While we'll try to have most stories to you early each morning, be sure to check back throughout the day as we add links at all hours when we find them.

We hope you enjoy the links to some of today's top stories below, and let us know via e-mail if there are any other stories you think we should feature.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

FOOTBALL: Villanova the perfect answer to the Patriot League football scheduling conundrum
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Carolyn Schlie Femovich would like to make Frank Tavani's job easier. No, the Patriot League commissioner doesn't have a game plan to beat Lehigh and she isn't recruiting 4-star defensive ends for Tavani's Lafayette Leopards. But she may be able to help when it comes to putting together a football slate.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

TRACK & FIELD: Lafayette College's Rachel Pena has an athletic skill set made for the hammer throw
The Express-Times/ By Bruce Buratti
Rachel Pena is putting the hammer down on the rest of the Patriot League. A junior at Lafayette College, Pena will be one of the marquee performers in the Patriot League Track and Field Championships to be held Friday and Saturday at Lehigh University's Goodman Campus. The defending league champion in the hammer throw, Pena is once again peaking for the postseason. Last spring, the Ridgefield Park (N.J.) graduate placed third in the college hammer at Penn Relays with a throw of 183 feet. That earned her the No. 1 seed in the field for the following week's Patriot League championships and Pena rode it to the title. Her winning throw carried out to 180-6. This season is following a familiar scenario. Pena took fifth last weekend at the Penn Relays, throwing a personal best 188-9. Pena's Penn Relays performance earned her the Patriot League's Female Field Athlete of the Week award.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Justin Adams showed off his skills all over the field
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
There seemed to be several Number 4s on the field Saturday during Lafayette College's Maroon and White spring football game at Fisher Stadium. There was the 4 running loose down the field to catch a 66-yard touchdown pass, the day's longest play. There was the 4 making defenders miss on short out routes and picking up crucial yards to keep drives alive. There was the 4 blocking like a lineman on outside running plays. And there was the 4 holding for kicks and running back punts. Lots of different tasks, but there was just one number four -- wide receiver Justin Adams.

FOOTBALL: Jon Gruden, the QBs and more from Coach T
MCall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The other day I mentioned a briefing between Lafayette offensive coordinator Mickey Fein and a bunch of guys who call themselves the Quarterback Club. It was kind of a reunion for some of them, particularly a group organizer Gary Uzelac referred to as "that Royal Flush from '78 to '82." The guys actually got more than they bargained for. Not only did they get insight from Fein; they also had a celebrity run-in with Jon Gruden, who was in Easton to watch his son, Deuce, a rising sophomore who is bidding for playing time at running back, compete in the Maroon and White game. Hal Hocking got a couple of photos on his smart phone and he emailed them to me today. I was hoping he would be able to do it immediately on Saturday so I could include them in that blog, but that didn't work out. No big deal. Here they are. You need to know that I covered Lafayette football from 1968 through 1977 -- the Harry Gamble and Neil Putnam days -- so I saw a couple of these guys during their heyday.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College shows off an explosive offense in Maroon and White spring football game
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Early on in Lafayette College's annual Maroon and White game came one of those moments that makes spring football such a half-full/half-empty affair for Leopard fans. On the second play of this morning's game, running back Ross Scheuerman went off tackle, darted through a hole and rolled 57 yards for a touchdown. "A little sneak preview of the fall," Scheuerman said. Lafayette certainly hopes it is just that on offense, but perhaps not so much on defense, which lost the scrimmage 40-33, with the defense scoring via stops, three-and-outs and turnovers in front of a pretty good crowd on a windy but sunny day at Fisher Stadium.

FOOTBALL: Offense makes big plays in Lafayette spring football game
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
When Lafayette offensive coordinator Mickey Fein met with a group of former Leopard quarterbacks prior to Saturday's Maroon and White football game, he took them through his 11-play script for the start of the intrasquad scrimmage. Less than an hour later, the Lafayette offense executed part of the plan perfectly and Ross Scheuerman raced 57 yards on the second play of the controlled event to score a touchdown that set the Maroon team on its way to a 40-33 victory in Fisher Stadium.

FOOTBALL: Who benefits from Leopards' spring FB 'game'?
MCall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The photograph above shows just a portion of the special crowd that gathered in the South grandstand of Fisher Stadium about an hour before the start of Lafayette's Maroon and White football game. More people were making their way from the Bourger Varsity Football House as I took the photo. Coach Frank Tavani had told me several days ago that about 150 prospective football recruits -- high school juniors who would undoubtedly love to be chosen to receive one of those $250,000 merit-based football scholarships Patriot League teams are now permitted to give -- and family members would be attending the final practice of the Leopards' spring camp. These are not official visits, mind you, but some of the players have been invited by Lafayette coaches and others have come strictly on their own to have a look at the place.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

FOOTBALL: Leopards trying to find more touches for 'underused' Greg Kessel
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Greg Kessel returned to college after winter break, stepped on the scale and saw some record high numbers - 2-4-8. No problem, he thought. Business as usual. While many people look for lower numbers from the scale in the early months of a new year, Kessel had no problem with hovering near the 250 mark. After all, some extra poundage, combined with the strict strength training regime in the Lafayette College weight room, might serve him well for his senior year as a Leopard fullback. Then, however, Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani and running backs coach Phil Hallahan approached the East Stroudsburg-South graduate with a new challenge. After playing in 31 of 33 games during his first three years at Lafayette as a fullback, he was asked to take part in an experiment as a tailback during spring camp. The Leopards already have a proven quantity at the position - rising junior Ross Scheuerman - but a desire to make the total offensive package more productive could mean opportunity for another running back.

FOOTBALL: Catching up with the Leopards at spring "halftime"
MCall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
When I sat down with Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani before the start of spring camp, we spent some time in the "war room," which includes a huge personnel chart. One of the things that caught my eye was the depth at the running back spot -- seven guys, led, of course, by Ross Scheuerman. I know that two of those seven are new recruits -- Kyle Mayfield of North Penn High and Adin Greenfield of Miller Place, N.Y. Still, that left five for the spring camp. So, imagine how surprised I was on Saturday to see only three guys suited up at TB -- Scheuerman, Greg Kessel, who may or may not be at that position in the fall (see my story in the print edition of The Morning Call) and Deuce Gruden.

Friday, April 5, 2013

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College set to host 11th annual Spring Golf Invitational
The Express-Times/ By Karl Gilbert
The 11th annual Lafayette Spring Invitational will be played this upcoming Sunday-Monday at Northampton Country Club. Hosted by the Lafayette College golf program, the tournament was previously held at the former Center Valley Club before moving to Northampton CC last year.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College linebacker Colton Kirkpatrick ready for some real live action
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Watching Lafayette College's football team bang heads during an intense and physical practice Tuesday afternoon -- especially so for a session with no pads -- the thought came to mind that these Leopards are prepared for some real action. Certainly junior linebacker Colton Kirkpatrick is. "It's good to see that aggression out there," he said. "That's how we get prepared for the season. The whole point of football is to be aggressive, and you're always trying to make plays, but you do have to hold back a little, even though that's hard. They are your own guys, after all." Lafayette's offense is fortunate that Kirkpatrick isn't going full speed against them. The 6-1, 225-pound Carlisle, Pa., resident emerged last fall as one of the Patriot League's most physical and aggressive defenders.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Catching Up With: Former Lafayette College basketball standout Jay Mottola
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Page 67 of Lafayette College's 2012-13 men's basketball media guide shows a picture of Jay Mottola shooting a foul shot in Madison Square Garden. The high-arching shot reached its apex at the top of the backboard when the photo was taken. When the ball came down, it settled cleanly through the net. At the top of the page the word "TRADITION" appears in bold letters. Why all the fuss over a simple foul shot? Well, simply put, it might have been the single biggest free throw in Lafayette's storied history. It broke a tie with three seconds left and gave the Leopards a victory over Virginia in the first round of the 1972 National Invitation Tournament. Mottola, a senior point guard in '72, was the spark plug on one of Lafayette's best teams ever.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

FOOTBALL: It didn't feel like spring at Fisher Stadium Thursday
MCall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Ross Scheuerman ran once to the right, then once to the left on the first two plays of Thursday's 80something-play Lafayette football intra-squad scrimmage in Fisher Stadium. He spent the rest of the day -- which felt very little like spring football weather -- as a spectator. That was expected, because there is no question about Scheuerman's importance to the Leopards' chances for success in the fall. But with the rising junior sitting out, the battle for No. 2 was played out with passion. Four running backs were shuffled in and out during the afternoon, and if you're wondering whether the players thought it was important for them to be seen, consider the fact that both Marcellus Irving and Greg Rabb left the scrimmage with what seemed like day-ending injuries. But, neither one was satisfied to call it a day, and both not only returned, but made some strong points for themselves later in the scrum.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Joey Ptasinski provides a big spark off the bench for Lafayette College men's basketball team
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Throughout the Patriot League season, Lafayette College men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon has said his team essentially has six starters. Sixth man Joey Ptasinski backed his coach's word in Wednesday night's league championship game against Bucknell. With the Leopards desperately in need of a spark, the sophomore guard scored 15 second-half points to turn a potential blowout into a tight contest. As fate would have it, Ptasinski's heroic efforts weren't enough as the Leopards ultimately dropped a 64-56 decision to the top-seeded Bison.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team focusing on strength, simplicity in spring practice
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Lafayette College's spring football season, which gets under way this afternoon at Fisher Stadium, will be very different in one way and not at all in another. For the first time, coach Frank Tavani will wrap the 15 practices allowed by the NCAA around the school's spring break -- five practices from today to March 21, then nine more from April 2 to April 19 before the spring game on April 20.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Bucknell University men's basketball team defeats Lafayette for 2013 Patriot League title
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Mike Muscala remembers the feeling he and his teammates had at the end of last season. The Bucknell University men's basketball team came up short of consecutive NCAA tournament bids, losing by five points to Lehigh on the Bison's home court in the Patriot League championship game. The Bison did everything in their power to return to the league final, and Wednesday's 64-56 win over Lafayette in front of 3,645 fans at Sojka Pavilion helped atone for any shortcomings from a year ago.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Johnson to be Lafayette's "biggest fan" from now on
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
LEWISBURG -- As Bucknell's players waited on the court at Sojka Pavilion for the chance to get their hands on their Patriot League trophy Wednesday night, Tony Johnson stood on the sideline in a long embrace with teammate Dan Trist. The Lafayette senior then made his way down the bench and hugged every teammate after his team's 64-56 loss to Bucknell in the Patriot League championship game. "I just realized my time here is done and I wanted to wish them all the best [because] whether you were No. 1 or No. 13 on our team, they mean more to me than the world," Johnson said. "I just wanted to make sure I thanked them. From here on out, I'll be their biggest fan."

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette has no answer for Muscala, Bucknell
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
LEWISBURG -- Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon knew it. So did everyone in a Leopards uniform. Doing something about it turned out to be another futile attempt to control Bucknell's Mike Muscala. The senior center scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including a left-handed hook that fueled the decisive run in Bucknell's 64-56 victory in Wednesday's Patriot League championship game at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell (28-5) won its second title in the last three years, fourth overall, and set a school and league record for wins in a season. The Bison find out their NCAA Tournament fate Sunday. Lafayette's season likely ends at 19-15, though its streak of futility in Sojka continues. The Leopards are 0-15 vs. the Bison in the building.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette football team springs forward
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
When you watch Lafayette College's 2012 football highlight film, you come away with one puzzling question: How did this team lose six games? The Leopards had four rushing plays of more than 50 yards, five pass plays of 40 yards or better, pass interception returns of 59, 42 and 37 yards. They picked off a single-season-record 22 passes -- by 11 different players. "That's an 8-3 football team that we let get away," Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said recently of the 2012 Leopards, who moved a step closer to that fine line between winning and losing seasons, but left Fisher Field last Nov. 17 with their fifth straight loss to their archrival, Lehigh, and a third straight sub-.500 season. That means that, for the first time since 2001, Tavani's second as the head coach, a Lafayette senior class is faced with the prospect of going through a four-year career without a winning season.

FOOTBALL: Are you ready for some Lafayette football?
MCall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Well, it may not seem much like September, but on Fisher Field, a bunch of incredible hulks will be running around with helmets on this afternoon as spring "camp" begins. Coach Frank Tavani and I had a long talk recently about camp and a bunch of other things. Here are some things to get you back into the football mode.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team prepping for Patriot League championship game against Bucknell
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Bucknell University's Sojka Pavilion has been a "House of Horrors" for the Lafayette College men's basketball team. How bad has it been? Well, the Leopards are 0-14 in Sojka since the 4,000-seat multi-purpose arena opened in 2003. Lafayette hopes to reverse the trend tonight when it travels to Lewisburg, Pa., to play Bucknell for the Patriot League championship. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised by the CBS Sports Network.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Bucknell, Lafayette Patriot League men's basketball fact box
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Who: Lafayette Leopards at Bucknell Bison. What: Patriot League men's basketball championship. When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Where: Sojka Pavillion, Lewisburg, 4,000.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette has grown into a championship-caliber team
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Bryce Scott received a welcomed surprise when he walked into the Kirby Sports Center last Saturday for a final shootaround before the Patriot League semifinal against Lehigh. His mother, Darcy, made the unexpected cross-country trip from El Dorado Hills, Calif., to see the freshman guard play. He responded with 12 points and stellar defense as the Leopards earned their third trip to the tournament final in the last four years. Scott's development this season, particularly defensively, has been a pleasant surprise for coach Fran O'Hanlon. Lafayette (19-14) is 11-3 since Scott was inserted into the starting lineup on Jan. 19 and takes a seven-game winning streak into today's championship game at Bucknell (27-5). Tipoff from Sojka Pavilion is at 7:30 p.m., with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette's Tony Johnson, Bucknell's Mike Muscala are Patriot League's best
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
A moment before the first drill of Monday's late-morning practice, Bucknell's Mike Muscala grabbed the other six players in the rotation for a quick lecture about the importance of focus leading up to today's Patriot League championship game. "I walked away, looked at one of my assistants and said, 'This is awesome,' " Bison coach Dave Paulsen said. "It took a while, but it is what is needed." Muscala is an underappreciated superstar and a reluctant vocal leader, but he has recognized the need for his guidance this season. Similarly, Lafayette guard Tony Johnson has finally received the message from coach Fran O'Hanlon and teammates that his shot is needed as much as his steady, calming influence. "Tony is a maestro at the point guard position," Paulsen said. "And he doesn't miss." There is little coincidence that Bucknell and Lafayette are the league's two best teams right now because they have the two best players -- by a wide margin. The two collide at 7:30 p.m. for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Bryce Scott is having a blast for the Lafayette College men's basketball team
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The unmistakable smile on Bryce Scott's face is a true reflection of his passion for life. The talented Lafayette College freshman is excelling on the basketball floor, and his vibrant expressions are a strong indicator that he's having a very good time doing it. "No matter what you ask him, everything is always `tremendous,'" Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "If you say `How's that sandwich?' `Tremendous.' He's so positive. If you asked him how his coach is, he'd probably say `tremendous.' He's certainly a joy to be around." The 6-foot-2 Scott, who can play either guard position, is gearing up for the biggest game of his career Wednesday night when the Leopards play Bucknell for the Patriot League championship at Sojka Pavillion in Lewisburg, Pa. Game time is 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on CBS Sports Network. A win over the top-seeded Bison (27-5) would catapult the No. 2 Leopards (19-14) into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000.

