The Lehigh women’s soccer took a significant step forward last season, finishing in third place and putting itself squarely among the top teams in the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks posted 11 total wins, most since their 2010 championship campaign, leading to their best finish in the league since that same season.

 

That was last year. This is now.

 

Lehigh returns much of its roster from last season, but the Mountain Hawks are solely focused on the year ahead – a new team with a new opportunity.

 

“We can’t compare ourselves to last year’s team because we’re different and the other teams in the league are different as well,” said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. “Our goal is to be better at the end of the season than we are right now. Honestly, it sounds cliché to say you want to get better every day, but that’s what we want to do.

 

“The thought process right now is to see what we can do going into Monmouth [on Friday]. Let’s see how well prepared we can be; put the best team on the field that day, then continue to get better.”

 

The Mountain Hawks have already gotten better during a preseason featuring strong competition at every position. Let’s take a closer look…

 

Goalkeeper

Sophomore Sam Miller leads the way among the returnees. An All-Patriot League honoree as a freshman, Miller began her career with 758:34 shutout minutes of soccer (a top 25 streak in NCAA history), helping the Mountain Hawks pitch eight straight shutouts to begin 2016. Miller finished her rookie campaign with a 0.64 goals against average (second in school history) and 0.859 save percentage. She was named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week three times, Rookie of the Week twice and NSCAA National Player of the Week once.

 

“We feel very fortunate to have Sam back in the goalkeeper position,” said Lambinus. “It’s one of our deepest positions right now. We have Sam, who’s a clear number one and then we have three goalies all pushing her. We feel pretty confident that even if something happens to Sam, we have capable players behind her - upperclassmen Kylie Ginsberg and Lidia Breen, and freshman Miranda Royds.”

 

Defense

Practically Lehigh’s entire back line that allowed just 12 goals in 18 games last season, returns, led by senior first team All-Patriot League honoree Alyssa Riporti. Riporti was a force in the middle defensively while also posting three points in 2016 behind a goal and assist.

 

“We feel we have a pretty good base and scheme of how we want to defend, how we want to pressure, our shape and things like that,” said Lambinus. “It’s all led by Alyssa who’s just a tremendous leader, both on and off the field. She’s everything a coach could ask for, especially on the defensive side.”

 

Plenty of other experienced veterans will man the back line, including senior Amanda Stratton, juniors Ashley Maziarz and Clare Severe, and sophomore Annika Jansa, who have all played significant minutes in their careers.

 

“We’re asking the group to be a little bit more offensive this year,” said Lambinus. “They are really solid defensively, but we’re going to ask them to lead the charge a little bit offensively as well - to be the base, the core and the pivot in how we build our attack.”

 

Several others are in the mix to see time at defense, including sophomore Mary Casey, who emerged last spring.

 

“Mary has really shown well and has done a lot of really good things,” said Lambinus. “We also have a couple freshmen who are going to be in the mix as well, are going to battle and give us depth. We feel the back line is a good base of our team.”

 

Midfield

Senior first team All-Patriot League honoree Adrian Vitello helps lead the charge at midfield, along with junior Sabrina Mertz, who tied for second on the Mountain Hawks with nine points last season and was Lehigh’s leading scorer in 2015. Mertz scored all three of her goals last season over the final four regular season games to help Lehigh clinch a home contest in the Patriot League Quarterfinals.

 

Meanwhile, Jansa has also seen considerable time in the midfield.

 

“We have a lot of really good players who can give us a lot of different dimensions,” said Lambinus. “They’re not the same players; they give us different types of attacks, different types of ways they play and things they add. It’s a good, diverse group in style of play and if we can find the right combination, I think they can be really dynamic.”

 

Like the back line, Lambinus is looking for the midfield to make significant contributions offensively as well.

 

“They understand the defensive part of things; that’s where we’ve been really solid, but I think they have more to give,” he said. “We’re going to need that group to add into the scoring. We are expecting about 10 goals out of our midfield. If we do that, I think we’re going to be in good shape.”

 

Forward

The sophomore class (Maggie Wadsworth, Kayla Arestivo and Sidonie Warnecker), along with senior Grace Correll, help lead a strong group of veterans at the forward positions. Last season, this group combined for 23 points with all scoring at least one goal.

 

Among the offensive’s highlight moments from 2016 was scoring three first-half goals against a Bucknell defense that had allowed six goals all season coming in (14 games). Lehigh also scored multiple goals in five straight games from Aug. 26 through Sept. 11.

 

“We have some really dynamic players who had really good spring seasons,” said Lambinus. “They can get into the attack and are again, different types of players. They’re good off the dribble, good shooting and good at defending. They give us a dynamic that could be special.”

 

Outlook

Lehigh’s veterans will have to lead the way in order for the team to reach its goals in 2017, but the freshmen are expected to play significant roles as well. So far, Lambinus has seen strong signs from the group.

 

“They’re definitely good soccer players who all have good IQs and they all fit into our culture really well,” he said. “Some of them are more ready to contribute right away and give us some depth, and some of them need a little bit of seasoning. Once they catch up, they all possess the qualities of a Lehigh women’s soccer player and I think over their four years, will contribute.”

 

Right now, Lehigh is focused on getting better every day and if that happens, the results will come.

 

“Our goal is to be playing our best soccer by the end of the year,” said Lambinus. “We know what we look like and we know what we have to improve. For us, it’s about playing our best soccer once we get into the Patriot League.”

 

As part of their focus on the process, the Mountain Hawks are doing certain things every day. Acting in certain ways will help put themselves in the best position to succeed.

 

“As a team, our players identified that they want to be toughest, they want to be the hardest working, they want to be cohesive and they want to be purposeful,” said Lambinus. “Those are four big words for us. Those aren’t just attributes that this team brings; they’re things that our best teams have brought over the course of our program’s history.

 

“Our players have to identify and have self-awareness of what those words means to them. Once they do that individually, they can build as a team. If they can get the best out of themselves, they’re going to be able to best contribute to our team. That’s all we’re looking to do every day, those four words. If we can do them really well, the results will come.”