The Lehigh men’s soccer team is feeling strong about their 5-3 record so far in the 2014 season.
This marks a huge improvement over last year’s 2-14-1 record. The 2-0 start definitely created some buzz, as the team played well against Manhattan College and Monmouth University. The Mountain Hawks successfully prevented Monmouth from shooting for the last 70 minutes of the game.
Lehigh suffered their first loss in a 3-0 game against Stony Brook University on Sept. 5. Lehigh outshot Stony Brook 16-11 but was missing the accuracy they needed to get one on the board. However, goalie Cieran Nugent had 3 saves, which is the highest number of saves in a game this season.
The next five games saw the Mountain Hawks alternate wins and losses. They bounced back with a victory against University of Rhode Island, before having their second season loss to Brown University, 2-1.
Lehigh’s 1-0 victory against Stetson University was an exciting game, as both teams fought to the very end. Just 30 seconds into overtime, Doyle Tuvesson scored the only goal of the game creating a 1-0 lead for the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh’s seventh game ended in a close 1-0 loss to Villanova University. The game remained scoreless for the first 90 minutes of the game. About eight minutes into overtime, Villanova scored on a penalty kick, giving them the 1-0 lead against Lehigh. Despite Lehigh’s efforts, the team remained scoreless and fell to the Wildcats. Luckily, the Hawks were able to bounce back at home against American University on Saturday, which brings them to their current 5-3 record.
The team attributes their victories to the hard work and passion that they put into each game. Senior Matt Shreiner spoke about the teams strengths through the beginning of the season.
“Our largest strength is our work rate,” Shreiner said. “Everyone on the team is committed to working hard on the field. This goes a long way throughout a game and has helped us win some close games this season. The team’s dedication has been apparent. Lehigh has fought until the very end in every game that they have played.”
Lehigh only improves as the team approaches the second half of the season. They are very confident going into the second half of the season because of the talent they have as a whole. Senior captain Ali Famili, who scored the first goal of the season, spoke about what we should expect in these later games.
“We haven’t played our best soccer yet, which is a good sign since we still won 4 out of our 7 games,” Famili said. “We have a lot of talent on this team, and I think we can go far with it once we start playing up to our potential.”
The team is hoping to keep up the good work and end the season on a successful note. Freshman John Marc Charpentier is playing his first season as a Mountain Hawk and has high hopes as well.
“We’ve been working extremely hard,” Charpentier said. “We want the PLC more than anything.”
Lehigh will take their 5-3 record into a crucial Patriot League game as they play against Bucknell University in Lewisberg on Oct. 4 before traveling to Easton to play against Lafayette College.
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