Monday, March 11, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: After a slow start, Lafayette College men's basketball team peaking at the right time
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
Just because you are shooting well, doesn't mean you are playing well. That was one of the messages coming from Lafayette College men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon and his staff as they watched a young squad stumble to a 1-6 start to the 2012-13 season. Defense, rebounding and protecting the basketball were all going to be critical components to the equation if the Leopards were going to right the ship. O'Hanlon knew he liked the makeup of this team, but admitted he had some doubts after watching them turn the ball over 27 times in a 60-55 loss at Monmouth.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team advances to Patriot League final with 82-69 victory over rival Lehigh
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team had come too far to see its season end against its biggest rival on its home court. Point guard Tony Johnson continued his late-season tear with 24 points this afternoon to lead the Leopards to an 82-69 victory over Lehigh in a Patriot League semifinal before a capacity crowd of 3,500 at Kirby Sports Center. The second-seeded Leopards (19-14), who've won seven straight, advance to Wednesday's league title game 7:30 p.m. at top-seeded Bucknell. The Bison defeated No. 4 Army 78-70 in Saturday's other semifinal. The winner receives an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette completes trifecta, beats Lehigh in Patriot League semifinal
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette freshman Bryce Scott took a look at the dwindling number on the shot clock late in the second half of Saturday's Patriot League semifinal. With a Lehigh defender draped on him, Scott chucked up a long jumper. It missed everything. But Leopards teammate Tony Johnson retrieved the ball as he dove out of bounds and tossed it back to Joey Ptasinski, who also had to heave up a heavily contested jumper because the shot clock was all but expired. No problem, because teammate Levi Giese fought to secure the rebound off the back iron and was fouled. Giese made both free throws, his only points of the game, but it was that kind of determination that had such an impact on the outcome. Johnson was stellar again with game highs of 24 points and eight rebounds, but it was a collective effort to win the battle of the boards and loose balls that propelled Lafayette to the championship game for the third time in the last four years with an 82-69 win at the Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette (19-14) swept the three-game season series from Lehigh for the first time in 13 years and advanced to play at Bucknell (27-5) in Wednesday's title contest at 7:30 p.m. Bucknell beat Army, 78-70, in Saturday's other semifinal.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tony Tony Tony does it again as Lafayette three-peats Lehigh
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
As the buzzer sounded signaling the Lafayette and Lehigh players back onto the floor following a timeout, Tony Johnson glanced at the Leopards fans and smiled. If you looked at the senior point guard just long enough, you could see him -- ever so slightly -- nod at the crowd. It was that composure and presence, things coach Fran O'Hanlon saw in him in high school, that kept the game from slipping away from Lafayette, which had its 16-point lead sliced to five in the final minutes of their 82-69 victory in Saturday's Patriot League Tournament semifinals at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette, Lehigh men's basketball teams square off in Patriot League tournament semifinal
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Levi Giese admitted he's been nervous this season. The Lafayette College senior forward and co-captain has had every right to be. Giese and classmate Tony Johnson were the only returning starters from last season's squad that faced the tough task of replacing a pair of graduated 1,000-point scorers in Ryan Willen and Jim Mower. "We knew we were playing some tough teams in the beginning of the season, but there were a lot of guys who had to learn their role after we lost three starters," Giese said. "It's a great feeling when you're playing in a semifinal and you started 1-6. We worked hard and we're glad we can see the benefits of that." The second-seeded Leopards (18-14) have grown by leaps and bounds this season and their current six-game win streak has the squad one win away from competing for the Patriot League championship. Standing in their way, though, is rival and third-seeded Lehigh (21-8) in today's semifinal that will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network. Tipoff is 2:06 p.m. from Kirby Sports Center.

Friday, March 8, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Home is where the heart is for Lafayette College men's basketball team
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
For the Lafayette College men's basketball team, Kirby Sports Center provides more than just the friendly confines of a home court. Most of the time, it means victory. The Leopards are 13-3 at home this season and an unbeaten 7-0 at home in the history of the Patriot League tournament. Second-seeded Lafayette (18-14) hosts rival and No. 3 Lehigh (21-8) at 2:06 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette-Lehigh Patriot League men's basketball semifinal closing in on a sellout
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
The Patriot League men's basketball semifinal between Lafayette and Lehigh scheduled for 2:06 p.m. on Saturday at Kirby Sports Center is closing in on a sellout, according to Lafayette athletics ticket manager Jason Cichowicz. "We have a few hundred remaining at this point (5:30 p.m. today)," Cichowicz wrote in an email. "We will have very limited (if any) available at the door depending on sales this evening." The ticket office inside Kirby Sports Center will re-open at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. Tickets can also be purchased online at goleopardstickets.com.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette trying for three-game sweep of Patriot League rival Lehigh
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette-Lehigh, Rounds 1 and 2, played out differently in different locations in 2013, but the results were the same. So, too, was the reason for the Leopards' victories in those games. "Defense and rebounding," Mountain Hawks senior Holden Greiner said. "That's the recipe for success against Lafayette." Lehigh is hoping to make something of that recipe in the third meeting this season when it visits Lafayette in today's Patriot League tournament semifinal at 2 p.m.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team trounces Holy Cross in Patriot League quarterfinal
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Fran O'Hanlon obviously doesn't have a short memory. When asked about his team's recent dominance over Holy Cross, the veteran Lafayette College men's basketball coach succinctly replied: "Years ago, they beat us all the time. It goes in cycles." The Leopards continued their firm grip over the Crusaders Wednesday night as sophomore guard Seth Hinrichs scored 20 points and senior point guard Tony Johnson added 19 to spearhead a 77-54 victory in a Patriot League quarterfinal at Kirby Sports Center. It was Lafayette's third win over Holy Cross (12-18) this season and the fourth straight season the Leopards (18-14) have knocked the Crusaders out of the league's postseason tournament.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette clicks at both ends of floor, routs Holy Cross
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Holy Cross' De'Vaughn Reid picked Lafayette's pocket near midcourt with nine minutes left in Wednesday's Patriot League quarterfinal. Reid appeared to have an easy path to a fast-break layup in a game in which Lafayette had put away much earlier in the half. But Seth Hinrichs, known for his shooting touch from 25 feet in, raced back and rejected Reid's layup. Lafayette teammate Tony Johnson saved the rebound and the Leopards raced the other way. Bryce Scott ended up with the ball a few feet from the basket, but opted instead to find the trailing Hinrichs. Fittingly, Hinrichs swished the 3-pointer. Lafayette's combination of effort and execution at both ends put away Holy Cross early, with the 77-54 final not indicative of how dominant the Leopards were. Hinrichs finished with 20 points and Johnson continued his torrid stretch with 19 as the Leopards won their sixth consecutive game and third in a row this season over the Crusaders. Lafayette (18-14) hosts Lehigh (21-8) in Saturday's semifinals. Lehigh rallied past Colgate 71-64 in another tournament quarterfinal.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team to play Holy Cross in Patriot League quarterfinal
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team has pretty much had its way with Holy Cross recently. The Leopards ended the Crusaders' season each of the past three years and already own two victories over Holy Cross this season. Lafayette hopes to continue its success against Holy Cross tonight when the Patriot League teams meet in a league tournament quarterfinal round game at Kirby Sports Center. Tip-off is at 7. Lafayette (17-14 overall, 10-4 league), the second seed, defeated the No. 7 Crusaders (12-17, 4-10) 63-53 on Jan. 23 in Easton. In the rematch in Worcester, Mass., the Leopards rallied from a 13-point second half deficit and prevailed 79-76 on Tony Johnson's pull-up 3-pointer from beyond the key with two seconds left.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette, Lehigh women's basketball teams prepare for 2013 Patriot League tournament
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
The 2013 Patriot League women's basketball tournament gets under way on Thursday at the sites of the four top seeds - Army, Navy, American and Holy Cross. This means that local entrants Lafayette and Lehigh will be taking to the road in pursuit of a spot in the March 16 final. Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons, who has been at the helm for all 23 Patriot League seasons, believes that the recipient of the autonomic bid in to the NCAA tournament could come from an unlikely source.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette's Tony Johnson not passing on many shots now
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Tony Johnson takes an outlet pass and pushes the ball up the court, weaving his way around defenders. He sees teammates Seth Hinrichs and Joey Ptasinski sprinting into position on each side of him. Instinctively, he gets the ball to the shooter with the hotter hand at that particular moment. "They are the two best shooters I've ever been around," Johnson says. When Johnson sees 6-foot-9 post player Dan Trist hustling in transition, there is little doubt that the Lafayette point guard is going to reward his mate with the ability to finish the break. Johnson is a pass-first point guard, among the best the Patriot League has ever seen. He has passed the ball, however, to a fault.

Monday, March 4, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College point guard Tony Johnson is closing out his career with a flourish
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The 2011-12 men's basketball season was rough on Tony Johnson. Back and foot injuries limited him to 12 games. Instead of sulking, the senior point guard from Folsom, Calif. proceeded to do the next best thing this season. He's cramming two years worth of production into one season. Or, maybe even one month. Simply put, Johnson has been the catalyst for Lafayette College's rise to the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Patriot League tournament. The Leopards (17-14 overall, 10-4 league) play seventh-seeded Holy Cross (12-17, 4-10) in a quarterfinal game 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: All-Patriot League men's basketball awards announced
Mcall.com Varsity Blog/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette senior point guard Tony Johnson and Lehigh forward Holden Greiner were named to the all-Patriot League first team Monday. Bucknell's Mike Muscala and Cameron Ayers along with Army's Ella Ellis were others on the first team, as voted on by the eight head coaches.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team defeats American to secure second seed for Patriot League tournament
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team is riding a wave of confidence into the postseason. The Leopards have already taken out Patriot League favorites Bucknell once and Lehigh twice. Longtime nemesis American University was up next for the Leopards in today's regular season finale at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette continued its torrid late-season surge as senior point guard Tony Johnson scored 22 points to spark an 80-72 victory over the Eagles before an announced crowd of 3,033.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette stays hot, beats American in Patriot League regular-season finale
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon has seen his team take significant steps forward throughout the four months of this season. American's Jeff Jones, frankly, has as many questions as answers right now. That was evident during Saturday afternoon's Patriot League regular-season finale at the Kirby Sports Center. Senior Tony Johnson continued his torrid play with a game-high 22 points, including six consecutive free throws late, and four other teammates reached double figures as Lafayette led for almost all of its 80-72 victory over American. Lafayette (17-14, 10-4) secured the No. 2 seed with the win and hosts No. 7 Holy Cross (12-17, 4-10) in Wednesday's quarterfinals at 7 p.m.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lehigh, Lafayette women hoping for Patriot League coronation
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette and Lehigh are forever married by location, residing a mere 17 miles from each other in the Lehigh Valley. Entering the final week of the Patriot League women's basketball season, the Leopards and Mountain Hawks are connected in the traditional sense of the centuries-long institution. They have combined to have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tony Johnson continues hot streak to lead Lafayette College men's basketball team past Lehigh
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
When you think of great NCAA basketball performances, Bill Walton's 44-point explosion in the 1973 NCAA final immediately comes to mind. Tony Johnson turned in his own highlight reel show on another big stage this afternoon. The senior point guard was 10-for-12 from the floor and tied his career high with 29 points as the Lafayette College men's team rallied for a 79-71 victory over Lehigh before a near-capacity crowd of 3,433 at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tony Johnson, Lafayette torch Lehigh with big, second-half run
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Tony Johnson walked into the Kirby Sports Center media room after Lafayette rallied from 10 points down in the second half to beat rival Lehigh on Sunday afternoon and couldn't help but let out a quick observation. "Wow" is all that he said as he scanned his surroundings. That summed the impression of every one of the 3,433 fans in attendance after the senior point guard dazzled the Mountain Hawks to the tune of 29 points on 10-of-12 shooting to go with four assists and two steals. It continued an incredible stretch in which he has hit a pair of game-winning shots and been a dominant offensive force in Lafayette's three-game winning streak, including Sunday's 79-71 thriller which vaulted the Leopards into second place in the Patriot League. "Never in my life," Johnson said of being in a rhythm like he's in right now. Johnson's point total equals his career high, but most importantly, it gave Lafayette (15-14, 8-4) the regular-season sweep of Lehigh (18-8, 8-4) and the tie-breaker edge for second place. Both are two games behind Bucknell with two games left.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Youthful Lafayette College men's basketball team constantly gaining confidence, experience
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
This is how the Lafayette College men's basketball roster reads -- Sr., Jr., So., So., Fr., So., Fr.,So., Jr., Sr., Fr., Fr., Fr. The Leopards are heavy with underclassmen and have only two seniors -- Tony Johnson and Levi Giese -- and the team's inexperience and youth certainly showed early this season. Lafayette started 1-6, 3-8 and 5-10, before entering Patriot League play at 7-10 overall. The Leopards have hit their stride at one of the most important parts of the season, winning for the sixth time in eight games after defeating rival Lehigh 79-71 before a season-high crowd of 3,433 this afternoon at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tony Johnson is lighting it up for Lafayette College men's basketball team
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Fran O'Hanlon knew all about Tony Johnson's reputation before he ever played a game for the Lafayette College men's basketball team. "Tony is such a clutch performer," said O'Hanlon, the longtime coach who directed the Leopards to Patriot League titles in 1999 and 2000. "He did it in high school and he's doing it now." Johnson, the Leopards' senior point guard, has been in the proverbial zone lately. The 6-foot point guard from Folsom, Calif., has hit the winning shot in the Leopards' last two games -- victories over Bucknell and Holy Cross. "Without a doubt, he's just a terrific point guard," O'Hanlon said. "He enjoys the moment of the big stage." Johnson returns to the big stage at noon today when Lafayette hosts Lehigh in a Patriot League showdown. The game will be televised nationally by the CBS Sports Network.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College, Lehigh University men's basketball teams set for Patriot League showdown
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Flash back to January 27. The Lafayette College men's basketball team shoots 70 percent (21-for-30) in the second half and shocks heavily favored Lehigh 78-57 at Stabler Arena. What could the Leopards possibly do for an encore? "We have to play the same, if not better, on defense," Lafayette senior forward Levi Giese said. "It's an important game for us, but it's important to them as well." The Leopards would like to prove the first meeting wasn't a fluke while the Mountain Hawks seek revenge today when the longtime rivals clash in a Patriot League showdown at Kirby Sports Center. Tipoff is noon.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team edges Holy Cross 79-76
The Express-Times/ By Jennifer Toland
Senior guard Tony Johnson had the ball in his hands late in Lafayette's game against Bucknell last Saturday, and Leopards coach Fran O'Hanlon decided that's exactly where he wanted it, so he didn't call a timeout. The strategy worked as Johnson buried the winning pull-up jump shot with 4.5 seconds remaining. Lafayette was in a similar situation tonight at Holy Cross - tie score, clock winding down, ball in Johnson's hands. "I was going to call timeout because I had (sophomore forward) Seth (Hinrichs) on the bench," O'Hanlon said, "but Tony had the ball and I thought there's no better person to have the ball in his hands. At the end of the day, it's either going to be overtime or us winning the game." Johnson sank a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left and the Leopards swept the regular-season series from Holy Cross with a 79-76 victory at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team upsets Bucknell 63-62
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Tony Johnson remained cool as a cucumber this afternoon. For a few fleeting moments, the Lafayette College senior guard simply flashed back to his childhood days on the playgrounds of Folsom, Calif. Johnson dribbled the length of the court and drained a pull-up jumper in the lane with 4.5 seconds remaining to lift the Leopards' men's basketball team to an exhilarating 63-62 Patriot League victory over Bucknell before a crowd of 3,244 at Kirby Sports Center. The dramatic win, coupled with Lehigh's 64-60 loss at Colgate, pulls the Leopards (13-14 overall, 6-4 league) to within two games of first place Bucknell (21-5, 8-2) and Lehigh (18-6, 8-2) in the league standings.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tony Johnson, Lafayette finish off first-place Bucknell
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Tony Johnson pointed out all of the little plays his teammates made in the second half of Saturday's game to help Lafayette come back from 11 points down against Bucknell. There were plenty. Seth Hinrichs and Joey Ptasinski hit key shots in combining for 34 points. Levi Giese's defensive effort on Bison center Mike Muscala in the second half slowed down the league's player of the year in waiting. On and on. But with the game's outcome hanging in the balance, Leopards coach Fran O'Hanlon kept things simple by putting the ball in Johnson's hands. The senior captain's transition drive and finish got Lafayette within a point with 50 seconds left, and then he hit the game-winning pull-up jumper with 4.5 seconds remaining to give Lafayette a 63-62 victory in front of a large crowd at the Kirby Sports Center. It also kept Lafayette (13-14 overall, 6-4 PL) alone in third place in the Patriot League, one game clear of Army, which beat Navy.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Bucknell surrenders 16-point lead, loses in OT
The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pa.)/ By Tom Hinkel
LEWISBURG -- In a season of ups-and-downs, blown leads and big comebacks, Saturday night's Patriot League contest at Sojka Pavilion with Lafayette might be the toughest game to recover from for the Bucknell women's basketball team. In a four-way battle for the final home first-round game in the upcoming Patriot League women's basketball tournament, the Bison built a 16-point halftime advantage against the Leopards. However, Lafayette rallied in the second half, getting a tough runner at the buzzer from Alicia Manning to send the game into overtime, and then scored five quick points to start overtime to seize control in a 66-61 Lafayette victory.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team drops 85-68 Patriot League decision to Army
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Everything seemed to be going right for the Lafayette College men's basketball team. The Leopards were coming off a 23-point road win at Navy and were returning to the friendly confines of Kirby Sports Center, where they've been virtually invincible lately. Sounds like a recipe for success, right? Think again. The Leopards fell victim to hot shooting Army tonight and subsequently dropped an 85-68 Patriot League decision before 1,071 stunned observers. Lafayette (12-14 overall, 5-4 league) had won four of five coming into the game and saw its eight-game home winning streak abruptly snapped. The game was eerily similar to the Leopards' 77-54 loss at Army on Jan. 16.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Defense no longer a mystery in Lafayette men's basketball
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Fran O'Hanlon wondered aloud from his cushy office chair as he watched tape of Lafayette freshman Bryce Scott when the guard was at El Dorado Hills (Calif.) High School. "Can this kid play defense?" O'Hanlon asked. The 18th-year Leopards coach had no idea at that point, but still recruited Scott. He did the same with fellow freshman Zach Rufer and current sophomores Seth Hinrichs and Joey Ptasinski. While many other mid-major college coaches watch clips of prospective recruits on their computers, all are in the dark when it comes to projecting star high school players to the next level -- especially on the defensive end. "That's the tough part about recruiting," O'Hanlon said. Most players recruited to play at the Division I level are offensive stars in high school. Scott, Rufer, Hinrichs and Ptasinski were no different. But O'Hanlon had the same concern about all of them. His question about them wasn't answered until recently, when Lafayette won four of five games to position itself alone in third place in the Patriot League at 5-3. Those players have been instrumental in the surge, including a three-game stretch in which the Leopards allowed the fewest combined points against Division I foes since 1965 -- when O'Hanlon was a stellar player at St. Thomas More High in Philadelphia.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College sophomore center Dan Trist out indefinitely with ankle sprain
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Lafayette College sophomore center Dan Trist is out indefinitely with a right ankle sprain, according to Assistant Sports Information Director Mark Mohrman, who confirmed the report after speaking with men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon. Trist injured his ankle with about 10 minutes remaining in Saturday's 70-47 win at Navy. The 6-foot-9 Trist, Lafayette's second leading scorer at 12.9 points per game, missed three games earlier this season with a left ankle sprain.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team crushes Navy
The Express-Times/ By David Driver
Joey Ptasinski is starting to get hot. And he was very economical with his shots tonight as he scored a game-high 15 points on just six shots from the field as Lafayette defeated Navy 70-47 in a Patriot League game in Annapolis, Md. "I have to work on that free throw. It is killing me," joked Ptasinski, who made 4 of 6 shots from the field and 3 of 4 from the foul line. He was 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Ptasinski came off the bench to score 10 of his points in the first half. It was the fourth win in five games for Lafayette, which got 13 points from Dan Trist and 12 points and 10 boards from Seth Hinrichs. Tony Johnson had eight points, five assists and just one turnover.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College women's basketball team takes league-leading Navy to wire in overtime loss
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
The Lafayette College women's basketball team came into today's Patriot League showdown with Navy winners of three straight and brimming with confidence. Despite coming up on the short end of a 60-52 overtime setback to the league leaders at Kirby Sports Center, the Leopards left with some confidence, too.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette nearly upsets first-place Navy
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
When Alicia Manning walked off the court alone after a live TV interview, she drew her own personal applause. Every single clap the senior Lafayette guard received was deserved. Making her first start of the year on senior day, Manning pumped in a season-high 10 points in 23 minutes. She came into Saturday's game against Navy having averaged just 1.3 points per game in 5.1 minutes per contest. "The energy was great," she said. "The girls I was with on the floor were positive. We played our hearts out. I couldn't ask for more." Except for one thing. "I just wish we got that win," Manning said. Long scoring droughts in the first and second halves plus 13 turnovers in the last 25 minutes hurt the Leopards in their 60-52 overtime loss to first-place Navy at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette (10-13, 3-5 Patriot League), which had won three consecutive conference games, went 4:54 without scoring in the first half and then 6:07 in the second half, giving Navy (14-9, 7-1) the chance to make up for getting no points from their bench and for having shot just 23.1 percent in the opening stanza.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Red-hot Lafayette College women's basketball team looks to continue winning ways
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
Heading into the final week of winter break last month, the Lafayette College women's basketball team was 0-3 in the Patriot League with a long road trip to Holy Cross staring it in the face. None of the Leopards was having much fun and the vision of finishing in the top four in the league seemed like a pipe dream. Coach Dianne Nolan decided to try some new things -- starting with a lineup change. A visit from an old friend and applying some statistical analysis also have played a role in the Leopards running off three consecutive wins to end the first half with a respectable 3-4 league mark.

