This is the second edition of the spring sports rankings from The Brown and White sports section. This list is the editors’ ranking of the 11 varsity Lehigh spring sports based on record, strength of schedule and recent results. The last edition can be viewed here.
1. Women’s lacrosse (9-3, 4-1 Patriot)
The team has won seven of its last eight, including a great start in the Patriot League. Two of the team’s three losses have come against ranked teams, and it’s put up an impressive 6-2 road record. Senior Allison LaBeau is dominating as expected for the Mountain Hawks, racking up 55 points on 27 goals and 28 assists. She had a season-high five goals in Lehigh’s 15-8 win over Army on Saturday.
2. Softball (18-15, 8-1 Patriot)
After a rough non-conference performance, the team has dominated in Patriot League play, winning 11 of its last 12 games. Its one conference loss came against Lafayette, though, a 4-16 team so far this year. The loss to the Leopards is what’s holding the softball team back from being the top team in the rankings. Nicole Yozzo leads the Mountain Hawks in batting average thus far at .352, and she’s added 13 stolen bases.
3. Women’s tennis (7-6, 3-1 Patriot)
Like the softball team, the women’s tennis team’s non-conference schedule was rough at times, but it’s bounced back with three straight 7-0 victories against Patriot League opponents — Loyola University (Maryland), Colgate University and Bucknell University. The team faces Army on Wednesday.
4. Men’s track and field
Based on the latest USTFCCA regional rankings, Lehigh is 13th in the Mid-Atlantic region, below two other Patriot League teams in the region. Based on the rankings’ scoring system, Lehigh’s team total score of 182.1 puts it fifth in the league so far. A win against Lafayette on Saturday gave it a slight boost.
5. Women’s track and field
The women’s team also ranks at fifth best in the Patriot League based on team scores on USTFCCA rankings, but the team is 19th in the Mid-Atlantic region. It also has a team score of 118.35, and the lower score was the tiebreaker between the two track teams. The women’s team also beat Lafayette on Saturday.
6. Men’s lacrosse (5-5, 3-4 Patriot)
A lack of consistency has plagued the men’s lacrosse team all season. Despite a win last weekend against a then-ranked Boston University, it couldn’t put two wins together and was crushed by Loyola on Saturday, 14-5. With just one league game remaining against Bucknell on April 21, it’s a must-win game as Lehigh sits in sixth place in the Patriot League — only six teams make it to the Patriot League Tournament.
7. Men’s tennis (5-11, 3-2 Patriot)
The team’s Patriot League record is what saves it, or else it would be lower on the rankings. A 2-9 record against non-conference opponents put the Mountain Hawks in a tough spot going into league play, but the team has bounced back nicely, winning three straight decisive wins before falling to Army on Sunday, 4-1.
8. Men’s golf
In the team’s three events this spring, it’s been all over the place, but it’s highlighted by a first-place finish in the Wildcat Invitational that featured 19 teams. However, the team finished 14th of 17 in the Mission Inn Spring Spectacular and 11th of 19 in the Lafayette Invitational, so it will need to build consistency if it wants to move up.
9. Women’s golf
After finishing last of three teams in the FAU Winter Warm-Up to start the season, Lehigh bounced back with a third-place finish out of 10 teams in the Seminole State Spring Break. It struggled a bit in the Kingsmill Intercollegiate, finishing 13th of 22 teams, but came back with a second-place finish in the Navy Spring Invitational this weekend to send it into the Patriot League Championships on a high note.
10. Women’s rowing
The women’s rowing team has had limited competition so far, but a win in the River Cup against Lafayette and a win over Loyola on March 18 are the team’s highlights. At the same March 18 event, though, Lehigh struggled mightily against Temple, and Lehigh did even worse at the Murphy Cup, finishing in last or second-to-last in every varsity race.
11. Baseball (10-20, 2-6 Patriot)
The baseball team has mostly struggled, and when it’s won games, it was against weak competition. Lehigh is ranked 287th out of 299 teams in the NCAA RPI rankings, and seven of the team’s 10 wins were to teams lower than it in the RPI. The Mountain Hawks also lost Wednesday to New York Institute of Technology, the second-worst team in the nation based on the RPI.
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