Lehigh University Athletics
Season Preview: Lehigh Men's Soccer's New Outlook
8/22/2023 3:10:00 PM | Men's Soccer
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men's soccer team is just days away from kicking off the 2023 season.
The Mountain Hawks open up the season on Thursday against St. John's at the Ulrich Sports Complex at 7 p.m.
The Ingrassi Family men's soccer head coach Dean Koski is set to enter his 32nd season at the helm.
"I'm always excited about a new season because it's a new team as you welcome new first-years in," Koski said. "You have a new leadership structure, juniors are no longer juniors, they're seniors, and everybody gets a little bit older, so I think for me, preseason is always a lot of fun. It's exhausting, and there are long days, but one of the best parts of the job is building a team."
This year's Mountain Hawk squad is fairly young, with features 16 underclassmen and 11 upperclassmen. The group is led by seven seniors and is captained by senior defender Nolan Jetter.
"He's your ideal scholar-athlete, and has shown that," Koski said.
While the team may only have one captain, Koski said all the seniors tend to take on different leadership roles with their experiences.
"They don't need to wear the captain's armband," Koski said. "The rest of the seniors have the ability to lead in their own ways and in their own style, and we're going to give them the space to do that."
Having lost first team All-Patriot League honoree Jack Sarkos due to graduation, Lehigh will look elsewhere for its offensive production. Sarkos recorded 18 points and scored a team-high of eight goals last season.
Sophomore midfielder Jason Pynadath, who was third on the team in points last season (5), is the top returning scorer. Gennaro Mazzella is next with three points. Mazzella scored his first collegiate goal in the season finale against Colgate.
While it's important for Lehigh to look elsewhere on the offensive side of the ball, Koski said the main focus is on how the Mountain Hawks are going to defend as a team.
"We started to build that last spring and have implemented that defensive system this preseason, and we're trying to make them interpret it the right way," he said. "For us, it's all about our mentality and attitude towards defending, and trying to stay in games. We can't be averaging 2.5 goals per game against."
Despite losing a lot of key guys due to graduation, one position Lehigh didn't lose anyone anywhere is in net. All four goalkeepers have seen playing time for Lehigh.
Last season, sophomore Tommy Chyzowych played in eight games, making seven starts. He was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Oct. 17 after making a career-high of nine saves against Navy. Chyzowych finished with a 69.4 percent save percentage.
Ryan Gross also split time in net with Chyzowych. Gross appeared and started in nine games. Gross played 764 minutes and finished with a 73.5 percent save percentage.
Blake Koski didn't see any action last year, but in 2021, he had 12 games with 11 starts. Koski played 1,104 minutes and recorded three shutouts.
Jesse Ryan appeared in one game in 2020 and helped capture a win against Colgate.
While the backline may not have as much experience as the goalies do, most of the guys have had experience.
"In the back, not only do we have a good starting five, but we also have some depth in there particular, in the wing back position," Koski said.
The midfield is another place where Lehigh has a little more depth.
"In the middle of the park we have a little more experience there with Hassane Diakho, Noah Levy and Michael Laret, who are all really capable of playing in there, and moving more in the attacking role, and certainly has a lot of experience there," Koski said.
With the loss of their top two scorers, the forwards are the youngest unit. Athanasios Cosse is the lone senior forward. Koski said they'll look to some of the younger guys to make some contributions.
"When I look at it, we're looking at a pretty young team," Koski said.
While the team may be young, Koski said it will be a competitive team.
"We have an opportunity to not only compete in our non-league games, but we really have a chance to compete in the Patriot League and try to claw our way into the playoffs," Koski said. "We didn't have anybody nominated for all-league. We don't have any resumes coming out of that. Our only all-league player graduated. That's probably a fair assessment, but I think we have guys who have the potential to be all-league players, but this is the year where they have to step up and show that."
Following the home opener on Thursday, Lehigh will host Temple on Monday at 6 p.m. and then will hit the road for a four-game road trip.