Friday, February 8, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team set for second half of Patriot League play
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
There are no stones left unturned by the midpoint of the Patriot League men's basketball season. Each team has played one another once and essentially knows the ins-and-outs of every opponent. "It's the second half of the year and it's about making adjustments," Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "They've seen us, we've seen them, and it's about who makes the better adjustments." Lafayette College opens the second half of league play Saturday with a trip to Annapolis, Md., for a 7 p.m. game against Navy. The Leopards (11-13 overall, 4-3 league) are alone in third place, two games behind first place Lehigh and Bucknell (each 6-1 league).

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

FIELD HOCKEY: Lafayette College field hockey team signs five student-athletes to Class of 2017
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Goalkeeper Katelyn Arnold, of Southern Lehigh, is one of five student-athletes signed by Lafayette College field hockey first-year coach Jennifer Stone to the Class of 2017. Arnold was a four-year letterwinner and captain with the Spartans. She had a 0.13 goals against average and a .930 save percentage her senior season, and was a PIAA first team All-State selection her final three seasons.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's first scholarship class of football recruits could make immediate impact
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
The 20 young men who signed national letters of intent today to attend and play football for Lafayette College will be forever known as the school's "first scholarship class." That may prove a high burden to live up to, but the ten offensive players, nine defensive players and one special teamer look to have the ability to make a difference quickly.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette gets commitments from 20 football recruits
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani sent two of his coaches on a four-day hunting trip to Colorado late last year. The "targets" were a Denver-area quarterback and a defensive lineman from one of the top high school leagues in that vicinity. But as long as they were there, the Leopard coaches went knocking on doors -- about half a dozen schools per day each.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette FB recruiting: some more things to think about
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Twenty-four days ago, I was lying on a Lehigh Valley Health Network operating-room table under "deep hypothermic circulatory arrest" (clinically dead) for 90 minutes while a couple of super-talented medical "athletes," heart surgeons Ray Singer and Gary Szydlowski, performed some major open-heart surgery. So, when my wife, Betty, told my granddaughter-in-law Vanisia Yost on Wednesday that I was writing some kind of Lafayette football stories for The Morning Call, Vanisia said, "What? The other day he said it wiped him out to fold a couple of pieces of wash."

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

FOOTBALL: Lafayette opens football season at home for first time since 2010
The Morning Call
A home opener for the first time since the 2010 season and a match-up with Colonial Athletic Association member William & Mary highlights Lafayette's 2013 football schedule released by the school Tuesday afternoon. The Leopards welcome Sacred Heart on Sept. 7 for the first meeting between the two since 2001, and the start of a home-and-home series with the Pioneers, who were 2-9 last fall. A week later, William & Mary visits for the second game of a four-game series between the two schools that began last year when Lafayette came back from Williamsburg with a 17-14 victory.

MEN'S & WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Patriot League expansion means more headaches for coaches
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Back in 1988, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament was held in Westchester County, N.Y. Third-seeded Fairfield, coached by Dianne Nolan, had to beat No. 2 Holy Cross, coached by Bill Gibbons, then No. 1 La Salle, which was led by guard Kelly Greenburg. Nolan's club overcame both obstacles to earn the school's first MAAC title and NCAA Tournament berth. Three years ago, Nolan came to Lafayette, a Patriot League school. That meant butting heads again with Gibbons, who is now in his 28th season at Holy Cross.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette upsets American in final 2 minutes
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Dianne Nolan got her players thinking on Friday when she told them how long it had been since Lafayette's women's basketball team had won three Patriot League games in a row. "One girl shouted out that she was 4. Another one said she was 7," the Leopards coach recalled. "Then I got goose bumps all over." Those same goose bumps returned Saturday afternoon when Lafayette upset American 49-47 on Maddie Peabody's pull-up jumper with the shot clock winding down at the 1:37 mark, giving the Leopards their first three-game conference winning streak since they won four in a row from Feb. 15-27, 1998.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette men's basketball team's furious rally falls short against American
The Express-Times/ By Harvey Valentine
Wins against American University have been incredibly hard to come by for the Lafayette College men's basketball team in recent years. The Leopards' latest loss likely ranks among the most bitter defeats during this stretch. After an abysmal first half, the Leopards staged a furious comeback from a 17-point second-half deficit and briefly took the lead before falling short in a 68-64 Patriot League loss at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team rolls to 69-40 win over Colgate
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Defense! Defense! Defense! It's the one common denominator that has exemplified the recent resurgence of the Lafayette College men's basketball team. Tonight was more of the same. The Leopards held Colgate scoreless for two long stretches and rode Seth Hinrichs' 24 points to a convincing 69-40 Patriot League victory before 2,470 spectators at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette shuts down former Fran O'Hanlon recruit's Colgate basketball team
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Colgate's offense has some Fran O'Hanlon principles in it. a lot of motion, screening and cutting. Not a big surprise considering Raiders coach Matt Langel was recruited by O'Hanlon, who was in his final season at Penn before coming to Lafayette for the 1995-96 season. But, for r now, there is a world of difference in how the two programs' offenses are being executed. Lafayette shot 50 percent from the field, regularly getting open looks by all of its players, and coasted to its third consecutive victory, 69-40, Wednesday night at the Kirby Sports Center.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team routs Lehigh at Stabler Arena
The Express-Times
Levi Giese scored 17 points and Seth Hinrichs posted a double-double to lead Lafayette to a 78-57 victory over archrival Lehigh today, handing the Mountain Hawks their first Patriot League loss this season and snapping their five-game winning streak. Hinrichs finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Leopards (10-12, 3-2), who ended a five-game skid in the series, while Dan Trist had 14 points and Tony Johnson and Joey Ptasinski also scored 13 each.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette outhustles, outplays Lehigh in rout, 78-57
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette's Tony Johnson is widely recognized as the Patriot League's best point guard. His decision-making, defense and unselfishness are the textbook definitions of the position. During Sunday's game at rival Lehigh, Johnson had plenty of help in all aspects.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team beats rival Lehigh 78-57
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Something wasn't right this afternoon at Stabler Arena. Despite a season-high 3,279 in attendance to watch the Lehigh University men's basketball team host rival Lafayette, something was missing. Whether it was a hangover from the Mountain Hawks' gritty road win at Bucknell on Wednesday night or the team was just due for a bad game. Either way, the visiting Leopards made them pay, rolling to a 78-57 Patriot League victory.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette routs Lehigh in impressive fashion
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette ended recent futility against rival Lehigh in dominating fashion. Levi Giese was dominant at both ends of the court and the Leopards ended a five-game losing streak to Lehigh with a 78-57 win Sunday afternoon at Stabler Arena. Lehigh (14-5 overall, 4-1 PL) got within six on the first basket of the second half, but Lafayette (10-12, 3-2) never got flustered. Tony Johnson's left-handed finish pushed the cushion to 20 (60-40) with 8:21 left. The Mountain Hawks never made a serious run again. Lafayette's win creates a logjam in the league standings. Bucknell and Lehigh are tied at 4-1, with Lafayette a game behind, four teams at 2-3, followed by 1-4 Navy.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette women end lengthy Patriot League losing streak
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Danielle Fiacco and Emily Homan have been sick all week. The entire Lafayette program has been sick of losing. Fiacco and Homan felt pretty good after Saturday afternoon's game with rival Lehigh. A win is a great healer. Fiacco and Homan combined for 30 points, 17 rebounds and six blocked shots as Lafayette ended a 13-game Patriot League losing streak with a convincing 68-52 victory at the Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lehigh University men's basketball team set to host rival Lafayette College
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Drive and kick. A ball handler runs toward the basket, is collapsed in on by defenders and passes the ball out to a teammate for an open shot. It sounds simple enough, right?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team earns 63-53 victory over Holy Cross
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team is mastering the art of winning at home. Now, if only the Leopards could steal a couple on the road. Guards Seth Hinrichs and Bryce Scott each scored 16 points and point guard Tony Johnson added 15 tonight as Lafayette captured its seventh straight game at Kirby Sports Center with a 63-53 Patriot League victory over Holy Cross. Lafayette (9-12 overall, 2-2 league), which scored the first five points and never trailed, hasn't lost at Kirby since dropping a 72-53 decision to Ivy League favorite Princeton on Nov. 24. The Leopards are 1-10 away from home and play Lehigh at Stabler Arena at noon on Sunday.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Early, first-half, second-half runs carry Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Even though it was just the fourth league game of the season, the first four minutes of each half Wednesday told the story of a team pushed by sense of urgency. Lafayette's men's basketball team scored 14 of the game's first 18 points and then 13 of the first 17 in the second half, which carried the Leopards to a 63-53 win over Holy Cross at Kirby Sports Center. Having lost two of its first three Patriot League games, the Leopards (9-12, 2-2 PL) couldn't have afforded to fall further behind the Crusaders (10-9, 2-2) in the standings. Lafayette, which dropped its previous two games, both of which were on the road, sits in a tie for third place with Holy Cross and American.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

FOOTBALL: Lafayette, Lehigh football coaches discuss how scholarships changed the recruiting process
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Patriot League football coaches visit recruits armed with two major selling points: a chance to play college football and an opportunity to receive a great education. Now, league coaches and their assistants are able to draw on another weapon from their quiver. Beginning in 2013, Patriot League football programs are able to award up to the equivalent of 15 athletic financial aid awards each year to incoming student-athletes, including transfers. The total may not exceed 60 equivalencies in any year (beginning in 2016). "It's not a magic wand by any stretch," Lafayette College coach Frank Tavani said. "It doesn't mean you're going to win every battle, but I think we're in a lot more battles. Now you're hearing from places you might not have gone to in the past and it's easier when you have that to offer."

