Having lost several key seniors from last year's roster, Lehigh women's soccer may look different when it begins its season at Saint Joseph's Sunday, but don't be mistaken.
 
The Mountain Hawks are equally as dangerous.
 
Lehigh is coming off two consecutive league tournament berths, putting itself squarely in the mix with the Patriot League's elite. In order to compete for a championship, the Mountain Hawks know they must be playing their best at the end of the season. One strength of the 2018 team, depth, could help the program do just that.
 
"We were good last year, but didn't end the season well," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "I thought we peaked a little bit early. Because we have depth, one of the challenges for the coaching staff is to make sure we utilize it throughout the course of the season. We want to stay fresh and not relay on one or two players.
 
"We need to make sure we're balanced, keeping the players motivated and happy," Lambinus continued. "We want to have the flexibility and freshness at the end of the season, so we can go into playing two games in three days in the Patriot League Tournament (or three games in six days) and be able to win. The team that's the freshest, hungriest and playing their best soccer at the end of the season always wins the league."
 
Goalkeepers
Two-time All-Patriot League honoree Sam Miller returns for her junior year in goal. In her first two seasons, she has posted the Nos. 2 and 3 goals against average marks in program history (0.58 as a sophomore and 0.64 as a freshman), to go with a stellar 87.2 save percentage.
 
"We're really happy with our goalkeeping position right now," said Lambinus. "Having Sam return is great; she comes in with great experience. But both Miranda Royds and Lidia Breen came back ready to play and right now, we would feel comfortable with all three. Our team has confidence in all three to make saves.
 
Royds doesn't have any collegiate experience, but has been strong this preseason. Breen played in one game last year, making a second-half save at UMBC.
 
Defenders
Lehigh's back line will look quite different than last year, having lost All-League honorees Alyssa Riporti and Amanda Stratton to graduation. However, the Mountain Hawks still return experienced players, who should give Lambinus and his coaching staff many options.
 
"We're fortunate to have Ashley Maziarz, Clare Severe and Ally Friedman back," he said. "Ashley and Clare have a few years under their belts and Ally played a good amount of minutes last year. We're going to count on those three to really be the core of the group."

 
In 2016, Severe and Maziarz both played primarily defense on a team which opened the season with a 758:34 shutout streak. Since then, Severe has developed into an offensive threat as well, finishing third on the team with eight points last season (two goals and team-leading four assists).
 
"Whether we play four or three in the back, we have six or seven players who we feel confident with," said Lambinus. "Mackenzie Anton played a lot of minutes last year as well, and Libby Andrews is a returning player who can do well. A couple freshmen have really shown they can do some good things, and Mary Casey has put herself in a position to play."
 
No matter who's out there, Lambinus is confident in the defense. It's just a matter of finding the best combinations.
 
"We feel like we have six or seven players who are starting level, but it's going to take us a little bit of time to figure out exactly what it looks like," said Lambinus. "In the past, we really haven't subbed our back line, but I just don't see that this year because we're going to ask a little bit more out of our outside players. We'll have to rotate a little more, and this is the year we feel comfortable doing that."
 
Midfielders
The midfield features an impressive mix of returning and new talent.
 
"As much as our defense has been the strength, this could be one of our best midfields we've had since I've been here," said Lambinus. "There are a lot of technical players, who have 'fight' to them. There are many different types of personalities. Like in our back line, we probably have seven kids who can get in the mix."
 
Junior Annika Jansa helps spearhead this group after posting a team-high 12 points last season (five goals, two assists). Four of those goals were game-winners. The three-time Patriot League Midfielder of the Week in 2017 scored what proved to be the game-winner against Penn, Villanova, St. John's and American.
 
Senior Sabrina Mertz, junior Kayla Arestivo and sophomore Lisa Kestelboym are other mainstays in the midfield. 

 

"These four have all have played a lot of minutes," said Lambinus. "They have really established themselves as starting-level players who are going to be the foundation, but a couple of our freshmen, Shannon Boyce and Abby Furtmann, have really shown well. We think we can do some pretty good things. Erin Keefe has shown an ability to play both in the back and midfield, so we have some adaptable players.
 
"What we like is they're all a little bit different," Lambinus continued. "There's diversity in the way they play. It will be up to the coaching staff to get the right combinations and rotations, so we can be strong over 90 minutes."
 
Forwards
Junior and preseason All-Patriot League honoree Maggie Wadsworth returns at forward, along with classmate Sidonie Warneckerwho missed all of last season due to injury, but enjoyed a great spring.
 
Wadsworth broke out for 11 points last season (five goals, one assist) to earn third team All-League recognition. Warnecker led the Mountain Hawks with three game-winning goals as a freshman, finishing the 2016 campaign with nine points (four goals, one assist).
 
"We have some people who have scored some goals," said Lambinus. "Erin Racano has also done really well and brings a different dimension of speed and aggressiveness. Two freshmen have really done well with Rebecca Van Siclen and Courtney Supp. It's another rotation group that's pretty strong. Chloe Tremblay can also mix in between midfield and forward."
 
Outlook
Defense will likely always be at the core of the Mountain Hawks' identity. It is a part of the game that's critical to winning games and championships.
 
"As a former center back as a player, I feel like defensive shape is the strength of my coaching," said Lambinus. "I feel like I have a good handle of how to make it difficult on teams to score. It is the building block of how we build our team. I believe we recruit the right types of players to fit the way we want to play. We play with a nice physicality and we're not afraid. Defense is the basis of what we do, not just our back line, but even our midfielders and forwards.
 
"We are a good defensive team, but we think we can turn defense into offense."
 
Offensively, the Mountain Hawks made an important step last season in its consistency, scoring in seven of its nine Patriot League games and finishing league play with 12 goals – third most in program history. Lehigh looks to take even another step in 2018.
 
"One of our goals it to score in every Patriot League game," said Lambinus. "We haven't done that in a while, but I believe we can. Bucknell is the two-time defending champs and they have scored in every game. As good as we can be defensively, we still have to score.
 
Lambinus expects offense from the forwards, but just like how playing defense is a total team effort, so is offense.
 
"I like the potential we have for a lot of different kids who can score, from our back line to our midfield and forwards," he said. "I believe our scoring will be nice and balanced. Our midfield should get a number of goals this year. I do think our forwards will do well creating some chances and once they extend the field, we hope to get goals from a bunch of different places."
 
The team is shaping up to have all the ingredients of a successful team, with the common denominator being depth. Most importantly, Lehigh's depth includes many different types of players, allowing the Mountain Hawks to be dangerous in a number of different ways.
 
"Our depth should allow us to change, maybe the way we're defending a certain player or the way we attack a certain team," said Lambinus. "Maybe we want a little bit more defensive grit in the midfield. Maybe we feel like we're not going to get stretched, so we can have a couple more artists in the middle of the field. It just gives us an adaptability more than anything. We should be able to play different formations and we should be able to attack in different ways.
 
"Nonleague play is more about finding the right combinations of people who work really well together and then utilizing those combinations," Lambinus continued. "We're going to learn something new about this team every game. So far, we've played two scrimmages and each time, we've had a couple players really show us something and we've seen some combinations that have really worked well together.
 
"We're pleased to have already seen progression, just within two scrimmages. If we can continue progressing to the end of the season, we'll be in a good place in late October."