2014 Schedule

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh head women's soccer coach Eric Lambinus announced the team's 2014 schedule on Thursday, highlighted by an impressive home slate against some of the region's best. The Mountain Hawks will have eight home games, including contests versus defending Patriot League Champion Boston University, league finalist Navy, Big East foe Villanova and Ivy League powers Princeton and Penn. The season opens at home on Sunday, Aug. 24 vs. Binghamton.
 
"The coaching staff if very excited about our 2014 schedule, especially our home slate," said Lambinus. "Nonleague home games against Binghamton, Villanova, Princeton and Penn are all high-quality and will help prepare us for our Patriot League schedule. In October alone, we have Boston University, Princeton, Army, Navy and Penn who are all teams that will be competing for NCAA bids. It will be very good college soccer and I hope the Lehigh Valley will come out to see Lehigh compete against some of the best teams in the region."
 
Following the season opener on Aug. 24 against the Bearcats, the Mountain Hawks play their next games on each of the next two Sundays. Lehigh travels to Mount. St. Mary's on Aug. 31 before returning home to host Villanova on Sept. 7.
 
The following weekend, the Mountain Hawks head to Saint Joseph's on Friday night (Sept. 12) for a 7 p.m. opening kickoff. Lehigh will then travel to Central Connecticut State on Sunday.
 
Patriot League play begins on Saturday (Sept. 20) as the Mountain Hawks host American at 3 p.m. Lehigh will then hit the road to face rivals Bucknell (Sept. 26) and Lafayette (Oct. 1). The Mountain Hawks return home to welcome Boston University on Saturday (Oct. 4) before hosting Princeton in a midweek tilt.
 
After facing the Tigers, Lehigh returns to league play for four straight games and five of the final six regular-season contests. The Mountain Hawks play at Loyola and host Army on consecutive Saturday nights (Oct. 11 and Oct. 18) before traveling to Navy on Wednesday (Oct. 22). Lehigh heads to Colgate three days later before wrapping up its home slate against Penn on Tuesday, Oct. 28. The Quakers were 12-1-4 last season including 5-1-1 in the Ivy League. A Nov. 1 road game at Holy Cross wraps up the regular season.
 
The Patriot League Quarterfinals are set for Tuesday, Nov. 4. The top two seeds receive byes while the #3 seed hosts #6 and #4 hosts #5. The four remaining teams play the semifinals and finals at the top overall seed the weekend of Nov. 7-9.
 
"We paid particular attention to the start of the season to make sure we give our team the best chance to compete at a high level in the Patriot League," said Lambinus. "We have two quality scrimmages against 2013 NCAA Tournament teams (St. John's and Stony Brook) and spread out our first five games to prepare ourselves for the challenge of the league games."
 
A young squad returns in 2014 as six of the team's top seven scorers were underclassmen, led by Danielle Salans who had a team-leading nine points behind four goals and an assist. The tandem of Ashley Blanks and Ani Nahapetian also return in goal after playing all but 90 minutes between the pipes. Together, the Mountain Hawks posted a strong 1.14 GAA and 83.2 save percentage last season.
 
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