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette men's woes at Bucknell continue in loss
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
LEWISBURG -- Lafayette's Dan Trist quickly went to checked on Bucknell's Mike Muscala as a timeout was called with 8 minutes, 54 seconds left in Saturday night's Patriot League game. Trist had delivered an inadvertent elbow to Muscala's throat a few seconds earlier. By that time, Muscala had choked most of the life out of Lafayette, despite having one of his worst shooting nights of the season. Muscala finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds as Bucknell improved to 3-0 in league play with a 66-51 victory at Sojka Pavilion. Lafayette is now 0-14 all-time at Sojka Pavilion and 1-10 this season on the road. Bucknell is 7-0 at home this year.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team drops 77-54 Patriot League decision to Army
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team thought it had ended its road woes with last week's historic victory over Penn at the Palestra. As fate would have it, the Leopards fell right back into their road funk tonight. Senior forward Ella Ellis dropped in 23 points and the Leopards never got much rhythm going on offense in dropping a 77-54 Patriot League decision to Army at Christl Arena. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Lafayette (8-11 overall, 1-1 league), which won its first road game of the season after eight losses in last week's 85-83 victory over the Ivy League Quakers. The task doesn't get any easier for coach Fran O'Hanlon's crew. The Leopards play at league favorite Bucknell on Saturday night.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette women's shooting woes continue in loss to Army
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette coach Dianne Nolan has seen it in practice on a consistent basis. Shot up. Shot in. Shot up. Shot in. However, in the first two Patriot League games of the 2013 season, it's been a return to what she's seen in her previous two seasons: Shot up. Miss. Shot up. Miss. Lafayette went 8 minutes, 30 seconds without a field goal after tying the game midway through the second half and shot just 20 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes of a 63-43 loss to Army on Wednesday night at the Kirby Sports Center.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College women's basketball team can't overcome slow start in loss at Navy
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
If someone had told Lafayette women's basketball coach Dianne Nolan that the Leopards would hold Navy's Jade Geif without a field goal for the first 32 minutes of their Patriot League opener, she probably would have liked her team's chances. While Lafayette did a great job of shutting down Geif, the Patriot League preseason Player of the Year, the Midshipmen used a combination of long-range shooting and the transition game to seize control early in a 62-44 victory today at Alumni Hall.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team captures Patriot League opener against Navy
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
As Tony Johnson goes, so goes the Lafayette College men's basketball team. The senior point guard directed a second half run that snapped the Leopards out of the doldrums this afternoon and paved the way for a 64-47 victory over Navy in the teams' Patriot League opener at Kirby Sports Center. Sophomore guard Seth Hinrichs led Lafayette with 22 points. Johnson, who had six assists and three steals, and sophomore guard Joey Ptasinski added 14 points each. It was the seventh straight home win for the Leopards (8-10 overall, 1-0 league) and third straight overall.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Johnson, Hinrichs do their thing in win over Navy
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
With a 12-point cushion 2 minutes, 30 seconds into the second half, it seemed like the perfect time to give Lafayette point guard Tony Johnson a breather. If only. It was chaotic and messy while Johnson was on the bench, and the Leopards' comfortable lead dwindled to two courtesy of Navy's 10 consecutive points.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Patriot League assessment entering league play
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Less than an hour before the start of the Patriot League men's basketball season and only one thing is clear: Bucknell is a huge favorite, thanks to C.J. McCollum's broken foot. The rest is up to interpretation. Here is mine:

Friday, January 11, 2013

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The future is now for Lafayette College women's basketball team
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
In her third season as women's basketball coach of Lafayette College, Dianne Nolan is the first to admit -- with Patriot League play starting on Saturday -- it is now `put up or shut up' time. The signs of progress are there. After posting a 19-41 record in Nolan's first two seasons, Lafayette sits at 7-8 through an early season stretch that provided a solid test.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team set to begin Patriot League play
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team, a work-in-progress for much of the season, is beginning to find its way just in time for the Patriot League portion of its schedule. The Leopards (7-10) carry a two-game winning streak into Saturday's 2 p.m. league opener against Navy (6-10) at Kirby Sports Center.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

FIELD HOCKEY: Jennifer Stone named head field hockey coach at Lafayette College
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Jennifer Stone, an assistant field hockey coach at Lafayette College the previous six seasons, has been promoted to head coach, Lafayette Director of Athletics Bruce McCutcheon announced today. Stone will replace Andrew Griffiths, who resigned as head coach in December to take over as head coach at national power Old Dominion. Lafayette is coming off one of its best seasons ever, a 17-3 campaign that saw them go undefeated in conference play (7-0), earning its second consecutive Patriot League championship. The Leopards received the league's first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to No. 5 Maryland 2-0 in the opening round.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball ends 86 years of futility against Penn at the Palestra
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Fran O'Hanlon wanted to make Lafayette College men's basketball history, have the Leopards snare their initial road win of the season and have his friends pay for their cheesesteaks. The Leopards and their head coach accomplished all of those goals and more by ending 86 years of futility against Penn in the Quakers' legendary Palestra with a thrilling 85-83 win tonight in front of 2,805 fans.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Penn comes up just short, as Lafayette prevails
Philadelphia Daily News/ By Dick Jerardi
Penn had not won a game since Nov. 28. Penn had not played a game at the Palestra since Dec. 8. Penn had never lost a game at the Palestra to Lafayette. Penn trailed Lafayette by 15 points with 7 1/2 minutes to go at the Palestra. With 3 minutes to go, it was tied. With 3 seconds to go and his team trailing by two points, Penn's Steve Rennard, the lone starter on the floor, was wide open on the left wing beyond the three-point arc. He set his feet and took his time. Lafayette is now 1-22 against Penn at the Palestra. "I didn't think we deserved to win the game," Penn coach Jerome Allen said. The Leopards won it, 85-83.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette makes history at the Palestra
The Morning Call
PHILADELPHIA -- Tony Johnson's 25-point effort led Lafayette's offensive attack, as the Leopards held off Penn's late charge in an 85-83 victory on Tuesday night at The Palestra. The senior was one of six Leopards to score in double-figures as the team connected on 61 percent shooting from the field. The victory for Lafayette was the program's first ever against Penn at The Palestra, ending a 22-game losing streak to the Quakers in Philadelphia. Lafayette's first meeting with Penn at The Palestra was a 27-16 loss on Jan. 19, 1927. The win also marked Lafayette's first road win (1-8) of the year as the team improved to 7-10 overall.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: O'Hare's position change sparks Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
When Dianne Nolan got done dissecting it all, there was a change screaming to be made. The Lafayette women's basketball coach saw a need for an added threat on the perimeter, somebody willing to take more shots, especially from 3-point land. Instead of inserting a new face, she flip-flopped two of her guards -- she decided to have Brya Freeland spend more time playing the point and wanted Jamie O'Hare to slide into the two spot. The changes are still in their infancy, but all signs are pointing to Nolan having made the right call. O'Hare needed only a half to set a career high -- she scored 14 in the first 20 minutes -- and ended up with a game-high 18 to help Lafayette cruise by Brown, 56-32, at Kirby Sports Center. The 5-foot-6 freshman also grabbed eight rebounds, outdone only be her 6-foot-7 counterpart, Danielle Fiacco (12 rebounds).

Thursday, January 3, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team peaking at the right time
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
As long as I live, I'll never be able to figure out this wacky world of college basketball. New Jersey Institute of Technology came into Kirby Sports Center on Wednesday night with presumably one of its best teams in years. the Highlanders' resume included four close losses to Big East teams (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova), all by 10 points or less. On the surface, a trip to Easton to play little Lafayette almost looked like a soft spot on the Highlanders' schedule, especially after they trounced the Leopards 78-58 last season in Newark, N.J. Lafayette obviously had other ideas. The Leopards asserted themselves from the get-go and coasted to an 83-66 (it wasn't that close) victory. Sophomore Seth Hinrichs led the Leopards (6-10) with 21 points and senior Tony Johnson followed with 15 points and seven assists.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team defeats NJIT 83-66
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
When the calendar flips over to January, that means the Patriot League basketball season is just around the corner. The Lafayette College men's team gave every indication it's ready for league competition during tonight's 83-66 dismantling of New Jersey Institute of Technology at Kirby Sports Center. Sophomore guard Seth Hinrichs led the Leopards (6-10) with 21 points. Senior point guard Tony Johnson scored 15 points, all in the first half. Senior forward Levi Giese added 10 points. Lafayette plays Penn at the Palestra on Tuesday before hosting Navy in the league opener on Saturday, Jan. 12.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Tony Johnson's shooting sparks Lafayette's decisive win
The Morning Call/ By Jeff Schuler
New Jersey Institute of Technology presented an opportunity for Lafayette senior guard Tony Johnson midway through the first half of Wednesday's game. The Highlanders gave Johnson space. Space to shoot, something he doesn't always take advantage of. However, the Leopards captain drilled consecutive 3-point shots to turn what was a back-and-forth game into a decisive victory. Johnson scored 11 consecutive Lafayette points in that pivotal stretch, and Seth Hinrichs scored a game-high 21 points to lead Lafayette to an 83-66 win at the Kirby Sports Center.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Twenty-five years ago: The night Lafayette slayed Notre Dame
The Morning Call/ By Jeff Schuler
Until last March 16, when the Lehigh men's basketball team upset powerhouse Duke in the NCAA Tournament, the biggest upset in local college basketball history took place in a jam-packed Kirby Field House on the campus of Lafayette College 25 years ago Friday.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Catching Up With: Former Lafayette College men's basketball standout Brian Ehlers
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Brian Ehlers brought a distinct skill-set to the basketball floor. The former Lafayette College standout was undoubtedly one of the best guards to ever play on College Hill. At 6-foot-4, Ehlers had the size of a small forward but the skills to play either guard position. Ehlers was a dangerous 3-point shooter, but also had a good mid-range jumper and possessed the strength and athleticism to take it to the rim. Ehlers, who graduated from Lafayette in 2000, is the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,836 points. Upon graduation, Ehlers pursued a career in professional basketball.

Monday, December 10, 2012

TRACK & FIELD: Jarrel Bobb and Devin Smith of Lafayette College named Patriot League Track and Field Rookies of the Week
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Freshmen Jarrel Bobb and Devin Smith of Lafayette College captured the men's and women's Track and Field Rookie of the Week awards at Lehigh University's Fast Times Before Finals competition.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team pulls out 72-70 victory over Sacred Heart
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
In the biggest spot of his young career, Bryce Scott released a shot that looked something like a knuckleball. The freshman guard is forever grateful that his ugly shot had a beautiful ending. Scott hit a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining to lift the Lafayette College men's basketball team to a thrilling 72-70 victory over Sacred Heart this afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette (4-8) trailed 70-69 with under 10 seconds remaining when point guard Tony Johnson found Scott alone on the right wing. Scott let go a line drive shot that went cleanly through the rim to give the Leopards the lead.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette women finally got that signature win
Mcall.com Varsity Blog/ By Tom Housenick
It has only been three seasons, but has felt like much longer for Lafayette women's coach Dianne Nolan. The Leopards are 22-46 under Nolan (at left), who has done her best to change the culture surrounding the program. Perhaps, Nolan's club has turned a corner. Lafayette beat Pittsburgh last Saturday afternoon. The Panthers are not the class of the Big East, but they are a Big East program.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College women's basketball team looking to build on big win over Pittsburgh
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
Since being hired as the Lafayette College women's basketball coach in 2010, Dianne Nolan had been searching for that signature out-of-conference win that demonstrates the program is pointed in the right direction. The Leopards have come close on a few occasions, hanging with Big East opponent Seton Hall earlier this season in a 60-54 loss in East Orange, N.J. and taking Pittsburgh into overtime last December in a 74-69 road setback. Heading in to the 2012-13 campaign, a 64-57 win over East Carolina in the consolation of the 2011 Terrapin Classic was probably the most impressive outing to date. A nice victory, for sure, but not really one that makes people take notice. Lafayette changed all of that on Saturday, however, when it led wire-to-wire in a 68-65 win over Pittsburgh at Kirby Sports Center.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team rallies for 61-58 victory over St. Francis (Pa.)
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
An opponent desperate for its first victory can be a dangerous foe. Just ask the Lafayette College men's basketball team. The Leopards had all they could handle against winless Saint Francis (Pa.) tonight before coach Fran O'Hanlon's crew pulled together at the end to eke out a 61-58 victory at Kirby Sports Center.

BASEBALL: Former Lafayette pitcher Kevin Reese to play in Australian Baseball League All-Star game
The Express-Times/ By Corky Blake
Former Lafayette College pitcher Kevin Reese has been selected to play in the Australian Baseball League's All-Star Game on Dec. 16 at Melbourne Ballpark. Reese is one of 11 members of the Melbourne Aces chosen for the game. Reese will suit up for the World All-Stars, which includes players from the United States, Korea and Japan. They'll oppose a team of all-stars from Australia.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette erases 15-point deficit, wins it in final minutes
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon knelt on the floor and buried his face in his hands with 50 seconds left in the first half Tuesday night after the Leopards made a steal only to turn the ball over a couple seconds later. It was one of nine give-aways in the opening 20 minutes, and was just cause for O'Hanlon's dissatisfaction and the Leopards' nine-point halftime deficit. It took almost an hour longer, but O'Hanlon finally had a reason to smile when the final buzzer sounded. Lafayette erased a 15-point, second-half deficit, grabbed its first lead of the game with 2:18 remaining and hung on for a 61-58 victory over St. Francis (Pa.) at Kirby Sports Center.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team uses zone defense to beat Delaware, 63-60
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
The Lafayette College men's basketball team knew it would have trouble guarding Delaware's Devon Saddler in one-on-one situations. The Leopards understood that center Jamelle Hagins would dominate inside like he has all season. In an effort to deal with the Blue Hens' top weapons, Lafayette implemented a zone defense. The strategy paid off as the Leopards forced 18 turnovers and maintained a halftime lead en route to a 63-60 victory over Delaware in front of 1,079 fans tonight at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette zones its way out of five-game losing streak
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Lafayette planned to play zone as much as it could Wednesday night in an attempt to neutralize the athleticism and skill of Delaware's Devon Saddler and Jamelle Hagins. Saddler and Hagins came as advertised, but the Leopards' defense was better than expected, even for coach Fran O'Hanlon, who stuck with the zone look for 40 minutes. Lafayette built a 20-point lead and held on, needing to wait until the final seconds ticked away before coming away with a 63-60 victory at the Kirby Sports Center.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette women doomed by turnovers, poor shooting
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Only Maddie Peabody took a token layup in warmups while her teammates watched from the bench before the second half of Tuesday night's game. Fitting for a Lafayette team that shot just 31 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes against visiting Rider. The long halftime speech about poor shooting and turnovers worked temporarily. The Leopards made their first two shots at the beginning of a 10-point run. But, alas, it was short-lived. The same mistakes that plagued the hosts showed up again throughout the rest of the second half of a 68-64 loss at the Kirby Sports Center.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

FOOTBALL: Q&A with Bruce McCutcheon: the whole thing
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
I talked with Lafayette athletic director Bruce McCutcheon recently about the 150th Lafayette-Lehigh game, which will be played in Yankee Stadium in 2014. Some of the interview appears in today's Morning Call as a Newsmaker Q&A. A longer version appears on the Call's website. However, because a couple of questions were left out of the online version, too, I have decided to post the entire interview here.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Lehigh FB: It ain't broke, doesn't need fixing
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The 100th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for 2015. Maybe the folks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway should consider moving the greatest spectacle in racing to Pocono Raceway. Preposterous? Absolutely.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

FOOTBALL: Newsmaker Q&A: Bruce McCutcheon
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The 150th edition of the Lafayette-Lehigh football series, the most-played rivalry in all of college football, will be played Nov. 22, 2014 in Yankee Stadium in New York City, officials from both colleges announced last week. Lafayette athletic director Bruce McCutcheon has been intimately involved in the planning process. He is the subject of this week's Q&A.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team stifled by Princeton
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The frustration of the Lafayette College men's basketball players was evident this afternoon as one shot after another clanked off the rim. The Leopards never were able to conquer Princeton's stifling defense and subsequently dropped a 72-53 decision to the Ivy League favorites before a crowd of 1,544 at Kirby Sports Center.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette men's basketball team gives valiant effort in 83-74 loss at Maryland
The Express-Times/ By Keith Gary
To measure the progress of a young Lafayette College men's basketball team, head coach Fran O'Hanlon is looking beyond the wins and losses. A quartet of Barclays Center Classic games against LIU-Brooklyn, Kentucky, Morehead State and Maryland practically assured the Leopards a losing record heading in to December. But the way his squad performed in a 83-74 loss at Maryland tonight gave O'Hanlon and his squad hope for the future, despite suffering a third road loss on a five-day southern swing.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette, Lehigh believe Yankee Stadium a good fit
The Morning Call/ By JD Malone
The last time the Lehigh-Lafayette football game was played outside of the Lehigh Valley, in 1891, the Mountain Hawks steamrolled the Leopards 16-2 in Wilkes-Barre. No offense to the Diamond City, but this time the schools are reaching a little higher. As Bruce McCutcheon, Lafayette's athletic director, and Joe Sterrett, Lehigh's dean of athletics, traded ideas about how to celebrate the schools' 2014 matchup -- the 150th in the series -- big places with big corporate names came up: Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. All were too big. Other collegiate venues, which offered more seats than Fisher Stadium's 17,000, felt wrong. The allure of one location proved too strong, much as it has for many a baseball player: Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette, Lehigh coaches endorse taking 150th game to the Bronx
The Morning Call/ By Keith Groller
The way Lafayette College football coach Frank Tavani sees it, he may be losing a home game but gaining a "once in a lifetime experience." The veteran Leopards boss and Lehigh coach Andy Coen both gave a verbal thumbs up to the announcement that was made just prior to the start of Saturday's Lehigh-Lafayette game that the 150th meeting in college football's most-played rivalry will take place at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 22, 2014. The surprise announcement ended months of speculation, but will not likely receive unanimous approval from alums and fans who consider the game to be a Lehigh Valley treasure that should stay in the Lehigh Valley.

