Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 11/13/19
From Press Release
Lehigh head men’s lacrosse coach Kevin Cassese announced the Mountain Hawks’ five captains for the upcoming season on Tuesday, featuring a fifth-year senior, three seniors and a junior. Andrew Pettit (Tower Hill-DE) is a three-time returning captain while Erik DiGirolamo (Parkland), Andrew Eichelberger, Ryan Klose and Teddy Leggett were named captains for the first time in their careers.
Pettit missed the entire 2019 campaign due to injury, but served as a team captain and was an integral team leader despite being sidelined. His leadership abilities, strength of character and team-first mentality led to him being named a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award.
As a junior, Pettit led the Mountain Hawks in both goals (46) and points (66), including 10 man-up goals (good for third in the nation). Pettit was named first team All-Patriot League after the season, and was added to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List mid-year. Pettit is a two-time All-Patriot League honoree after also garnering second-team laurels as a sophomore.
DiGirolamo has developed into an outstanding short stick defensive midfielder for the Mountain Hawks, transitioning to the position after playing his freshman year with a long stick.
His team-first mentality was evident in his willingness to switch positions and he has emerged as a critical component for the stingy Mountain Hawk defense. DiGirolamo played in all 17 games last year (and 46 entering his senior season). The local product out of Allentown recorded 11 groundballs and five caused turnovers in 2019 to up his career totals to 31 and nine, respectively. He also scored his third-career goal early in the year at No. 4 Cornell. He was part of a defense that finished sixth nationally in allowing just 9.47 goals per game.
Recently, DiGirolamo was announced as the recipient of the 2019 Scott Helgans ’80 Memorial Scholarship Award. Created in memory of Helgans, the award is presented to a returning team member who demonstrates a high level of lacrosse excellence, leadership and devotion to the sport. The recipient must also be of exceptional character and maintain a level of satisfactory academic achievement.
Eichelberger has made an extremely positive impact on the Lehigh Lacrosse program since his arrival to Bethlehem in the fall of 2016. He has been a consistent contributor throughout his career, playing in every game and starting over half of those games.
He emerged early on as a leader within his class, serving a member of the team’s leadership council since freshman year. Eichelberger is an All-League honoree from a season ago, being named to the second team. He finished sixth on the Mountain Hawks in points with 21, and fifth in goals with 18. Eichelberger recorded five multi-goal games and six multi-point games in 2019, highlighted by hat tricks in the season opener vs. NJIT and in a key Patriot League mid-season contest against Boston University.
Klose emerged as a key leader and the anchor of the second midfield unit as a junior in 2019, finishing seventh on the team with 13 goals while adding two assists for 15 points. Klose was second on the Mountain Hawks in extra-man goals (4), adding 15 groundballs and a caused turnover as well.
Klose tied his career high for goals with two in a thrilling Patriot League Semifinal victory against Boston University. One of the most respected members of the team, Klose has consistently been a leader within his class and has served as a member of the Team Leadership Council.
Leggett is already well accomplished as a Mountain Hawk, and as a junior, his career is only halfway over. Named second team All-Patriot League as a long-stick midfielder following both his freshman and sophomore seasons, Leggett’s career numbers are up to 140 groundballs and 43 caused turnovers.
Last season, he had 79 groundballs and 23 caused turnovers, both second on the team. Leggett recorded a groundball in all 16 games played, with multiple groundballs on 15 occasions. Leggett also added two goals and an assist for the second straight year. Leggett recently participated with the Canadian Men’s National Training Team in exhibition contests against Team USA and the University of Virginia.
