BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Following the team’s most successful campaign in almost twenty years, the Lehigh women’s basketball program has announced its 2005-06 schedule. The Mountain Hawks will play a tough non-league schedule in preparation for Patriot League play, including a trip to take on a member of the Pac-10, games against five Ivy League opponents, and two tough match-ups against CAA teams.
“The goal of our scheduling is to prepare our players for what will be a highly competitive and contested Patriot League season,” said Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan, the 2004-05 Patriot League Coach of the Year. “I believe our schedule will both prepare and challenge our program for just that. We have the opportunity to compete against some of the top conferences in the country, and we have the opportunity to compete against some of the top teams in their respective conferences. This competition will demand the very best from us each and every night on the court.”
Lehigh will open the season at Penn on November 18. The Mountain Hawks will be looking to avenge last season’s 15-point Quakers win in Bethlehem. Two days later, Lehigh hits the Stabler Arena hardwood for the first time in the regular season, as the Mountain Hawks host Brown – another Ivy League team that downed the Brown and White a season ago.
Following a trip to Princeton on November 22, Lehigh will host Drexel at Stabler Arena on November 26. The Dragons won 19 games a season ago as a member of the highly competitive Colonial Athletic Association. Two days later, the Mountain Hawks will tangle with Monmouth, a 17-game winner last year, before hitting the road once again.
The Mountain Hawks head cross-country to begin the month of December, as Lehigh will compete in the Fiesta Bowl Women’s Basketball Classic at the University of Arizona on December 3-4. Lehigh will battle the host Wildcats on Saturday, before taking on either Conference USA member Tulane, or Chicago State on Sunday. The Wildcats, winners of 21 games in 2004-05, were an NCAA tournament at-large selection a year ago. Lehigh has never played Tulane or Chicago State.
“The opportunity to compete in the University of Arizona tournament will be a tremendous experience for our student-athletes, as they will have the chance to test themselves against one of the top teams in the Pac-10 and a nationally ranked program,” Troyan explains. “Tulane also presents the opportunity to play against one of the top teams in Conference USA.”
The Mountain Hawks then return east for a pair of tough games before final exams begin. Lehigh will visit Binghamton at the new Events Center in Vestal, N.Y. on December 8 before hosting always-tough Virginia Commonwealth on December 11.
After a brief respite for the holidays, the Mountain Hawks wrap up the calendar year by hosting the ninth annual Christmas City Classic inside Stabler. The 2005 tournament features Fairfield, Towson, and New Hampshire. The Mountain Hawks will host the Stags in the tournament’s opening round on December 29 in the first meeting between the two teams in ten years. On December 30, Lehigh will square off against either the Wildcats or the Tigers. Lehigh has never played UNH, and the Mountain Hawks haven’t met Towson since the 1989-90 season.
Lehigh concludes the non-league portion of its schedule with a pair of contests against Ivy League foes to begin 2006. The Mountain Hawks will visit Yale on January 2 and host Columbia on January 4 to wrap up out-of-conference play.
On Saturday, January 7, Lehigh begins its quest for a Patriot League crown as the Mountain Hawks head to Washington, D.C. to visit American. In all, Lehigh will take on each league foe twice during the regular season. The league has returned to single games mid-week and women’s-men’s doubleheaders on Saturdays.
League highlights include a visit from defending league champion Holy Cross to Stabler on January 28, as well as from in-state rivals Bucknell (January 18) and Lafayette in the home finale on February 18. The Mountain Hawks will visit Lafayette on January 21 and make the trek to Worcester, Mass. to visit the Crusaders in the regular season finale on February 25. Lehigh has won two of its last three at the Hart Recreation Center.
Once again, the top two teams in the regular season standings will get home-court advantage for the first two rounds of the Patriot League tournament, which gets underway on Thursday, March 2.
Additionally, at least ten Lehigh games are scheduled to be televised in 2005-06, the most in the program’s recent history. All games televised on Service Electric 2 Sports in the Lehigh Valley will also be streamed live on Lehigh’s web site through Yahoo! Sports. The Patriot League women’s basketball championship game, as well as one semifinal contest to be determined, will be shown on the Patriot League television package (available nationally on DirecTV). Audio for every Lehigh game can be heard live on WLVR-FM in the Lehigh Valley as well as on lehighsports.com.
Season and single game tickets will go on sale beginning October 11. Season ticket brochures will be sent to all fans on the basketball ticket mailing list. To be added to the list, please contact the Lehigh ticket office at (610) 758-4263 during normal business hours.
