BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The 2018 Lehigh men's soccer season can be remembered for a variety of reasons, now that a year has passed between last season and the upcoming one. Whether 2018 was remembered for shutout victory after shutout victory, totaling a Patriot League-leading nine shutouts. Or whether it was remembered for tough resiliency on the road, where the Mountain Hawks finished with a 6-3-1 record away from the Ulrich Sports Complex. Or perhaps the season was remembered for a senior class that was so close to the ultimate goal, winning their second league title.
 
In 2019, there are a lot of things that have changed from last season to this season, but the goal of the team is not different.
 
Head coach Dean Koski and his coaching staff return a majority of last season's starting lineup while three members of last year's lineup (Mark Forrest, Matt Morana and Oscar Greene) have graduated.
 
This year's edition of the team also includes nine freshmen who are all looking to make an immediate impact on the roster.
 
No matter the experience of the current members of the team, one thing is clear: the Mountain Hawks must play together as one unit in order to be successful. The talent is definitely there for this bunch of Lehigh student athletes, but soccer games will be won on teamwork and dedication on getting better as a team.
 

Positional Breakdown
 
Goalkeepers
 
The 2019 campaign marks the final season of senior goalkeeper Will Smith's tenure in the Brown and White. The Devon, Pa. native has had about as good of a career with Lehigh as you could ask for.
 
Smith was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2018, leading the league with nine shutouts and a save percentage of 0.814. The entirety of the season saw Smith finish with career bests in games played (19), games started (19), minutes played (1,767:21), goals against average (0.81), saves (70), save percentage and shutouts.
 
The co-captain has the chance to once again be one of the most dominant goalkeepers in the Patriot League.
 
"I think being a captain, that is significant for Will and for the team," said head coach Dean Koski. "I think he has always been a leader at goalkeeper, that's a by-product of that position. But I also believe that Will is mature enough and experienced enough to understand that the captainship is secondary to his role as the starting goalkeeper and leading us on the field in terms of what he does.
 
"He's matured significantly as a student athlete over the last four years and I think he's one of the top keepers in the league, if not the best and we're lucky that he plays for the Brown and White."
 
Ian Marshall returns to Lehigh for his senior season and becomes the backup goalkeeper for the Mountain Hawks. He is followed by sophomore Noah Sutherland who is returning from injury and sophomore walk-on Andrew Fishman.
 
"Ian is a really capable backup option for us and would be a starter for many other programs," said Koski. "We're fortunate to have him.
 
"Will is going to get the bulk of the work this season for us, but I've been really pleased by what we've seen from all four keepers this preseason."
 

Defenders
 
The defense was a question mark heading into last season, with Morana on the mend and the backs still largely looking for an identity. However, the defense, led by Second Team All-Patriot League selection Zarin Tuten helped out Smith and guide the Mountain Hawks to a league-leading nine shutout victories.
 
This year, the defense may have the most depth out of any position on the roster, with offensive minded players such as sophomore Nick Jennings coming in and having moments to shine on the defensive side of the ball.
 
"I believe defense is the one area where we have the most amount of depth and experience," Koski said. "When I look at our board and see that close to half our team are defenders, it probably speaks volumes about what our priorities are, but we feel really good about our core group of central defenders that we think could carry us 90 minutes over the course 20 games, but we also want to make sure that we're using all of the backs that are available that could help us play the way we want to play.
 
"And candidly, I think there's potential for us to play, even substitute our backs in games because we have that kind of depth, so we don't need to rely upon all of our starting backs to play every minute of every game because I think when you get to November, they're tired so we're excited about our depth."
 
In addition to Tuten, junior Tyler Dressman returns after missing most of last season due to a knee injury. Sophomores Dawson Berger, Justin Scharf and Nick Jennings round out a pretty solid group of defenders.
 
"I think all the backs are going to be pushed every day and I couldn't tell you who our starting backs will be at the end of the season because there's been so much change and growth," said Koski. "Certainly Zarin will anchor our backs and we see Nick being another anchor of our backs but I think all the other three positions are up for debate.
 
"Tyler has played well this preseason, but so has Euan Forrest and some of the other freshmen. We have a solid group of backs that on any given day I would feel good seven or eight different guys playing."
 