FOOTBALL: Zweizig 'really inspired me,' Lafayette's Tavani says
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
I have not spoken with Zach Zweizig since the death of his father, but based on everything I know now, I have to say it was amazing that the emotionally drained Lafayette quarterback was able to focus long enough on the task to lead the Leopards on a 75-yard drive for their third touchdown in the first quarter against Lehigh on Saturday. He hooked up with freshman Jamel Smith on passes of 20 and 9 yards, and finally, on a first down at the Lehigh 27, he lofted one to Lafayette's 2012 offensive MVP, Mark Ross, who made another of those tough catches for a touchdown. Zweizig didn't play again until the third quarter, and he scrambled for 12 yards on one play and completed another pass that came up a yard short of a first down. Coach Frank Tavani elected to punt from the Lafayette 33. Zweizig never returned.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

FOOTBALL: Yankee Stadium move for 150th game a real positive for Lafayette College, Lehigh University
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
The decision to move the 150th version of the Lafayette-Lehigh football rivalry to Yankee Stadium on Nov. 22, 2014 is a positive step for the rivalry and both programs. Moving the game to a such a big stage is fully appropriate for such a landmark game in college football's most played rivalry. The Leopards are showing magnanimity and unselfishness by moving their game from Fisher Stadium to Yankee Stadium; it does mean that the Lafayette class that graduates in 2015 will only host one game at Fisher, which is less than ideal, but the excitement of playing in Yankee Stadium should make up for that.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Mark Ross makes all the plays he can against Lehigh University
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
After Lafayette College's fifth straight loss to archrival Lehigh University Saturday at Fisher Stadium, the Leopards talked about not making enough plays. And they were right. Lafayette left interceptions, score-saving tackles, wide-open screen passes and one-more-block-for-a-big-play runs all over the field in a 38-21 loss. That was especially so after the first quarter when the Leopards scored all of their 21 points. But one Leopard who made almost every play he could was junior wide receiver Mark Ross, who caught nine passes for 118 yards and two circus catches for touchdowns. It was his seventh 100-yard-plus receiving game of the season, an increasingly-darkening season in which Ross has been of the shining light despite the Leopards' 0-4 close to finish 5-6.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Lehigh will play 150th meeting in football at Yankee Stadium
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Lafayette College will host the 150th meeting in college football's most-played rivalry against Lehigh University at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 22, 2014. Lafayette president Daniel H. Weiss and Lehigh president Alice Gast made the announcement this morning at the annual President's Brunch before the 148th meeting between the two programs at Fisher Stadium in Easton.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Lehigh to turn 150 at Yankee Stadium
FoxNews.com
A special venue for a special game. Lafayette College announced Saturday it will host the 150th football meeting with Lehigh University in 2014 at Yankee Stadium. College football's most- played rivalry will be held Nov. 22. The announcement preceded the 148th renewal at Lafayette. Lehigh won, 38-21, but Lafayette still holds a 76-67-5 series lead.

FOOTBALL: Five reasons why Lafayette College will defeat Lehigh University
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
The easy tasks never fall my way. Right next to me on this page my colleague Michael LoRe gets to tell you why the 9-1 Lehigh team that has won four games in a row in the series against Lafayette will defeat the 5-5 Leopards, who enter today's game on a three-game losing streak. That's simple enough. I could do it in one sentence, and I will.

FOOTBALL: Yankee Stadium to host Lafayette-Lehigh game
The Morning Call/ By Keith Groller
The 150th football meeting between Lehigh University and Lafayette College will be played at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, the colleges announced Saturday, hours before the annual rivalry was scheduled to kick off at Lafayette's Fisher Stadium in Easton.

FOOTBALL: Pre-game pump ends in hard reality for Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
When Lafayette defensive tackle Rick Lyster dropped off the line of scrimmage and picked off a Michael Colvin pass on the second play of Saturday's Lafayette-Lehigh game, I thought maybe this was going to be one of those magical afternoons. Three plays later, the Leopards converted that turnover into a touchdown. I was sure that meant something special. I had this quick flashback of an early-season game against Penn and dared to wonder if it might be that kind of game. And minutes later, when Lafayette countered Lehigh's first big salvo (a 75-yard touchdown pass play) with a methodical 75-yard touchdown drive of its own, I thought about a 56-49 2009 victory over Colgate and wondered if this might be that kind of memorable shootout. After nearly 50 years in this business - full-time or freelance - I should have known better.

FOOTBALL: A statement victory for Lehigh
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette played like anything but a wounded fighter in the first 15 minutes Saturday afternoon in Fisher Stadium - 21 points and 170 yards of total offense. But in the span of less than four minutes of the second quarter, Lehigh's defense delivered two big shots to the Leopards' midsection and, it seemed, softened them up for the rest of the day.

Friday, November 16, 2012

FOOTBALL: Getting a lead could be key for Lafayette vs. Lehigh
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
In 2009, Lehigh came into the 145th game in college football's most-played rivalry with a 3-7 record and was hanging its hat on the fact that it had lost five games by seven points or less. Things could have been so much different, they said. Lafayette was 8-2 and almost a lock for a second Patriot League spot in the FCS postseason tournament. Win and play on. Leopard quarterback Rob Curley had a great season, but his final pass was the one he'll remember forever -- it was picked off by Lehigh linebacker Al Pierce in the end zone in overtime to preserve a 27-21 victory and crush Lafayette's playoff dream. Could a win for 5-5 Lafayette today against 9-1 Lehigh be payback for the Leopards?

Thursday, November 15, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Lehigh football rivarly: Leopards rely on turnovers, Mountain Hawks strive for playoffs
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
The turnover battle and whether the Lafayette College football team has won or lost it during any given game has dictated the 2012 season for the Leopards. In games in which the Leopards hold the advantage in the turnover battle, Lafayette is 5-0. When the team has more turnovers than its opponent, it's resulted in a Leopards loss.

FOOTBALL: Both sides still have much to play for in 148th Lafayette-Lehigh game
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette senior defensive tackle Jason Marshalek doesn't want there to be another such Mountain Hawk group of gridiron alums. "No one on our team except the coaches knows what it's like to beat Lehigh, and that's all the motivation you need; it adds so much more to the game," Marshalek said. "Winning would erase some painful memories, from past years as well, give us a winning season and give us a lift going into the offseason."

FOOTBALL: Lafayette football in search of redemption
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Undisciplined became a buzz word in Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani's vocabulary during the 2012 football season. On the field, the Leopards gave away at least three games with performances that seemed to defy explanation. "We played a terrible first half of football" while falling behind Robert Morris 28-7, Tavani said. After losing to Princeton, he said, "That's probably as frustrating as it's been in terms of total lack of execution." And after a debacle against Georgetown he said, "There have been a lot of times during my 13 years as head coach that I've been very displeased, but that probably moved into first place." Missed tackles and blocks, blown assignments and a recurring problem with pre-snap penalties -- 27 of them -- disrupted the flow over and over again.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College sophomore Dan Trist makes quick progress on the basketball floor
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Dan Trist had more than the typical adjustment period when he first arrived at Lafayette College for the 2011 fall semester. After all, not every student-athlete selects a school half a world away from home. The Sydney, Australia, native rolled the dice when he chose to attend Lafayette on a basketball scholarship. The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward is beginning to reap the benefits of his decision. Trist poured in a career-high 30 points in Monday night's 98-94 overtime win over Northeast Conference preseason favorite LIU-Brooklyn.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College women's basketball team suffers 73-34 loss to Villanova University
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
In Friday's opener, the Lafayette College women's basketball team rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to defeat Loyola Chicago. There was no comeback in the cards for the Leopards on this night. Villanova surged to a 29-point halftime lead and the Big East Conference representative rolled to a 73-34 victory at Kirby Sports Center.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Leopards doomed by Villanova's perimeter game
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Dianne Nolan had her team alter its defense multiple times in hope of containing Villanova's outside game. She tried what seemed like a million ersonnel combinations, too. She was even forced to have her leading scorer, 6-foot-7 center Danielle Fiacco, take a seat for more than half the game. The changes helped some in the second half, but by then, the damage was done. Villanova built a 29-point halftime lead courtesy of seven first-half 3-pointers and cruised by Lafayette 73-34 in a non-league game Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette's Ross opening eyes with his hands
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Every time he walked on the field at Hopewell High School, Mark Ross was reminded of excellence. The field is named after Tony Dorsett, a Hopewell grad who went on to win a Heisman Trophy at Pitt and had an outstanding NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys. But when you ask Ross about his high school career, he says modestly, "I was the go-to receiver, but we had a good running back, so we ran a lot." That running back, Rushel Shell, gained 2,740 yards and scored 35 touchdowns in what was Ross' senior season, and Shell is now a freshman running back at Pitt.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Mark Ross would trade in his stats for a win over Lehigh University
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Mark Ross brings the stats. Glorious stats. The Lafayette College junior wide receiver keeps moving up the Leopards' all-time receiving lists. He now has 115 career catches (ninth), 1,615 career yards (10th) and 17 career touchdowns (second) after a 10-catch, 122-yard performance last week at Fordham. This season, Ross has 66 catches (second-best in Leopards history) for 912 yards (third-best) and eight TDs. He ranks second in the Patriot League in receptions and yards per game, and has six 100-yard receiving games this fall. Ross also owns gaudy stats in the classroom. The economics major from Aliquippa, Pa., owns a 3.6 grade point average and was one of a league-high three Leopards named to the Capital One Academic All-District II team this week.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Zach Zweizig stands tall despite suffering a terrible loss
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Whatever else Lafayette College sophomore quarterback Zach Zweizig accomplishes in his career on College Hill, his performance over the last few days in impossible circumstances should stand as pure heart and courage in face of the worst kind of adversity. Zweizig, who comes from West Lawn, Pa., outside of Reading, found out Thursday that his father, Jonathan, had suffered a stroke, a stroke that with its complications proved fatal late Sunday night.

Monday, November 12, 2012

MEN'S SOCCER: Lafayette College men's soccer team to face Virginia in first round of NCAA tournament
The Express-Times
The Lafayette College men's soccer team will travel to Charlottesville, Va. to take on the University of Virginia at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Leopards (9-7-4) qualified for the field of 48 teams with a 2-0 win over American in the Patriot League championship game on Sunday.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team defeats LIU-Brooklyn 98-94 in overtime
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Tonight was Dan Trist's coming out party at Kirby Sports Center. The sophomore forward opened the game with a wing jumper and didn't let up until he had scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Lafayette College men's basketball team to a 98-94 overtime victory over LIU-Brooklyn. Trist, a native of Sydney, Australia, easily surpassed his previous career high of 16 points set in Friday night's 76-65 loss to St. Francis (N.Y.).

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Trist's career-high 30 carries Lafayette over LIU-Brooklyn
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Two big men hovered over Dan Trist on the low block. The Lafayette forward had no business making the shot. Somehow, though, the sophomore muscled the ball into the hoop despite being fouled and then made the and-1 to give the Leopards a two-point lead with 38.6 seconds to go in regulation. LIU-Brooklyn wound up tying things up a few seconds later, forcing overtime, a stretch during which Trist continued his dominance. In the all-important extra five minutes, Trist tossed in six of Lafayette's nine points and the Leopards came from behind to win 98-94 at Kirby Sports Center on Monday.

FOOTBALL: Father of Lafayette College QB dies
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Jonathan Zweizig, father of Lafayette College quarterback Zach Zweizig of Reading, passed away over night in Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience in Philadelphia. He was 56. Jonathan Zweizig suffered a stroke on Thursday night. He was self-employed as a day trader, and he formerly worked as a stock broker in the World Trade Center in New York.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

FIELD HOCKEY: Lafayette College field hockey season comes to an end with NCAA tournament loss to Maryland
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Anna Dessoye and Jill Witmer scored on Saturday afternoon as the defending national champion Maryland Terrapins ended Lafayette College's field hockey season with a 2-0 victory in a NCAA first round playoff game at the University of Connecticut. Maryland (17-5) will play the host Huskies at 2 p.m. today for a berth in the Final Four. Lafayette (17-3), the reigning two-time Patriot League champion, became the only school in league history to get a NCAA tournament at-large bid. The Leopards' losses were to Top 10 teams Penn State, Princeton and Maryland.

MEN'S SOCCER: Lafayette College men's soccer team captures Patriot League title with 2-0 win over American
The Express-Times
Kyle Scharfenberg scored off a corner kick 20 minutes into the match and Peter Adubato scored in the 67th minute as Lafayette College defeated American 2-0 for its second straight Patriot League tournament championship and seventh overall.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Seton Hall edges Lafayette 60-54 in women's basketball
The Express-Times
Brittany Morris scored 23 points and Tabatha Richardson-Smith added 15 as the Seton Hall women's basketball team beat Lafayette 60-54. Lafayette went on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 31 early in the second half on a jumper by Kristan Liddle, but Seton Hall pulled away to a 45-35 lead and never relinquished the advantage the rest of the way.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette turns its focus to rivalry game with Lehigh
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
If it was all about the numbers -- or, maybe, if it was about all the numbers -- Saturday's Lafayette-Fordham football game might have had a much different result. Consider: first downs, Lafayette 23-9; passing yards, Lafayette 369-150; total offense, Lafayette 449-340; offensive plays, Lafayette 81-52; time of possession, Lafayette 38:13-21:47. But when the clock read 00:00, the only numbers that counted were: Fordham 37, Lafayette 26.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College can't finish what it started in tough loss at Fordham
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College did not finish what it started on the football field this afternoon in the Bronx against Fordham. The Leopards started out with a real bang (a 49-yard flea-flicker on their first offensive play) and, despite surrendering several big plays, led by three at halftime. But the Rams cranked up the big-play machine and buried the the Leopards under a blizzard of interceptions and clutch plays and rolled to a 36-27 win, the Leopards' third straight loss, in front of 5,128 fans at Fordham's Jack Coffey Stadium.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team drops opener to St. Francis (N.Y.) 76-65
The Express-Times/ By Michael LoRe
Patience is a virtue. Patience is a trait veteran Lafayette College men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon needs to have a significant amount of early on this season with a young squad. The Leopards got in an early hole and couldn't rally, dropping a 76-65 season-opening decision to St. Francis (N.Y.) in front of 1,217 fans Friday night at Kirby Sports Center.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Losing streak no more for Lafayette women
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Danielle Fiacco grabbed the last of her game-high 15 rebounds on Friday night at Kirby Sports Center and glanced up at the ceiling with a look of relief on her face as the final whistle sounded. This one was a long time in the making. Lafayette's women's basketball team carried a nine-game losing streak into the 2012-13 season, but made sure it didn't balloon to 10 when it climbed out of a 10-point first-half deficit and beat Loyola-Chicago 62-51 in its season opener.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette men fall in opener as Allen grad helps St. Francis (NY)
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Tony Johnson, plagued by injuries most of last season and this preseason, gave everyone at Kirby Sports Center a pleasant surprise when he was announced as part of Lafayette's starting lineup for its season opener against St. Francis (NY) on Friday night. He and his teammates didn't get the nicest of greetings, though, from the Terriers. Lafayette, which trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half, cut the lead to eight multiple times, but it lost 76-65 to a faster, more athletic St. Francis team in a game that started an hour and a half late (10 p.m.) because of a scheduling issue in a women's volleyball game earlier in the day at Kirby Sports Center.

