Up-and-coming Mountain Hawks show nation’s eighth biggest improvement in 2011
5/31/2011 3:29:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men's lacrosse team posted the nation's eighth biggest improvement in 2011, according to LaxPower's computer rankings which were recently released. The computer rankings take into account many of the factors used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, including strength of schedule, RPI, quality wins and more.
Teams were ordered by the change in power ranking from 2010 to 2011. The Mountain Hawks finished 12 spots higher than last year to account for the eighth-place ranking. Fellow Patriot League foe Colgate came in first at +19. For the complete list of computer ranking changes, please click here.
This past season saw a young Mountain Hawks' squad advance to its first Patriot League Tournament since 2006. Lehigh played an increasingly tough schedule in 2011 and wouldn't back away from the challenge. All nine of the team's losses came against opponents ranked at some point during the season. Seven of them came by a combined 17 goals, including three one-goal defeats. Two were against NCAA Tournament qualifiers Villanova (9-8) and Bucknell (12-11) while the other was an 8-7 overtime heartbreaker against in-state rival Penn State.
The 2011 campaign also saw Lehigh beat Patriot League rival Navy for the first time since 1913 along with defeating MAAC Finalist Detroit Mercy on the road. Another highlight came at the end of March when the Mountain Hawks won three-of-four contests, toppling Presbyterian (17-4) while winning a hard-fought road game at Holy Cross (11-5) and defeating America East Tournament qualifier Binghamton (13-7).
The Mountain Hawks graduate only six seniors and return the team's top four scorers - David DiMaria, Dante Fantoni, Cameron Lao-Gosney and Adam Johnston, who combined for 163 points. DiMaria and Fantoni finished the season as the 14th best scoring duo in the nation with a combined 99 points; DiMaria finished with 52 (22 goals, 30 assists) while Fantoni had 47 (33 goals, 14 assists).
In addition, Lehigh returns First Team All-Patriot League faceoff specialist Ryan Snyder, who won 61.6 percent of his draws (173-of-281) along with both Dan Carr and Griffin Farha, who started in goal in 2011. The Mountain Hawks do lose All-Patriot League defenseman Richard Bradley, but return a strong nucleus of its defense, led by rising sophomore Ty Souders, who scooped 29 groundballs in his freshman campaign. The defense looks to carry over the success of 2011 which saw it lower its goals against average by nearly a full goal (10.20 in 2010 down to 9.38 in 2011).
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