Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 12/16/13
From Press Release
Lehigh men’s lacrosse seniors Ty Souders (Emmaus) and Ryan Buttenbaum (Conestoga) have been named team captains for the upcoming season, as announced by head coach Kevin Cassese today. Souders is a two-time All-American at close defense while Buttenbaum returns as the team’s top faceoff specialist in 2014.
“I am very pleased with the overall leadership of this team,” said Cassese. “I feel as though our senior class has really stepped up as a group in an effort to foster a positive championship culture within our program. Ty and Ryan are very deserving of this honor and I am pleased that the team has selected them to represent our program as team captains.”
Selected as captain in mid-October following the fall lacrosse season, Souders is a preseason Second Team All-American in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook. The local product finished his junior season with 35 groundballs and 19 caused turnovers after posting 31 and 15 in 2012. Souders has led a stellar defense that allowed just 6.81 and 7.94 goals per game in each of the last two seasons. Both were in the top five nationally, and Inside Lacrosse ranked this year’s defensive unit #3 in the country.
Buttenbaum has seen significant time at the faceoff X over his first three seasons, winning 103-of-212 draws (48.6 percent) with 46 groundballs. He’s coming off his best season, winning 63-of-123 (50.4 percent) with 26 groundballs as a junior. Buttenbaum was named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team after winning 11-of-19 in the semifinals vs. Colgate then 7-of-13 in the title game against Bucknell. Buttenbaum was chosen as co-captain following Lehigh’s fall improvement season.
Souders and Buttenbaum will lead a Lehigh team coming off back-to-back Patriot League Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013. The Mountain Hawks were ranked preseason #21 in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Poll and #17 in the USILA Coaches Poll. Lehigh opens the 2014 season on Feb. 1 at Furman before hosting Marquette on Feb. 8 and #18 Villanova the following Saturday, Feb. 15. Lehigh faces six teams ranked in the top 25 of the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook poll, the USILA Coaches poll, or both.
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