program until you do things like that, so we are happy with the season overall.”
Lehigh started the season off on the road versus number-25
The Mountain Hawks won five of their next six games, with the only loss coming to number-ten Army by a 10-7 count. One of the victories came over number-25 Penn behind the strength of six goals by senior captain Andrew Lucas in late March, which brought Lehigh to two crucial games versus top-15 opponents, Navy and Bucknell. Despite playing well in both games, the Mountain Hawks came up on the short end in both, which left the Brown and White in a position where it had to win each of its final league games to qualify for the league tournament, and that’s just what the Mountain Hawks did.
Lehigh downed Colgate 12-11 in overtime on the strength of game-tying and game-winning goals by Blake Best, and the next weekend, the Mountain Hawks defeated Holy Cross in
Behind senior captain Greg Morin’s three goals, and the 100th point of his career, Lehigh downed its archrival 9-7 and claimed the fourth and final spot in the Patriot League Tournament, where the Mountain Hawks would again meet Navy. Outside of a rough stretch in the beginning of each half, Lehigh played the Midshipmen tight throughout, but had to settle for a 10-6 loss. Despite the setback, the Mountain Hawks showed they are capable of playing with one of the best teams in the country and went down fighting.
The constant throughout the entire season for Lehigh was the leadership of its senior class, led by captains, Lucas, Morin, Mike Norelli and Jimmy Gabal. Mike McConnell, Tom Ellis and Pete Williamson were also in that senior class, and together, these seven young men left quite the impression on the lacrosse program at Lehigh.
“The leadership of our seniors, the intangibles, from on the field, to in the locker room, even on campus, was just incredible all year long. They wanted to go out on a positive note and they managed that mission very well,” explains Wakely. “These next couple of years is about taking strides comparable to the ones we took over these seniors four years. That means not only making it to the Patriot League playoffs, but advancing in the playoffs as well. And then even if you don’t win the whole thing and receive an automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament, you make sure you have the resume to receive an at-large berth.”
Wakely continues, “You look at our schedule and we were three to five goals away from beating the top three teams in our league. It sounds so simple, but closing that gap involves doing everything in the program from A-Z effectively well.”
As Lehigh heads home for the summer, what will Wakely expect from his Mountain Hawks? “Our hope is that the guys are motivated by being close this past season. When they’re working out, they’ll push themselves to get that extra set, or do the extra rep of agility work. That they take the time to make good personal development decisions. We hope the guys have the hunger to do all those things.”
Lehigh recently held its end of the season banquet on Monday, May 2 to reflect on the successful 2005 year, in a night that included reflections from the seniors, presentation of awards to three student-athletes, and remarks from Wakely. “We honored the seniors and told them how we respected their efforts and that we would do our best to take the program forward from here.”
“The parents put together a great function following the
Lucas captured the Athlete of the Year Award, which is presented to the team member who makes the most outstanding athletic contribution to the accomplishments of the team. Lucas scored the 100th goal of his career this past season and was a Second-Team All-Patriot League selection as well. The Junior Tom Weiss was awarded the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, which is presented to the student-athlete who in the eyes of his teammates exemplifies the ideal of the scholar-athlete. Weiss was among the Patriot League and national leaders in face-off win percentage and boasts a grade point average of 3.68 in mechanical engineering. Morin was honored as the Coaches Award winner, which is awarded to the individual who made significant contributions to the well-being of the team in terms of attitude, improvement or special leadership. Morin had career highs in goals with 27 and points with 35, and as previously mentioned recorded point number 100 of his career in the Mountain Hawks final regular season game.
