The Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's lacrosse team represents

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and university, universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse ...

. The Mountain Hawks play their home games at Frank Banko Field, which is part of a complex that also includes Lehigh's soccer and field hockey venues. Will Scudder is the program's current head coach since June 19, 2023.

Overview

Lehigh is a charter member of the USILA, one of about two dozen.

Early national titles

According to ''Lehigh's Epitome Yearbook'', lacrosse was introduced at Lehigh in 1884 and four years later, Lehigh entered the Inter-collegiate Lacrosse Association, mostly through the efforts of Arnold K. Reese, an 1889 graduate, who captained and trained the team throughout his college career. Lehigh played its first varsity lacrosse game on May 9, 1885 against Stevens Tech. According to the Lehigh Burr, Lehigh was a top team in the early years of inter-collegiate lacrosse. Lehigh was third in 1888, second in 1889, and was voted the National Champion in 1890. In what was billed as a "Championship Series" that season, Lehigh defeated Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Stevens Tech to win the title. Since starting lacrosse, the team has a record of 647-715-10 in 135 lacrosse seasons.

Recent history

Lehigh has made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament; their first was in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. They earned an automatic bid into the tournament by winning the Patriot League conference tournament over Bucknell, 13–9. Their first NCAA Tournament game ended in defeat, losing 10–9 against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, after being seeded number seven in the tournament. The Mountain Hawks made the tournament again in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, in which they lost to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. In 2021, the Hawks advanced to the Patriot League final by defeating Colgate 13–9 in the semi-finals. The conference championship game against Loyola, scheduled for May 9, 2021, was canceled after an outbreak of Covid-19 on the Loyola team. By virtue of the no-contest, Lehigh became the Patriot League's automatic qualifier for the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. The Hawks were defeated in the first round by

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

. Head coach Kevin Cassese, who had led the Mountain Hawks to each of their conference tournament championships and NCAA tournament appearances, left the program to become associate head coach at

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

on June 19, 2023. Associate head coach/defensive coordinator Will Scudder was promoted to succeed Cassese on the same day. The Mountain Hawks won the Patriot League tournament in Scudder's first year at the helm in 2024 despite low expectations entering the season.Stevens, Patrick. "NCAA Rewind: Lehigh Exceeds Expectations in Scudder's First Season at the Helm," ''USA Lacrosse Magazine'', Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
Retrieved July 3, 2024.

Season Results

The following is a list of Lehigh’s season results during the NCAA Division I era starting in 1971, as well as certain pre-NCAA era seasons: {, class="wikitable" , - align="center" † NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

References

External links