Midfielders
 
The midfield is loaded with talent once again, especially on the attacking side, as many scoring threats return for the 2019 season. Preseason All-Patriot League selection Alex Greene leads this group, but names such as junior Trevor Koski and sophomore Michael Tahiru headline a group that will contribute as much as possible for the entirety of the campaign.
 
"We've been really pleased with all of our midfielders, so much so that we see subbing every one of them throughout the course of a game," said Koski. "So I think that Stevo Bednarsky and Trevor (Koski) have emerged right now as the guys who came in the most fit and the most ready to play.
 
"We have seen a lot of growth out of Ikem Mbalewe since last spring coming into this preseason. He's certainly shown the most growth and we're excited about what he can do. And Michael (Tahiru) is healthy and he has had a really good summer and a really good preseason for us. We also have Tommy Dokho, who is going to give us great depth and Patrick Adams and Bratislav Petkovic who is coming back from shoulder surgery. The depth that we have with just the upperclassmen is substantial and we've been really pleased with the freshmen who have come, particularly Natan Rosen has a chance to play a lot for us. We have a really good core of midfielders."
 
Speaking of the freshmen class including Rosen, Dominic Flowers, Spencer Koski and Bryce Meredith also have an opportunity to add to the midfield depth of the Mountain Hawks for the upcoming year.
 

Forwards
 
The front of the formation is going to look a lot different this season without Mark Forrest in the lineup, who graduated in May following four legendary seasons in the Brown and White. The two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year leaves behind a legacy of 41 career goals and 103 career points, second in both program and league history.
 
The emergence of sophomore Josh Luchini in 2018 gives the Mountain Hawks hope with the top scoring position this upcoming season. Luchini finished his rookie campaign with six goals and four assists, second on the team. He also finished with a Patriot League-leading four game-winning goals. Luchini finalized his strong first year with a selection on the All-Patriot League Third Team.
 
This year, Luchini returns for his sophomore season as Lehigh's top option.
 
"Josh is certainly going to be our starter at forward once again," Koski said. "I think Josh's maturity and positional discipline have really improved going from the end of last season into the spring and now into the preseason. As a freshman, you're just learning your way into a new system and a new league.
 
"He covered a lot of ground last year and was very fortunate to be able to play alongside of Mark. This year he's going to be the marquee forward and he's going to have attention to him as he should, but works so hard and he can really unbalance defenses that I think he's going to help us stretch other teams in a positive way and step up and score goals."
 
Valentine Perevalov returns for his sophomore season after appearing in just one game in 2018, but sees himself improved enough to make a run at a depth role on the team. Freshman Jack Sarkos has a real opportunity to compete after a very special four-year high school career.
 
"Both Val and Jack came in very fit for the preseason and have done well so both of them will be able to give Josh some breathers from time to time and I don't need him to play 90 minutes," Koski said. "Obviously we'd like him to play the bulk of the minutes, but if Jack and Val keep pushing, they're going to be able to get on the field and play.
 
"As long as they all keep pushing each other, I think we're going to get the most out of this group in a very positive way."
 

Season Outlook
Lehigh finished 2018 with a 9-8-2 overall record and clinched a first round bye into the Patriot League semifinals with a second overall seed.
 
The disappointment was there however, after falling to Colgate, 2-1 in the semifinal round and missed out on making the Patriot League Championship game.
 
This year, the Patriot League is chalk full of talented teams and exceptional goal scorers once again. A tough non-league schedule headlined by three teams out of the Big Ten, a couple Big East schools and some Ivy League teams as well will prepare the Mountain Hawks for the road to come and get have a chance at the program's third Patriot League title and first since 2015.
 
"I believe we have the makings of a really strong season ahead of us, as long as we stay true to what our goals are and stay connected as a team," said Koski. "As long as we have that same team-first mentality because we've had more players on this team than we've had in a long time. If we can do those things, it gives us a really good chance of finishing in the top four in the league and gives us a really good shot of advancing in the tournament.
 
"Because if we're playing more players, we should be fresher and healthier. If we have more quality depth then it's going to help us later on when we get into the tournament. We've set up our schedule in such a way that our non-league is going to challenge us in a good way and prepare us as we've tried to do for league play."

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