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The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are the 14th Division I team in our 2018 schedule preview series and the fourth team from the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks made it to the Patriot League Quarterfinals for the third straight season, but lost to Boston University, 10-4.
Here’s the entire 2018 schedule:
Lehigh’s 2018 Schedule
| Date | Road Team | Home Team | Special Notes | Last Year's Meeting(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Road Team | Home Team | Special Notes | Last Year's Meeting(s) |
| 2/3 | NJIT | Lehigh | 15-5 W | |
| 2/10 | Lehigh | Mercer | First ever meeting; Mercer defensive coordinator Chad Surman used to be a Lehigh assistant | |
| 2/17 | Lehigh | North Carolina | 15-8 L | |
| 2/24 | Holy Cross | Lehigh | Patriot League | 14-8 L |
| 3/3 | Colgate | Lehigh | Patriot League | 11-5 W |
| 3/10 | Lehigh | Army West Point | Patriot League | 6-4 L |
| 3/14 | Rutgers | Lehigh | First meeting since 1990 (9-37-1 vs. Scarlet Knights) | |
| 3/17 | Lehigh | Lafayette | Patriot League | 15-7 W |
| 3/20 | Lehigh | Hofstra | First meeting since 1990 (0-4 vs. Pride) | |
| 3/24 | Navy | Lehigh | Patriot League | 14-9 L |
| 3/31 | Lehigh | Boston University | Patriot League | 10-6 W, 10-4 L |
| 4/7 | Loyola | Lehigh | Patriot League | 14-5 L |
| 4/14 | Cornell | Lehigh | 16-11 L | |
| 4/20 | Lehigh | Bucknell | Patriot League | 9-6 W |
There’s a few changes to the schedule. Out are Jacksonville, Stony Brook (which was never played last year due to a winter storm), and Princeton. In comes Mercer, Rutgers, and Hofstra, who might be able to give Lehigh a small boost in their strength of schedule.
Let’s check out some notable games on this schedule:
Best Non Conference Game: vs. Cornell
Lehigh’s nonconference slate has opponents on both extremes. NJIT and Mercer could be on the easier end of the spectrum, while UNC, Rutgers, and Hofstra have become strong Division I in the past couple of seasons. That’s where Cornell comes in. Lehigh can hang in with the Big Red, but will need to stop Jeff Teat on offense.
Best Conference Game: @ Boston University
BU was a ranked squad for the majority of last season, but lost a good amount of production from their inaugural class, including goaltender Christian Carson-Banister. Lehigh and BU have always played in competitive games since BU became a Division I program in 2014. That should continue.
Under The Radar Game: vs. Colgate
Colgate went from first to near the worst in a span of a season after winning the Patriot League in 2015. They missed out on the Patriot League Tournament again in 2017, but with younger players such as Sam Cleveland, Griffin Brown, and Nicky Petkevich, the Raiders look to return to the conference tournament, and maybe bounce Lehigh out of it.
Possible Upset: @ Hofstra
Hofstra’s 11-3 record was really good. But they didn’t have that many blowout games, similar to Syracuse. Six of their first seven wins came by one or two goals, before winning their next three games by three, four, and two goals respectively. They don’t have Josh Byrne, but they still have Brendan Kavanagh, Dylan Alderman, and one of the best goalies in the nation in Jack Concannon. It will definitely be a dogfight for Lehigh to pull out the win.