Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 11/29/13
From Press Release
The Lehigh men’s lacrosse team has been selected 21st in the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook (and 17th in the Coaches Poll) while garnering several other individual and team honors. The Mountain Hawks were predicted third in the Patriot League while senior Ty Souders (Emmaus) and junior Matt Poillon were named preseason All-Americans as well.
The Mountain Hawks lost a talented senior class, but features plenty of talented returnees and incoming freshmen. One of their strengths is at defense; led by Souders at close defense and Poillon in goal, the Mountain Hawks were picked as the third best defensive unit in the nation, only behind Maryland and Notre Dame.
Along with the two-time All-American in Souders, Lehigh returns junior long-stick midfielder Dylan O’Shaughnessy who had 19 ground balls and six caused turnovers a season ago. Sophomore Tripp Telesco was a two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week as a standout at close defense and long-stick midfield. He had 29 groundballs and 14 caused turnovers in his freshman campaign. Senior long pole and 2012 All-Patriot League honoree Lukas Mikelinich returns while senior Jimmy Cahill spearheads one of the nation’s best defensive midfield units. Cahill had 12 groundballs and seven caused turnovers last year.
Souders was named a Second Team All-American in the publication while Poillon was named the Third Team goalie behind Austin Kaut of Penn State and Niko Amato of Maryland. Souders had 35 groundballs and 19 caused turnovers in 2013, a year after he posted 31 and 15, respectively. Most importantly, the defense allowed just 7.94 goals per game.
Poillon finished last season 11-3 with a 7.92 GAA and 59.6 save percentage. He owns a stellar 25-6 record in his career, earning Patriot League Goalie of the Year and honorable mention All-America laurels in each of his first two seasons.
Cahill, Souders and Poillon were Preseason All-Patriot League in the publication as well.
Despite losing attackmen David DiMaria and Dante Fantoni to graduation, the Mountain Hawks return 52 combined goals and 24 assists between juniors Dan Taylor and Patrick Corbett alone. Taylor finished second on the team with 50 points (29 goals, 21 assists) a season ago while Corbett earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors with 26 points (23 goals, three assists) as the team’s leading scorer at midfield.
Lehigh’s games against Loyola (Mar. 1), at Princeton (Apr. 8) were also identified as 2014 Games to Watch by Inside Lacrosse.
The Mountain Hawks open the 2014 season on Feb. 1 at Furman before hosting Marquette on Feb. 8 and Villanova the following Saturday. Lehigh faces six teams ranked in the Face-Off Yearbook poll, by the coaches or both (complete polls below).
Face-Off Yearbook Rankings (Coaches Poll in parenthesis)
1. Duke (1)
2. Syracuse (3)
3. North Carolina (2)
4. Notre Dame (6)
5. Denver (4)
6. Maryland (5)
7. Ohio State (11)
8. Penn State (8)
9. Virginia (14)
10. Yale (7)
11. Penn (19)
12. Albany (15)
13. Princeton (10)
14. Johns Hopkins (9)
15. Bucknell (16)
16. St. John’s (20)
17. Cornell (13)
18. Villanova (18)
19. Loyola (12)
20. Towson (21)
21. LEHIGH (17)
22. Drexel (22)
23. Air Force (NR)
24. UMass (23)
25. Fairfield (NR)
Ranked by Coaches, not ranked in Face-Off Yearbook: No. 24 Hofstra, No. 25 Georgetown
Patriot League Preseason Coaches Poll (from Face-Off Yearbook)
1. Loyola
2. Bucknell
3. Lehigh
4. Army
5. Colgate
6. Navy
7. Holy Cross
8. Lafayette
9. Boston University