FOOTBALL: Fordham beats Lafayette 36-27 in football
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
BRONX, N.Y. -- Pass interceptions, which have been a positive signature in a Lafayette football season fraught with other problems -- many of which have nothing to do with football -- did in the Leopards on Saturday in Jack Coffey Stadium. Fordham, trailing 20-17 at the half, used three picks to account directly or indirectly for 17 points in the second half as the Rams defeated Lafayette 36-27 to at least temporarily deny the losers one of only two remaining goals in a season that is suddenly embarrassingly unfulfilling.

Friday, November 9, 2012

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College women's basketball team ready for a new beginning
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Rebounding should not be a problem this season for the Lafayette College women's basketball team. Putting the ball in the basket is a different story. "We're a solid rebounding team," Leopards coach Dianne Nolan said. "Shooting was our Achilles heel last year." Lafayette will attempt to shake off the cobwebs when it opens its season at 6:30 tonight against Loyola Chicago at Kirby Sports Center.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team opens season against St. Francis (N.Y.)
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
The Lafayette College men's basketball team faces a familiar opponent when it hosts St. Francis (N.Y.) in the season opener at 8:30 tonight at Kirby Sports Center. The Leopards defeated the Terriers 79-73 last season in Easton. Tonight's game will be preceded by a 6:30 p.m. women's game between Lafayette and Loyola of Chicago.

MEN'S SOCCER: Lafayette College men's soccer team advances to Patriot League tournament final with 1-0 win over Colgate
The Express-Times
Second-seeded Lafayette used an Alec Golini first-half goal to defeat No. 3 Colgate in a Patriot League semifinal in Washington, D.C. Midway through the first half, Golini ran onto a loose ball at the top corner of the penalty area and fired a low, left-footed blast into the far side of the net. Goalkeeper Nathan McDonald made three saves en route to his eighth shutout of the season, including the Leopards' last three games. McDonald made a diving stop of Colgate's Dan Matthews with less than 10 minutes remaining to preserve the clean sheet.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette women hoping to get offensive this season
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Dianne Nolan knew it was time to make significant changes after Lafayette finished the 2011-12 season with nine consecutive losses, including a first-round exit in the Patriot League tournament. The Leopards coach put it on her returning players to come up with a theme for the offseason, something usually reserved for the coaching staff. Reflection and time away from the game after an 8-22 season allowed the players to get creative and re-energized.

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Young Lafayette men could produce late-season surprises
The Morning Call/ By Tom Housenick
Joey Ptasinski, Seth Hinrichs and Dan Trist were thrust into significant playing roles last season as freshmen. That was the easy part. Now as sophomores, they are going to be asked to be production leaders on the court, thanks to the graduation of Lafayette's top three scorers from the 2011-12 season. Throw in the uncertainty surrounding returning point guard Tony Johnson's health and a lot will be put in their laps.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College seeks a winning season with a win over Fordham
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
The philosophy at Lafayette College after bad football losses is to move immediately forward and not to linger over the negative results. That took a little bit longer than usual after last week's astounding and astonishing 65-41 loss at Colgate, however.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

FIELD HOCKEY: Lafayette field hockey gets NCAA Tourney berth
The Morning Call/ By Mandy Housenick
Lafayette College's field hockey team will be packing its bags at least one more time. Ranked 13th in the country, the Leopards (17-2, 6-0 Patriot League) received at at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night. Lafayette, which won its second consecutive Patriot League title this year, faces No. 6 Maryland (16-5), the defending national champion, in the first round on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the University of Connecticut.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Maxim Ngolla starting to feel at home on offensive line
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College may be playing an away football game Saturday at Fordham, but sophomore guard Maxim Ngolla will be right at home. "My house, in Nyack, N.Y. is, if traffic's good, half an hour away," said Ngolla at the Leopards' weekly media luncheon Tuesday. "I'm going to have a lot of people at the game. I love to have people supporting me, my old coaches, my friends; that brings more excitement to the game for me." Ngolla's parents were among the many New York City-area residents to be hammered by Superstorm Sandy.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette, Fordham didn't expect to be in this position
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The Lafayette College football team outscored its opponents 35-0 in the first quarter of the first three games of the season and won all three games. The Leopards haven't scored a point in the 90-first-quarter minutes of the six games since that early stretch -- in fact, they scored first in only one of those games (and won it, too) and have slipped back to the point where coach Frank Tavani now is relegated to talk of a two-game season. While it's reality that only two games remain for the Leopards, it's a pretty good bet that a winning season isn't what he envisioned being his focus after his team started so strongly, or even when it was 5-2 a couple of weeks ago.

Monday, November 5, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College can still accomplish two major goals on the football field
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College entered this football season with three major goals. One, win the Patriot League for this first time since 2006. Two, beat Lehigh for the first time since 2007. And three, post a winning season for the first time since 2009. After Saturday's lunatic 65-41 loss at Colgate in which there were 56 first downs, 1,297 yards of offense, four 100-yard-plus rushers and almost no semblance of any kind of organized defense, the Leopards (5-4) are left singing Meat Loaf's old hit song - "Two out of three ain't bad."

Sunday, November 4, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's defense swamped by never-ending flood of Colgate yardage
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
There was no way Lafayette College had any right to be anywhere close to winning Saturday afternoon's Patriot League football at Colgate's Andy Kerr Stadium. The Leopards surrendered 531 yards rushing and 755 yards of total offense, both Patriot League records. Colgate never punted, led by 21 in the second quarter and by 17 at the half. Lafayette didn't start slowly; it simply didn't start at all in the first 16 minutes of a game as completely dominated by one team -- Colgate -- as it was possible to do so.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette looks to rebound after shoot-out loss to Colgate
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani said the first telephone call he got on Sunday morning was from Lehigh coach Andy Coen. Coen was calling to inquire about the status of Lafayette linebacker Dion King, who was taken to the hospital by ambulance Saturday after being injured in the third quarter. After being examined for a possible neck injury, he was able to leave the hospital in Hamilton, N.Y., and return to Easton. "That demonstrates the class of this league," Tavani said Sunday. "We battle hard, and nobody battles harder than us and Lehigh, and first call I got was from Andy asking about our guy. Andy knows. We have a great relationship. When times weren't so good for him starting out, I was one of his biggest supporters for all the right reasons, too." Maybe Tavani's second call should have been from Southern Cal Coach Lane Kiffin. The two of them could have done plenty of commiserating.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Colgate FB: The rest of the story
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
You're pretty much grasping at straws when you try to get a handle on what took place in Andy Kerr Stadium on Saturday. I addressed some things in a column in Monday's print edition, and here's a smattering of stuff that didn't make it there.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

FIELD HOCKEY: Lafayette College field hockey team wins second straight Patriot League championship
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Deanna DiCroce had both goals including a penalty stroke in overtime today as Lafayette College's field hockey team captured the Patriot League championship with a 2-1 victory over American at Rappolt Field at the Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex in Forks Township. It was the second consecutive title and ninth overall for the Leopards (17-1), who advanced to the title game with Friday's 4-3 overtime win over Colgate. DiCroce, the league's offensive player of the year, also scored a goal in that game.

FOOTBALL: Colgate breaks record in win over Leopards
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
HAMILTON, NY - When someone mentioned Colgate's 755 yards of offense being a Patriot League record, Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said, "I heard somebody say it's a world record. I don't know; it might be." And before leaving the press box at Andy Kerr Stadium on Saturday, long-time Colgate media guru Bob Cornell said, "I thought you were covering football, not track." A 65-41 game will elicit those kind of comments. No sense trying to take it too seriously - unless, of course, your livelihood depends on it.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Colgate: the scoring drives and other stuff
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
It was impossible to get the 16 point-producing drives of the Lafayette-Colgate game into my game story in the print edition , so her are the notes I made throughout the game. Colgate drove 68 yards on eight plays on its first possession, scoring on a 27-yard pass from McCarney to Chris Looney. The Raiders converted a fourth-and-2 on the drive when McCarney ran for three yards. Colgate fashioned another 68-yard drive that took just four plays - the first a 40-yard keeper by McCarney - and ended with McCarney's four-yard run. McCord got his first TD on a two-yard run that capped a 76-yard, eight-play drive. The big play was a 25-yard pass from McCarney to Ryne Morrison on the final play of the first period.

Friday, November 2, 2012

FIELD HOCKEY: Lafayette College survives in overtime, advances to Patriot League field hockey championship
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College's field hockey team enjoyed hosting the Patriot League Tournament so much this afternoon that the Leopards decided to extend their time on the field. "We just want to keep it exciting," junior Haley Keenan said. Perhaps a bit too exciting, as the Leopards, ranked No. 12 nationally and the top seed in the tournament, needed Keenan's overtime goal to hold off a spirited and determined challenge from No. 4-seeded Colgate 4-3 on a blustery and chilly Rappolt Field in Forks Township. The win moved the Leopards (16-1) into today's final against second-seeded American, which defeated third-seeded Bucknell 4-0 later Friday afternoon.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Colgate: A scouting report
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani said that, for the first time in his career, he got no sleep as he began putting together the plan that will give the Leopards a chance at putting the brakes on the runaway train that is the Colgate offense. "You have to change it up and give them some different looks," he said. "As I discussed with our defense early in the week, you can have answers on the board for everything they do -- and I have very bright coaches. The bottom line is, you have to be able to execute the stuff that is on the board and there's only so much preparation time. So, you'll spend, as every staff does, an inordinate amount of time looking at every possible scenario and then come to the realization that you can only be able to execute less than a quarter of it. That was my direction to the defense, and offense, you can only expect to execute what you have been able to put enough time into preparing. Can you practice it? Can you be efficient?

FIELD HOCKEY: Warren Hills graduate Aimee Smith helping Lafayette College toward Patriot League title
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
When Lafayette College's 12th-ranked field hockey team opens the Patriot League tournament today against Colgate, it will be playing for more than itself, said Leopards junior midfielder/forward Aimee Smith. "We're representing all of Lafayette's teams," said Smith, a Washington Township (N.J.) resident and Warren Hills Regional High School graduate. "We want to be an inspiration for all the other Lafayette teams and for the school. People overlook small liberal arts colleges. We want to show we can be competitive with anybody." The Leopards have done so to date. They enter the league tournament at 15-1 overall, unbeaten in the league and will host No. 4 seed Colgate (4-12) at Rappolt Field at Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex at noon today. American and Bucknell play in the ensuing semifinal. The championship game will be 3 p.m. Saturday at Rappolt Field.

FOOTBALL: Cold Lafayette College football team facing red-hot Colgate in Patriot League showdown
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Preparing for Colgate University's high-octane option offense always makes for a very different week of practice for Lafayette College's football team. But Superstorm Sandy turned the Leopards' preparations for Saturday's Patriot League showdown in Hamilton, N.Y. into the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

FOOTBALL: Tavani is defending Leopards' young O-line
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Five players on the Lafayette football team have been maligned at times this season -- not necessarily individually, but collectively-- for the ineffectiveness of the Lafayette offense. But head coach Frank Tavani said Thursday, "I wouldn't want to be facing them a year or two years from now, because they have memories and that'll be their time and turn." That group in question is the offensive line -- the biggest guys on the team and the group that is invariably noticed only when something bad happens. A false start. A holding penalty. A quarterback sack. A blocked kick. You get the idea. The O-line has frustrated Tavani and offensive line coach Stan Clayton over and over again during Lafayette's 5-3 season to date, but when an advocate is needed, Tavani is the first to step forward.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Colgate FB: Some pregame notes
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
In a story in The Morning Call last week, Kris Kent, a Nazareth High graduate at now a sophomore weak side linebacker for Colgate, said, "Our offense has been phenomenal and it has been fun to watch. Now it's up to our defense to see if we can hold teams under 40 points, considering the way our offense has been playing." Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani referred to that comment when we talked on Sunday, and he did it again during a telephone conversation Thursday - and in a clip I saw on Channel 69 television, too. When I brought up how often he seems to be sharing that quote and asked if it was displayed prominently in the locker room of the Bourger Varsity Field House, he said, "It's been floating around everywhere. I'm not quite sure how that happened." Sure, Frank, certainly you don't know. Just like President Obama didn't know about that terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team needs to mend its youthful ways for home stretch
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College's football team is suffering from a familiar malady. Adolescence. No, not in the literal sense -- most of the Leopard players are past adolescence -- but in the figurative sense. The Leopards are a very young team as college football teams go. They have inexperienced, or untested, or both, players manning key spots, such as the offensive line, usually staffed by tested veterans. There are sophomores and freshmen, who most college coaches want kept safely on the sideline, all over the field. What this results in is the typical highs and lows of adolescence -- highs like seven interceptions against Penn and a stirring rally at Yale and lows such as the mysterious first half of futility at Robert Morris. Then there was Saturday's appalling 20-17 loss at home to Georgetown in which for the first time this season, Lafayette put two halves of football together -- two bad ones. It was the kind of performance that gets most adolescents grounded. The Leopards coughed up seven turnovers, committed 10 often mind-numbing penalties and executed as poorly as a hangman who could only tie slip knots.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette coach Tavani loses sleep over Leopards' loss to Georgetown
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Frank Tavani has this rule concerning a previous Saturday's Lafayette College football game -- win or lose, players and coaches are to set that game aside 24 hours later. But when it comes to difficult or touchy decisions, the 13th-year head coach allows himself some extra time. "You don't want to make any knee-jerk reactions on anything, but I generally give it another 24 hours after the first 24 hours before I make some decisions," Tavani said Sunday with regard to his team's devastating 20-17 Patriot League loss to Georgetown. "We'll see, and you can read between the lines on that any way you want." Tavani said he got no sleep Saturday night, part of it being spent watching the game film with offensive line coach Stan Clayton and another part wide awake in his recliner at home, unable to reconcile how the Leopards had gone from winning back-to-back games to turning the ball over seven times against the Hoyas.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette FB: A Top 10 list of plays that hurt vs. the Hoyas
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
So many botched plays that, with a different result, might have made a difference in Lafayette's Saturday night's 20-17 Patriot League loss to Georgetown. Here's my personal Top 10 list.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team stumbles in sloppy loss to Georgetown
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College's football team had no right to be in tonight's Patriot League game against Georgetown at Fisher Stadium. The Leopards committed seven turnovers, had 10 penalties and played sloppy, inefficient and uninspired football most of the night. But the fact that the Leopards were somehow still in the game at the end, and lost anyway, made the loss all the worse. The Hoyas' 20-17 triumph knocked the Leopards (5-3, 2-1) out of a share of the league lead and continued their strange hex over Lafayette -- Georgetown (4-5, 1-2) has beaten the Leopards three times in a row.

FOOTBALL: Leopards fumble away win to Georgetown
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The sixth turnover of the game proved to be the backbreaker for Georgetown, which stunned Lafayette for the third straight year 20-17 Saturday night and dropped the Leopards from the unbeaten ranks in the Patriot League. A fumble by Rodney Gould was recovered by the Hoyas' Stephen Atwater and set up a 61-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Nick Campanella. The big play on the touchdown drive was a 25-yard pass from freshman quarterback Kyle Nolan to Jamal Davis on a fourth down - Davis' only catch of the game. Lafayette got the ball for one final time with 48 seconds to play, but Andrew Shoop's third interception of the game - made by the Hoyas' Cameron Gamble - put the period on the end of Lafayette's modest two-game winning streak and also ended Georgetown's three-game losing streak.

