Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh battles heat, humidity; preps for season
8/21/2009 4:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer
 |
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – With the season opener a week away, the Lehigh women’s soccer team has been hard at work preparing for the upcoming 2009 campaign. The Mountain Hawks reached the halfway point of preseason on Friday, and after battling intense heat and humidity throughout the week, the skies opened up during Friday’s afternoon training session. The team will train again Friday evening and the Mountain Hawks will play their second and final scrimmage on Saturday night. Through a week of camp, head coach Manny Oudin is encouraged with what he’s seen from his Lehigh side.
“Things are going pretty well,” explained Oudin, who is set to enter his eighth season. “One of our big areas of focus over the summer and moving into the preseason was our fitness levels. The team took care of that and came in very fit, which has allowed the coaching staff to focus on organization, plays and tactics, while not having to worry as much about the overall fitness level.”
“Preseason is going really well,” added senior co-captain Natalie Hojnacki. “The nice thing has been that everyone came into preseason fit. We had some of our best results with our fitness testing, so we’ve been able to focus more on soccer as opposed to worrying about getting fit."
The heat has been a major factor, with temperatures soaring into the 90’s during the afternoon with high humidity, but Oudin credits the players for coming into the preseason at a high fitness level, which has enabled them to deal with the summer heat and humidity.
Among those who have stood out through the first week of camp have been the seniors, including Hojnacki and fellow co-captain Hailey Coonrad.
“We’ve had some very good leadership out of our senior class,” Oudin noted. “Hailey (Coonrad) has been really sharp. Liz Carlos and (Natalie) Hojnacki have been good. Alex (Warren) is having a good camp, and so is Lauren Glazebrook, so it has been nice to see our seniors provide strong leadership at this point in the preseason.”
Lehigh played its first of two preseason scrimmages on Tuesday, just four days into camp, a 1-0 road loss at Seton Hall. The Mountain Hawks will host Delaware in a scrimmage Saturday night at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
“It was a quick turnaround,” said Hojnacki, of the scrimmage just four days into preseason. “We’ve broken down preseason into three phases, and that was essentially the first phase. It was great to get everyone out on the field and it was good for the freshmen to get a feel for the college level.”
“We had not been in camp very long,” added Oudin. “But it was a good way to get a quick evaluation of where we stood, and we’ve used those evaluations to help prepare us for our second scrimmage.”
The Mountain Hawks will open the regular season on Friday, August 28 at the Villanova Classic, where Lehigh will square off against Nebraska at 1 p.m.
Watch the Season Preview with Hailey Coonrad and Natalie Hojnacki