"September will be a tough month for us," Koski said. "I think St.John's will be a really challenging home opener…We have to be really good defensively against them."
The Mountain Hawks open up the season on Thursday against St. John's at the Ulrich Sports Complex at 7 p.m.
The Ingrassi Family men's soccer head coach Dean Koski is set to enter his 32nd season at the helm.
"I'm always excited about a new season because it's a new team as you welcome new first-years in," Koski said. "You have a new leadership structure, juniors are no longer juniors, they're seniors, and everybody gets a little bit older, so I think for me, preseason is always a lot of fun. It's exhausting, and there are long days, but one of the best parts of the job is building a team."
This year's Mountain Hawk squad is fairly young, with features 16 underclassmen and 11 upperclassmen. The group is led by seven seniors and is captained by senior defender Nolan Jetter.
"He's your ideal scholar-athlete, and has shown that," Koski said.
While the team may only have one captain, Koski said all the seniors tend to take on different leadership roles with their experiences.
"They don't need to wear the captain's armband," Koski said. "The rest of the seniors have the ability to lead in their own ways and in their own style, and we're going to give them the space to do that."
Having lost first team All-Patriot League honoree Jack Sarkos due to graduation, Lehigh will look elsewhere for its offensive production. Sarkos recorded 18 points and scored a team-high of eight goals last season.
Sophomore midfielder Jason Pynadath, who was third on the team in points last season (5), is the top returning scorer. Gennaro Mazzella is next with three points. Mazzella scored his first collegiate goal in the season finale against Colgate.
While it's important for Lehigh to look elsewhere on the offensive side of the ball, Koski said the main focus is on how the Mountain Hawks are going to defend as a team.
"We started to build that last spring and have implemented that defensive system this preseason, and we're trying to make them interpret it the right way," he said. "For us, it's all about our mentality and attitude towards defending, and trying to stay in games. We can't be averaging 2.5 goals per game against."
Despite losing a lot of key guys due to graduation, one position Lehigh didn't lose anyone anywhere is in net. All four goalkeepers have seen playing time for Lehigh.
Last season, sophomore Tommy Chyzowych played in eight games, making seven starts. He was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Oct. 17 after making a career-high of nine saves against Navy. Chyzowych finished with a 69.4 percent save percentage.
Ryan Gross also split time in net with Chyzowych. Gross appeared and started in nine games. Gross played 764 minutes and finished with a 73.5 percent save percentage.
Blake Koski didn't see any action last year, but in 2021, he had 12 games with 11 starts. Koski played 1,104 minutes and recorded three shutouts.
Jesse Ryan appeared in one game in 2020 and helped capture a win against Colgate.
While the backline may not have as much experience as the goalies do, most of the guys have had experience.
"In the back, not only do we have a good starting five, but we also have some depth in there particular, in the wing back position," Koski said.
The midfield is another place where Lehigh has a little more depth.
"In the middle of the park we have a little more experience there with Hassane Diakho, Noah Levy and Michael Laret, who are all really capable of playing in there, and moving more in the attacking role, and certainly has a lot of experience there," Koski said.
With the loss of their top two scorers, the forwards are the youngest unit. Athanasios Cosse is the lone senior forward. Koski said they'll look to some of the younger guys to make some contributions.
"When I look at it, we're looking at a pretty young team," Koski said.
While the team may be young, Koski said it will be a competitive team.
"We have an opportunity to not only compete in our non-league games, but we really have a chance to compete in the Patriot League and try to claw our way into the playoffs," Koski said. "We didn't have anybody nominated for all-league. We don't have any resumes coming out of that. Our only all-league player graduated. That's probably a fair assessment, but I think we have guys who have the potential to be all-league players, but this is the year where they have to step up and show that."
Following the home opener on Thursday, Lehigh will host Temple on Monday at 6 p.m. and then will hit the road for a four-game road trip.
"September will be a tough month for us," Koski said. "I think St.John's will be a really challenging home opener…We have to be really good defensively against them."
Players Mentioned
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