FOOTBALL: Frank Tavani: There will be accountability, and it starts here
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani came to Saturday night's postgame press conference by himself. Because I didn't have a chance to do much with what he said on deadline, yet think it was well worth telling, here are some highlights (or lowlights) from his chat. "First off, my decision to not bring any players to this. I apologize to you guys. It's a team loss; I represent the team and I take full responsibility for one of the most awful displays of lack of execution I've been involved with. Obviously, I didn't do a very good job coaching."

Friday, October 26, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Georgetown: A scouting report
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Georgetown football coach Kevin Kelly had nothing but superlatives to describe Kyle Nolan, who last week became the fourth different quarterback used by the Hoyas this season. Nolan, who is 6-5, 225 pounds, is a true freshman and, Kelly said, "He gave us a spark. He ran extremely well, he ran the offense to perfection as a freshman and he threw the ball extremely well. We're very happy with his performance and hopefully we can build on that from last week." The Hoyas lost the game to Colgate, but they did score 35 points against the Raiders.

Friday, October 26, 2012

FOOTBALL: Jamel Smith and Lafayette College teammates hungry for a win over Georgetown
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Sometimes the evidence doesn't match the rhetoric around football teams. Lafayette College's football staff and players say they don't like to look back and don't want to live in the past. So when it comes to this Saturday's Patriot League game with Georgetown at Fisher Stadium (6 p.m. kickoff), one might think the Leopards wouldn't dwell on their two straight heartbreaking losses to the Hoyas. They say they aren't, except that coach Frank Tavani mentioned that Georgetown's recent success against Lafayette "has frustrated us" about three times in the first three minutes of his address at the Leopards' weekly media luncheon on Tuesday. And the veteran players remember the way they felt, too, after the bitter losses.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette College men's basketball team beginning a new season
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Fran O'Hanlon has begun this season the same way last season ended -- without a healthy point guard. The veteran Lafayette College men's basketball coach confirmed that senior point guard Tony Johnson was out indefinitely with a foot injury. It's the opposite foot that Johnson broke that caused him to miss the latter part of last season. "We're hoping it's not too extensive," said O'Hanlon, who's beginning his 18th season on College Hill. "We'll find out in the next day or two. We're hopeful that he's going to be fine."

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Alex White giving the defensive line a boost
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Every college football team can use midseason reinforcements. Fatigue, bumps and bruises and the wear and tear of a long season can slow down even the hardiest of football players. And the idea of having fresh legs to rotate in, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, appeals to coaches looking for any edge they can get. So Lafayette College fans may well be seeing more of junior defensive lineman Alex White as the season goes on. Saturday's Family Weekend date with Patriot League foe Georgetown (3-5, 0-2 PL) at Fisher Stadium (6 p.m. kickoff) is next up.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette looks to limit pre-snap penalties
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Football teams are generally forgiven for mental errors in the opening game of the season, so not much was made of it when Lafayette was guilty of three pre-snap penalties in its Sept. 8 victory at William and Mary -- two for delay of game, the third for an illegal shift. But the Leopards are seven games into the season, and the problem of giving the opponent free yards is at what you might consider epidemic proportions. They were guilty of five -- yes, five -- false starts at Yale, but still managed to win the game 20-10; and in last Saturday's 30-13 Patriot League victory over Holy Cross, they were whistled for three more false starts and one delay of game.

FOOTBALL: Leopard updates: Jamel Smith and Andrew Shoop
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
After earlier punt returners allowed William and Mary kicks to roll dead at the Lafayette 5- 7- and 1-yard lines in the season opener, the Lafayette coaches decided it was time for a drastic measure. Enter Jamel Smith. A year ago, Smith was a 162-pound running back at New Egypt, N.J., High School. His college choice came down to Lafayette, Lehigh, Holy Cross and Monmouth. He hit it off with Lafayette recruiter and offensive line coach Stan Clayton, and by coming to Lafayette he would be given the opportunity to become a wide receiver. He was hoping to earn a spot on the travel team with the Leopards, and he did. He had no idea he would be called on to play in his first college game. Smith fielded William & Mary punts and had returns of 12 and 16 years in the fourth quarter of the Lafayette victory. Of the 10 punts that have been returned since then, Smith has nine of them, giving him 11 for the season for 98 yards.

Monday, October 22, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College has a clear path - if a rugged one - to Patriot League football championship
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Three teams stand atop the Patriot League football standings. There's no surprise about two of them -- Lehigh and Colgate. The 8-0 Mountain Hawks last lost a league game in the Truman Administration, so it seems, and the Raiders (4-3), behind the 'McAttack' of quarterback Gavin McCarney and running back Jordan McCord (who have run for 1,619 yards between them) run one of the most productive offenses in the nation. And then there's the third team tied at the top of the league standings -- Lafayette. The Leopards were picked second-to-last in the league preseason poll -- "higher than I would have picked us," said Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani at the time -- and hadn't finished above .500 since 2009. With a tiny senior class and inexperienced and youthful players starting all over the field, the thought was that if Lafayette managed a .500 season it'd count as a success on College Hill. No longer.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

FOOTBALL: Clutch score puts Leopards onto path of victory
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Holy Cross was doggedly clawing its way back from a 16-point hole in the second half Saturday night in Lafayette's Fisher Stadium. First, it drove 75 yards for a touchdown. It marched to the Lafayette 25 and 31-yard lines on its next two possessions, only to miss 42- and 48-yard field goals that would have made it a one-possession game with plenty of time to play. Lafayette was faced with a dilemma of its own after moving to the Crusaders' 28, where it was faced with a fourth-and-two. With 9:06 remaining in the game, Leopards coach Frank Tavani called a timeout. A gamble? Not exactly.

FOOTBALL: Cleaning out the Lafayette football notebook
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
This and that about Lafayette-Holy Cross - and a couple of other Eastern games. Maybe Andrew Shoop is going to be able to give us some kind of Rob Curley impersonation before this season is over after all? The Leopards' senior quarterback had a game about which no one can complain - 20-for-28 for 235 yards and two touchdowns, and a running touchdown of his own. He is now averaging 242.6 yards passing per game has a 9-2 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio and has not thrown a pick in two games - he did hit one Holy Cross defender on the hands Saturday night, but he got away with it. It's pretty amazing to think he's had two weeks in which he could not practice and he's still been on his game enough to complete 63.3 percent of his passes.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

MEN'S LACROSSE: Edward Coombs Memorial Tournament: Lafayette has high hopes under new coach
Phillylacrosse.com/ By Chris Goldberg
Armed with a new head coach and a fresh attitude, the Lafayette men's lacrosse team spoke about optimism today at the inaugural Edward Taylor Coombs Fall Ball Tournament at Hatboro-Horsham. Jim Rogalski, a former Drexel assistant who had success most recently as head coach at Scranton, has taken over a Lafayette team that went 3-10 last year and 5-21 in the past two seasons.The team's top returning scorers, sophomore attackmen Brian Bock (Spring-Ford) and Cory Scheuerle (St. Joseph's Prep), are expecting the Leopards to make a major step forward this year.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College in sync in (almost) every phase of the game in win over Holy Cross
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Three out of four was plenty good enough for Lafayette College's football team this afternoon. The Leopards' winning formula under head coach Frank Tavani has been run the ball, stop the run, win the turnover battle and limit penalties. Lafayette applied the first three principles to perfection in a 30-13 Patriot League win over Holy Cross in front of a Homecoming crowd of 8,521 at Fisher Stadium. The Leopards (5-2, 2-0 PL) ran for 174 yards, held the Crusaders (1-6, 1-2) to 47 on the ground and grabbed two interceptions while not turning the ball over. OK, the penalty battle was tied at 4 and Lafayette's were of the pre-snap kind that infuriates Tavani - usually.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette tops Holy Cross 30-13 in front of Homecoming crowd
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Frank Tavani called it "sneaking up from the bottom." Vaughn Hebron said, "I don't really think we care if people talk about us or not." Mike Boles said, "We just saw today as two-sixths of the championship; we're playing one game at a time." And Mark Ross said, "I like to be the underdog; people don't expect you to do big things." All four of them know the Lafayette football team has not yet hit its full stride, but on Saturday, the under-appreciated Leopards may have thrown their helmets in the Patriot League ring when they took care of the Holy Cross issue by defeating the Crusaders 30-13 before a Homecoming crowd of 8,521 in Fisher Stadium.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Holy Cross postgame comments
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The football "family" at Lafayette is getting bigger all the time. Coach Frank Tavani made special mention Saturday of the support his team - and other Lafayette sports teams - have been getting from the student body this year. But this time, the support thing went to a new level. Signs all over the campus during the week called for a "blackout" at the Holy Cross football game, and while the Fisher Stadium grandstand was not in total compliance, most of the students seemed to have gotten with the program.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College to undergo a $1.7 million renovation to Kirby Sports Center
The Express-Times
The basketball area of Lafayette College's Kirby Sports Center will undergo a $1.7 million renovation that will be finished for the start of the 2013-14 academic year. The F.M. Kirby Foundation, which was responsible for the building's initial construction in 1972 and for a $35 million transformation in 2000, is funding the renovation to the arena.

Friday, October 19, 2012

GENERAL: Lafayette's Kirby Sports Center slated for renovations
The Morning Call
The arena in Kirby Sports Center at Lafayette College in Easton is set for a $1.7-million renovation slated to be finished for the start of the 2013-14 academic year. The F.M. Kirby Foundation, which was responsible for the building's initial construction in 1972 and for a $35-million transformation in 2000, is funding the renovation to the arena.

FOOTBALL: Don't let Crusaders' 1-5 lull you to sleep; this will be a war
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The preseason prospectus for Holy Cross football proclaimed the following for the Crusader defense: "As for the defense, the Crusaders have six starters back on a unit that should be one of the top defenses in the Patriot League." At this point, that has not happened for Coach Tom Gilmore's team. Holy Cross has allowed 184 points in its first six games - just over 30 a game, and 10 points per game more than were allowed in 2011, when the Crusaders were 4-2 in the league and 6-5 overall. Two opposing teams scored more than 50 points - Harvard, one of only four remaining unbeaten teams in the FCS, had 52, and Colgate, which right now seems to be setting itself up as a serious championship contender got 51 last week.

FOOTBALL: LOCAL COLLEGE PREVIEW: Holy Cross at Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Crusaders have won last three games in Easton and four straight overall by a total of 18 points, including some strange twists at the end. Crusaders' offense ran up 35 last week at Colgate; defense has allowed 184 points. Stop Houghton and Mistretta. Leopards snapped two-game losing streak last week at Yale. Today is Homecoming and begins a stretch of five straight league games. 'Pards have won every game in which they have won the turnover battle. Can't let the outcome hinge on a last-minute score.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's defense a monster for the opposition to tame
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
John Loose, mad scientist? "I always picture him in a lab coat and glasses," said Lafayette College junior linebacker Dion King of his defensive coordinator. "Working on Frankenstein or something like that." Or one of his infernally complex defenses. "When I first came here (the defense) was like another language, like it was Chinese," King said. "I thought I'd never get this. It was the hardest defense I have ever seen."

FIELD HOCKEY: Lafayette College field hockey flying up the national rankings
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
If last weekend, indeed, represented a preview of the Patriot League tournament for Lafayette College's nationally ranked field hockey team, the Leopards can book their tickets to the NCAA Division I tournament. Lafayette, ranked No. 11 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll, defeated Patriot League rival Bucknell on Saturday and Rutgers on Sunday by 2-0 scores.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

FOOTBALL: For Lafayette LB Brockman, an emotional week
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The second tackle of Chris Brockman's college football career was an 11-yard sack of Bucknell quarterback Brandon Wesley on the next-to-last play of the Sept. 22 game, helping to preserve Lafayette's 20-14 victory over the Bison. In Texas, Brockman's grandfather, James Newton, watched the NBC Sports Network national telecast of the game -- the first time he was able to see his grandson in action. He recorded the game, copied it to a disk and made up a special DVD case for it. He was never able to present the game video to Chris because, less than three weeks after being diagnosed with cancer and having surgery to have it removed, he passed away Oct. 8 when, as Brockman said Tuesday, "he couldn't recover from the surgery." His grandfather's death jolted Brockman's world.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette's Dion King surprised even himself
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
When someone told Dion King (with Greg Kessel in photo at right) that he had 13 tackles in Lafayette's win over Yale last Saturday, King's reaction was, "Who, me?" "I was shocked," King said Tuesday. "I thought they had the wrong Dion King, I can't lie." No one was putting him on. King, a junior who had played in only one game in his first two years, started at strong-side linebacker against the Bulldogs, and he had 10 unassisted tackles and three assists. That's a full day's work no matter how you look at it.

Monday, October 15, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team overcame several obstacles for win at Yale
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College's football team cleared more than one hurdle Saturday afternoon at the Yale Bowl with a 20-10 win over the Bulldogs. One hurdle came in snapping a two-game losing streak and avoiding letting the season start to slip away. At 4-2 (1-0 Patriot League) and heading into the meat of Patriot League play, the Leopards boosted their confidence and put a spring in their step heading into Saturday's homecoming tilt with Holy Cross (1-5, 1-0). Lafayette also equaled last season's win total of four, so the recovery from the depths of 2010's 2-9 nightmare continues. The Leopards overcame adversity to defeat the very talented if extremely young Bulldogs. The Leopards trailed for most of the game, were outgained 392-315, lost the time of possession battle by eight minutes and converted just 5 of 14 third downs and still won.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette gets passing grades at mid-season
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The halfway point is here. Lafayette (4-2) broke a two-game losing streak with a 20-10 victory over Yale on Saturday to equal last year's win total. The grades for the first six games are in. Let's get right to them.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette takes care of business in win over Yale
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
WEST HAVEN, Conn. -- As if trying to rediscover its football mojo was not enough to occupy the minds of Lafayette football players this week, the team was rocked by the deaths of two grandparents and three good friends of Leopard players in the same time span. "It stuns you," coach Frank Tavani said Saturday afternoon. "But at some point it puts everything back in perspective about what we're doing and how fortunate we are, giving thanks for being able to play." Lafayette players and coaches, who have stressed the importance of family through a couple of difficult weeks on the field, grieved with their brothers in the locker room and then went out on Saturday and took care of business on the field as they defeated Yale 20-10 to get back on the right track heading into the Patriot League schedule.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette leads the nation in interceptions with 15
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The four interceptions Lafayette recorded in Saturday's 20-10 victory over Yale gives the Leopards three more than their nearest competitor in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision statistics. They now have 15 for the season. Pretty impressive stuff for just six games. In fact, no Frank Tavani team has ever had 15 in an entire season - the most was 11 by the 2002, 2005 and 2007 teams. But the 2012 Leopards have a long way to go to reach the school record for picks in one season. The 1986 team had 27. Mike Joseph, the current color commentator for the Lafayette Sports Network telecasts of the Lafayette games, had three in one game that year. That's the school record, and it's held by seven players. Joseph also holds the school record at 19.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette hands Bulldogs fourth straight loss
New Haven (Conn.) Register/ By Chris Hunn
The great duos make fine art by knowing how to finish each other's moves. Astaire and Rogers dancing, Rodgers and Hart writing songs that will live forever, Abbott and Costello making people laugh -- and Lafayette College's Andrew Shoop-to-Mark Ross combining to drive daggers into the high hopes of opposition football teams.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's dazzling duo helps lift Leopards over Yale
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
NEW HAVEN -- It turned out to be a story of missed opportunities for the Yale football team. The Bulldogs failed to put any points on the board after marching to the Lafayette 25-yard line on the game's opening drive and Eric Williams threw back-to-back interceptions later in the quarter. That was just the beginning. It only worsened for the Bulldogs, who dropped their fourth straight game Saturday with a 20-10 loss to Lafayette in front of 9,118 at the Yale Bowl.

