Lehigh University Athletics
Preseason camp underway for women's soccer
8/19/2010 7:21:00 PM | Women's Soccer
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh women's soccer team opened up preseason camp earlier this week with a new coach, but the same excitement that comes annually with the start of a new year. First-year head coach Eric Lambinus opened his first camp at Lehigh with the added benefit of 18 returning players from last year's 9-4-5 season.Lambinus credits his players for coming into camp at a high fitness level, allowing the Mountain Hawks to accomplish a lot in a relatively short period of time, as Lehigh opens its season a week from Friday.
"We're ready to go," explained Lambinus. "The girls are excited about playing. They're fit and strong and want to get out after it. We have a really strong core of players who are excited about the upcoming season. They're ready to go out and play game's right now, so I've had to bring them back a bit and get them focused on the work we need to do in the preseason.
Lambinus continued, "The players did a great job coming into preseason with the level of fitness that they did. They knew it was important to do so. The returning players had the spring season, but I'm still new to them and they're still somewhat new to me. They're commitment has been very strong though. They're committed to each other and to the program and individually they know they still have to work hard to earn playing time."
Among the 18 returning players for the Mountain Hawks are three key fifth-year seniors in Liz Carlos, Lauren Glazebrook and Natalie Hojnacki. In addition, Lehigh returns three senior starters in midfielders Lena Cannon and Glynn Fitzer and goalkeeper Lauren Mains, but there are some questions to be answered before the season opener.
"Probably the biggest battle we'll have is for the two center back spots," Lambinus said. "I'm interested to see how that turns out and to see who puts their stamp on that position. In the midfield and up front we're probably deeper than we've ever been, especially with the three fifth-year seniors, so that front six will be ultra competitive as well."
Because of the relatively short length of this year's preseason, Lehigh will have just one scrimmage before opening the regular season. That scrimmage will take place Monday night when the Mountain Hawks host Messiah, the defending Division III National Champions at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
"We'll use our scrimmage to find out who's capable of filling those central defense positions," explained Lambinus. "Our players will have a lot of opportunities to show what they can do against a very good team, one that won a national championship last year. They are capable of scoring a lot of goals so we'll have a good opportunity to see where we are defensively. On the attacking side of the field, the focus will be on creating chances and being opportunistic. Those are two important things for us."
Lehigh opens the regular season at Syracuse on Friday, August 27. The Mountain Hawks will then open their home schedule with a 1 p.m. match versus Quinnipiac on September 5.
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