Entering 2016, the ingredients are in place for a successful season. Several talented players return from a 2015 team that showed strong flashes, including a dominant 7-0 season-opening win and the program's first win against Penn since 1992.
 
"I've said it a lot this preseason; there's a good cautious optimism about the entire group, from the players all the way to the coaching staff," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "I think that comes from the hunger of the returning players, the newness and excitement about the incoming players, and the new coaching staff with Lauren Calabrese and Madi Morgan back, along with Bill Moukoulis, who's been with the team for a while."
 
The Mountain Hawks are focusing on the process and becoming the best version of themselves. If that happens, the results will follow.
 
"Sometimes, we get too focused on the long-term goals," said Lambinus. "Our goal is to be the best team that we can be every single day. Do everything to the best of our ability."
 
The team has been developing a theme and everyone understands the team they look to become.
 
"I think our identity will be a fast, strong, aggressive team who plays good soccer," said Lambinus. "We're going to have a good aggressiveness all over the field, both defensively and offensively. The game's going to be played at a pretty fast pace. I think we're fit and athletic enough to do it.
 
"Everyone is bought into the way we want to play. They enjoy playing and they enjoy the time together."
 
The time together this preseason has allowed the coaching staff to learn more about the student-athletes, and how the roster is coming together.
 
Goalkeepers
The most inexperienced position on the team, Lehigh features three goalkeepers who have seen a total of 12:38 of collegiate action in sophomores Lidia Breen and Kylie Ginsberg, along with freshman Sam Miller.
 
Despite the lack of game experience, the talent is in place. Each is becoming more seasoned by the day.
 
"We don't have a lot of experience back there, but we have three kids who we all feel pretty confident in," said Lambinus. "Our two upperclassmen have put in a lot of good time. They both had pretty good springs and are working hard. Sam has come in and done really well. She has good composure and has shown extremely well in the preseason."
 
Breen saw action in last season's opener vs. Mount St. Mary's while she, and Ginsberg, both learned from starter Ani Nahapetian in 2015. Joining Breen and Ginsberg this season is Miller.
 
"We feel pretty confident that we have three players who can all play the position," said Lambinus. "It's a battle. We want to have a number one and we're hoping the other two will work hard, striving to be their best, but also supporting the player who ultimately gets chosen."
 
Defenders
The Mountain Hawks return a strong core of veterans at defense, led by seniors Laura Courtney and Madeline Walsh, juniors Laura Courtney and Amanda Stratton, and sophomore Ashley Maziarz.
 
"We have many players who have played a lot of minutes and I think we've done well defensively in previous years," said Lambinus. "We have some more experience back there and we feel pretty confident that we'll be a really good defensive team."
 
A strength within the team is flexibility across positions, and even within a position.
 
"We have a number of players who can play center back and a bunch of players who can play outside back and get forward," said Lambinus. "We're pretty athletic and pretty strong. We can do a lot of really good things back there. We're not 100 percent sure what those combinations are, but we know whatever they are, they're going to do them well."
 
Co-captains Courtney and Riporti lead the defensive charge. Courtney has played in 46 games over her first three seasons, with 43 starts. Last season, she finished second on the team with eight points behind three goals and two assists. Meanwhile, Riporti emerged as one of the team's top defenders last season, also contributing offensively with the game's first goal at Binghamton (which proved to be the game-winner).
 
"Alyssa has played a lot and has done well to solidify herself back there, but finding the right combination with her, both on the outside and in the center, is going to be key," said Lambinus. "There are other players who can contribute in the back as well."
 
Midfielders
Lehigh features several key returnees in the midfield, led by junior Adrian Vitello, a dynamic player who can change the game with her offense, and defense. Vitello has played in 30 games, with 26 starts, over her first two seasons, scoring two goals last season, both coming in big wins at Temple and vs. Loyola. She was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week following a shutout of Colgate.
 
"The midfield is one of our strengths right now," said Lambinus. "Whether we play with three, four or even five in that midfield, we have a lot of players who can be very versatile. Even Laura Courtney has played a lot of minutes in the midfield. Adrian has continued to improve and has shown really well; she's really fit and really strong."
 
Sophomore Clare Severe is another returnee who looks to see key minutes in the midfield. The Bethesda, Maryland native tallied five points as a freshman.
 
"Clare is a solid player," said Lambinus. "A couple of our freshmen have done well too. We feel the midfield is going to be a strength of our team."
 
Forwards
Another deep position is the forward position, which features returnees who combined for 37 points last season (15 goals, seven assists). Current sophomore Sabrina Mertz led the way with a team-leading 17 points (seven goals, three assists) in 2015.
 
"We have a bunch of players who have scored a lot of goals. We have Sabrina, Grace (Correll), Lexi (Chang), Tori (Pantaleo), Becca (Sherry) and Kalin (Ojert), who are all fighting for position. They're all really good players. It's a good, solid group. We're not looking for one or two players to score 10 goals each. We're hoping we get four, five or six players who can score six to eight.
 
"We're going to get goals out of our backs, we're going to get goals out of our midfield, so we need our forwards to match it. We want to be goal scoring by committee."
 
Last season, Chang tallied six points (two goals, two assists) while Correll had five (two goals, one assists). As a freshman, Correll was the team's leading scorer with 11 points behind four goals and three assists.
 
Outlook
No matter the position, a common theme for the Mountain Hawks is depth.
 
"We have a lot of really good players, but I think one through 24, we're about as deep as we've been in a long time," said Lambinus. "We're going to have a lot of good, hard decisions to make, but it's always about finding the best team to put out there. It's not always the best 11 players. It's the best 11 that work together at a certain time, because the best 11 at the beginning of the game might not be the best 11 that fits at the very end."
 
The coaching staff has a lot of options.  It's making the decisions tough, but it's a good problem to have.
 
"We have a lot of very talented players who have their unique, own skillset," said Lambinus. "It's up to the coaching staff to find where everybody fits best and put them in a system that best utilizes all those players."
 
Among those players is a strong freshman class that is acclimating well and putting itself in positions for potential playing time.
 
"It's always a tough transition and the heat (this preseason) has made it tougher, but they're starting to acclimate themselves and fit into spots," said Lambinus. "There's a lot of talent out there; it's making sure that we can fit them into our system. I expect a couple of them to be fighting for that top group, but also see all of them competing for playing time."
 
From the seniors down to the freshmen, Lambinus has been pleased with leadership he's seen from the entire roster.
 
"We have great leadership in our captains, Courtney and Riporti, but they're just the people who have been chosen as our voice," he said. "Our entire team has great leadership who all buys into the same thing. We're asking for leadership throughout, and we're getting it."
 
In the end, the focus is truly on taking things one day at a time.
 
"If we worry about what we can control, the known, then the outcomes are going to come," said Lambinus. "We don't even really talk about games we're preparing for at this point. We're just trying to become the best team that we can become, every single day, every single game, then the results will take care of themselves."

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