Aug. 28, 2000

For third year Head Coach Tim Lenahan and the Lafayette men's soccer program, it will be tough to match the feats of the past two seasons. The Leopards are coming off a 1998 season when they went 16-5 and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament and a 1999 season in which they won a second Patriot League title and finished one penalty kick away from earning a second-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Graduation, however, has taken Lafayette from one of the most experienced teams in the Patriot League to one of the least. Seven of 11 starters are gone and 10 of 25 letterwinners will not return to the Metzgar Fields pitch.

The team's offense may be its biggest question mark. Gone are All-Patriot League performers Leidy Klotz and Jake Ross. The pair accounted for just over half of the team's offense in 1999. Ross led the team with nine goals and five assists, while Klotz contributed four goals and seven assists.

"In the past we've relied on one or two guys for the majority of our scoring," Lenahan said. "This season we need to have a balanced scoring attack with several players stepping up to score a few goals apiece."

Lenahan is looking to his underclassmen to add that scoring punch. Sophomore Ned Allis heads the list. He played sparingly as a freshman, but turned in a very strong showing in the Leopards' spring season, scoring five goals. Allis' classmate Brad Bertkau played in three games in 1999 and will challenge freshmen Jamie Mullarkey, Ralph Rapuano and Mario Lukin for time in the front.

Luke Pritchett is the only upperclassman who returns to the forward position. Pritchett played in 18 games as a junior, scoring one goal.

The Lafayette midfield will welcome back senior Matt Hoffman who sat out last season with an acl injury. Beyond him, the Leopards are a young group. Of the underlcassmen, sophomores Paulo Coelho and Ted McHugh will contribute the most. Coelho had a solid spring season and McHugh is coming off a 1999 campaign in which he started five games.

In Lenahan's two seasons as head coach, defense has been a focal point, and for a program that has held its opponents under a goal per game in those two seasons, that won't change.

The defense is by far the most experienced group. Senior Mike Gualtieri has started every game he has played in his career and is expected to anchor the unit. Joining him are three juniors Keith Evans, Mike Bressan and Mike Saioni who all spent considerable time in the starting lineup last season.

"We have a veteran group of defenders that we are going to rely heavily upon," Lenahan said.

Goaltending will again be one of the Leopards' strengths. Senior Craig Schroeder enjoyed another solid season on his way to consecutive All-Patriot League First-Team honors and a selection as the Patriot League Tournament MVP. Schroeder posted five shutouts in 1999 to go along with a .99 goals against average and a .806 saves percentage. Classmate Drew Stotler will be an able backup for Schroeder. Stotler played in four matches last season, starting two.

Lafayette has traditionally played one of the toughest schedules in the Patriot League and 2000 will be no exception. The Leopards will finish off a two-game series with perennial power Richmond, playing at Richmond on Oct. 9, part of a home-and-home series that brought the Spiders to Metzgar Fields in 1999.

Lafayette will battle three teams from the soccer-strong Ivy League that qualified three teams for the 1999 NCAA Tournament. On Sept. 8, the Leopards will travel to face Brown, a team which finished 13-5 in 1999 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Two days later, the Leopards will face Yale following a 12-5-1 campaign that also included a NCAA berth. Lafayette will travel to Penn on Oct. 4. Other non-conference games include Oneonta, Monmouth, Stony Brook, St. Francis (NY), Siena and Binghamton. The six-match Patriot League slate should also prove tough for Lafayette.

Lafayette is coming off a strong spring season in which it went 8-2-3, scoring 20 goals while allowing just three. Lafayette notched wins over the New Jersey Imperials (1-0) and battled to a 1-1 tie with the A League Hershey Wildcats who roughed up Syracuse 5-0. Both Lafayette losses come to professional opponents of the United Soccer League opponents.

Lafayette, which was picked third in the preseason poll, opens the season on Sept. 2, when the Leopards welcome Oneonta to Metzgar Fields.