FOOTBALL: Leopard family: Together in life and death
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani often likens the handling of college football players to parenting, but in his 36 years in the business, he's never had a week quite like then one that ended Saturday with a victory over Yale. Freshman linebacker Chris Brockman of Richmond, Tex., and freshman quarterback Louie Pappas of Tarpon Springs, Fla., both lost grandparents with whom they were very close; a good friend of junior defensive end Jake McTighe of Butler was beaten to death in Pittsburgh; a friend of junior cornerback Randall Logan of Atlanta passed away and a friend of freshman linebacker Bobby DePietro was killed when, while taking down a tree with his grandfather, father and brother, the tree fell on him.

Friday, October 12, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Yale: Shoop or Zweizig ... Varga OK to play
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Question: Who said this: "If they told me I had to go play in bubble wrap today, I'd have worn bubble wrap"?
Answer: Lafayette quarterback Rob Curley.
Question: When did he say it?
Answer: Following Lafayette's 31-14 victory over Yale on Oct. 3, 2009 in the Yale Bowl.
Question: What as the context of the statement?
Answer: Curley had taken a vicious hit the previous week against Penn and wasn't given much chance of playing against Yale. Even my gameday box on Saturday morning said he would be out. Little did we know, however, that, thanks to the Friends of Lafayette Football, he had been fitted with a more shock-absorbent helmet to protect him.
Question: How did he do?
Answer: Curley was 20-for-28 for 241 yards and two touchdowns in the Leopards' first win ever in the iconic Yale Bowl. So, what does all that have to do with Saturday's Lafayette-Yale game in the Yale Bowl?

Thursday, October 11, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College freshmen have to grow up quickly on football field
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
As the leaves start to turn colors on the trees and October heads toward Halloween, there's a message for Lafayette College's first-year football players from their coaching staff: "We can't be freshmen any more," said linebacker Mark Dodd. "We have to come ready to play." Few freshmen have come to College Hill more ready to play than Dodd, who enters Saturday's game at Yale coming off an impressive performance against Princeton. The freshman from Wheeling, W. Va. posted 5.5 tackles, including half a sack, against the Tigers in a 35-14 loss. With junior Tyler Robinson very doubtful for Saturday with an injury, Dodd may well be seeing even more time.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette's Crosby is center of attention
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
When the Lafayette offense breaks the huddle and moves to the line of scrimmage, most players have one job. Pat Crosby, on the other hand, is the master multi-tasker. "It's almost an afterthought," Crosby said Tuesday when it was suggested that it's a wonder that he finds time to make a block. Crosby, a 6-4, 300-pound junior center from Sudbury, Mass., said that while his fellow big men on the O-line may already know in their heads what a play calls for, it is up to him to "reconfirm for everybody" based on what he sees on the spur of the moment.

FOOTBALL: Dodd, Swerdlow and lots of other Leopard stuff
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Mark Dodd has not yet had an important final exam in the classroom at Lafayette College, but he had one on the football team's meeting room last week. And because he passed it with flying colors, the 6-2, 220-pound freshman middle linebacker from Wheeling, W.Va., Dodd, who thinks another middle linebacker, Baltimore's Ray Lewis, "is pretty impressive ... insane," earned himself a lot more playing time last Saturday during the Leopards' non-league game with Princeton. Dodd is behind junior Mike Boles on the depth chart, "and I watch him and figure my assignment on what he's doing." Boles is worth emulating. The 6-3, 230-pound junior, is Lafayette's leading tackler with 39.

Monday, October 8, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's football team needs to remember where it stands
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
After Saturday night's depressing and demoralizing loss to Princeton University, Lafayette College's football team needs to remember where it is -- in several ways. First of all, the Leopards stand in first place in the Patriot League, tied with Holy Cross. If Lafayette wins the remaining league games, starting with the Crusaders on Oct. 20, it will win the league and go to the FCS playoffs. It's certainly true that if Lafayette (3-2 overall, 1-0 PL) plays the way it did in the first half against Robert Morris or the second half against Princeton, the Leopards will not be in first place in the league for very long.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

FOOTBALL: Mistakes costly for Lafayette in loss to Princeton
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
When Ethan Swerdlow's 48-yard punt went out of bounds at the Princeton 14-yard-line with just under four minutes remaining in the first half on Saturday night, it appeared that Lafayette had the Tigers right where it wanted them. On first down, Leopard linebacker Colton Kirkpatrick sacked Princeton quarterback Connor Michelsen for a seven-yard loss. Second-and-17. A Michelsen pass, intended for Stan Wilkinson was incomplete, but on the play, Lafayette's Kyni Scott was called for pass interference. Instead of third-and-17 at the 7, Princeton had first-and-10 at the 22. Eight plays later, Akil Sharp went through a gaping hole on the left side from the Lafayette 10, putting the finishing touches on a nine-play drive that broke a scoreless tie and started the Tigers to a 35-14 victory over Lafayette.

FOOTBALL: This and that on Lafayette-Princeton FB
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
This and that after a Sunday chat with Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani: ANDREW SHOOP - The Leopards' quarterback, who did not play Saturday night against Princeton, is expected to meet with the doctor Monday (today). Coach Tavani said he had no inclination at all about Shoop's problem until he got a phone call from the college's health office at around 3 p.m. last Tuesday. Shoop had attended practice on Sunday after the Robert Morris game, and on Monday night, he watched Princeton film with offensive coordinator Mickey Fein. He reported for practice on Tuesday and told the team trainer about "some symptoms and other things" that resulted in the trainer referring him to the health office. He was given a doctor's excuse to miss classes and he was ordered to spend two days in a room with no or low light. Tavani didn't see him until he showed up for the team meeting on Friday night. It's possible that Shoop had an adverse reaction to the hit on Saturday night but chose not to report it.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

FOOTBALL: Five Questions: Lafayette College football coach Frank Tavani discusses a quarter-century with the Leopards
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
What Frank Tavani thought was merely a courtesy interview for a Lafayette College assistant football coach back in 1987, has turned into more than a quarter-century up on College Hill. In his 13th season as head coach of the Leopards, Tavani has experienced the highs of Patriot League championships in 2004 and 2006 as well as the lows of a 6-16 combined record the last two seasons.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team suffers all-around domination by Princeton University
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
What Princeton University accomplished to roll over Lafayette College 35-14 tonight's football game in front of 6,821 fans at Fisher Stadium covered pretty much every part of football. And what the Tigers (2-2) didn't do, the Leopards (3-2) managed to do to themselves.

FOOTBALL: Princeton routs Lafayette, 35-14
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
On the first offensive play of Saturday night's Princeton-Lafayette football game, Leopard cornerback Kyni Scott stepped in front of Tiger receiver Tom Moak for what looked like a quick interception return for a touchdown. The ball went off his hands and fell incomplete. Maybe the Leopards should have known right then and there that this was going to be another cruel night in what was pretty much a cruel week overall. For the second time this season, Lafayette had lost its offensive leader, quarterback Andrew Shoop, to "concussion-related symptoms." For the second time this season, a starting player was issued a disciplinary suspension -- this time linebacker Kasheem Hill, who was "indefinitely" sidelined for a violation of team rules.

FOOTBALL: Shoop, 2 LBs out for Lafayette-Princeton game
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
For the second time this season, quarterback Andrew Shoop will not be in his starting spot when Lafayette (3-1) tries to bounce back from its first defeat when it takes on Princeton (1-2) in Fisher Stadium. Shoop, who missed the Penn game while serving a suspension for violation of team rules, will be out this time for "concussion-like symptoms" that showed up this week. At the same time, two starting linebackers will not play - Kasheem Hill has been suspended "indefinitely" for a violation of team rules, and Ben Aloi is out for the remainder of the season after tearing an ACKL in practice.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Princeton: Some pregame notes, quotes
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Which Lafayette team is going to show up at Fisher Stadium tonight? Will it be the totally focused one that played at William & Mary to start the season? That would be the one that came out fired up with smething to prove -- and then proved it. Or, maybe the opportunistic one that got all those turnovers from Penn? No way you can anticipate a seven-interception performance, but it was something to watch. The one Coach Frank Tavani does not care to see again is the one that sleep-walked its way through much of the first half against Robert Morris last weekend, digging for itself a hole so large that, when the Leopards did finally snap out of it, they used so much energy getting back into the game that they didn't have enough to finish it.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team wants to charge up its running game
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Fixing a sputtering running game, according to Lafayette College football coach Frank Tavani, "isn't any one thing, it's a number of things." And you can bet that the Leopards have been working on every one of those numbers and more this week as Princeton comes to Fisher Stadium on Saturday night for what could be a key moment in the 3-1 Leopards' season. Win, and momentum has been regained from the 31-28 loss at Robert Morris; lose and doubts creep in after a strong start. Kickoff is 6 p.m.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

FOOTBALL: Nobody has dominated Lafayette College in football quite like Princeton
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College faces its historic football arch-nemesis this week. No team the Leopards still currently face has thoroughly dominated its all-time series with Lafayette quite the way Princeton, which invades Fisher Stadium for a 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday, does. The Tigers and Leopards have been playing since 1883, a total of 46 games. Lafayette has won four (with three ties.)

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Jared Roberts makes big things happen in the secondary
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Jared Roberts spent last season watching his friends playing football for Lafayette College while he sat with a hand injury. It wasn't fun. "There aren't words to describe it, sitting there, knowing you could help the defense, thinking of being out there, watching game after game," Roberts said. This season, Roberts has switched from watching to doing, and what the sophomore safety has been doing has been remarkable.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

FOOTBALL: Smallish receiver coming up big for Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The Lafayette football media guide lists wide receiver Rodney Gould at 5-10, 170. An updated roster in the game notes has him at 155, and he says he's 160. Suffice it to say, he's not an imposing physical specimen. "I'm not particularly strong, either, but I'm fast," he said on Tuesday. "I ran a 4.37 [40-yard dash]; that's my edge." But when it was suggested that, "You know you're not going to be a pro football player, right?" he shot the questioner a how-dare-you look, then said, "I mean, it's still a shot. I'll never count myself out of that." "You really still want to play more?" Gould was asked. "Definitely; if the opportunity presents itself, definitely," he replied. That should give you some indication about the self-confidence that flows through the undersized body of the fifth-year senior from Fort Washington, Md. But that doesn't say it all.

FOOTBALL: 'Professor' Tavani lets media into the mind of a coach
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Every football coach in America has his own way of stating the simple three-pronged method of winning games: run the football, stop the run and win the turnover battle. Those of us who write it or broadcast it can find the formula extremely boring - until we see for ourselves how true it is week after week. Lafayette averaged only 100 yards per game rushing, gave up an average of 165.5 ypg rushing and was minus-12 on turnover ratio in 2011, and we all know how that turned out. So this year, it was only natural that the emphasis would be placed on that rudimentary formula. After four games, the Leopards are averaging just 77 yards per game, giving up an average of 121 ypg and, thanks to those seven pass interceptions against Penn, have a plus-8 turnover ratio. They are 3-1. Only the offensive running attack has failed to improve, and during the weekly media luncheon, Coach Frank Tavani was asked a couple of pointed questions about that phase of the game.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College should bottle second-half success versus Robert Morris
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College football coach Frank Tavani said after Saturday night's bitter 31-28 loss at Robert Morris that the Leopards might well learn more from losing the game than if they'd rallied to win. If so, one lesson is obvious: bottle that second-half effort and make it last entire games.

Monday, October 1, 2012

FOOTBALL: Rough start resulted in long ride home for Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The first loss of the season for the Lafayette football team Saturday night at Robert Morris was a two-sides-of-the-coin situation. Consider this: The Leopards defense allowed the underdog Colonials 285 yards of offense in the first half -- and then shut them down with only 101 in the second. Lafayette quarterback Andrew Shoop was 19-for-27 for 214 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in the second half -- but 6-for-11 for only 54 yards and two picks in the first two quarters. At one point of the first quarter, Lafayette was being outgained by RMU 118-2 -- but in the third quarter, the Leopards outgained the Colonials 127-11. The comparisons -- contrasts, really -- don't stop there, but the only thing anyone saw when the clock hit zero was that the Leopards didn't do the job they traveled clear across Pennsylvania to do and that their three-game season-starting winning streak was broken.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

FOOTBALL: Cleaning out the Lafayette FB notebook
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
Getting Lafayette's first football loss of 2012 out of my system so I can move on to Princeton, a home game that will, unfortunately not have the significant student following of the Penn game because Lafayette students will be on fall break. It is Community Night, though, so maybe the town will be the 12th man. That would be a welcome difference. As I sat in the press box of Joe Walton Stadium at halftime of Saturday night's Lafayette-Robert Morris game, trying to make sense of all the craziness that left the Leopards 21 points behind, my mind went back to something Coach Frank Tavani told me a week earlier after the Leopards beat Bucknell for their third straight victory. Sure, he said, the win was the bottom line, "but we have to execute better because, eventually, it will catch up with you." It caught up to the Leopards on Saturday night.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

FOOTBALL: Furious Lafayette College rally falls short as Leopards suffer first football loss to Robert Morris
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College's football players were at a loss about why they played such a dismal first half tonight against Robert Morris University. "I couldn't tell you why -- we just came out flat," said sophomore free safety Shane Black after the Leopards dropped a bitter 31-28 non-league decision in front of 3,524 fans at Joe Walton Stadium in Moon Township, Pa., on a 33-yard field goal by Greg Langere with 19 seconds left in the game. "That wasn't us out there in the first half," said wide receiver Mark Ross, who set career highs in catches (13) and yards (151); the number of catches tied the Leopard single-game record held by Mark Layton (Penn, 2010). Those first-half impostors, whoever they were, cost Lafayette a chance at its first 4-0 start in 24 years. Robert Morris (1-3) roared out to a 28-7 halftime lead and it could have been worse.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette's three-game win streak comes to a halt
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
MOON TOWNSHIP - Almost before it knew what was happening, the team that came into Saturday night's game as the FCS national leader in turnover ratio became a victim of the same. And for the first 30 minutes, the Lafayette team that won its first three games was nowhere to be found. Without making any halftime changes in the game plan, the Leopards charged all the way back from a 21-point deficit to tie the game but they could not get over the hump and saw their three-game winning streak come to a screeching halt with a 31-28 loss to previously winless Robert Morris. A 33-yard field goal by Greg Langer with 19 seconds to play will always be remembered as the dagger, but the story of this game was formulated a lot earlier. This was a classic ambush.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Robert Morris: A scouting report
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
This is Joe Walton Stadium, probably the nicest looking 3,000-seat facility I have ever seen and the ssite for today's first-ever meeting between Lafayette and Robert Morris. As you can see, all the seating is on one side of the field, although a small set of bleachers has been put into the end zone on one end in hopes that the Homecoming Day game, which will also feature postgame fireworks -- and, I'm sure the Leopard coaches are hoping, some in-game fireworks, too. I got a look at the place on Friday afternoon, when we were also able to watch the Colonials go through their short practice. Lafayette did not practice here because a suitable time could not be arranged with the Robert Morris people. The Leopards, following their bus ride of about six hours from Easton, got their land legs back on the Moon High School field, just a hop, skip and a couple of jumps away from the university campus.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette's Ross wants to celebrate own homecoming at RMU
Beaver (Pa.) County Times/ By Eric Hall
No offense to the Colonials, but Mark Ross wants to crash Robert Morris' homecoming party Saturday. His mom is off to a good start. The Lafayette wide receiver from Hopewell wants to win the game, of course. But he and his family and friends are working on a takeover of Joe Walton Stadium. His mom, Tamara, purchased 50 tickets from Robert Morris, Ross said, and a few of Ross' teammates pitched in their unused allotment. He's nearing 100 tickets, and hasn't yet answered all the requests.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Ryan Gralish has come a long way as a placekicker
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
From Mars to Moon via Easton. That's the path Lafayette College's freshman placekicker Ryan Gralish will have made when he steps on the field at Joe Walton Stadium at Robert Morris University 6 p.m. Saturday when the Leopards meet the Colonials in football for the first time. Gralish is a graduate of Mars Area High School, located about 30 minutes away from Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pa., both outside of Pittsburgh. In between, the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder has won the Leopards' placekicking job and already has posted impressive accomplishments. After Gralish won the starting spot after the opener at William & Mary, he was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week after going 4-for-4 on point after touchdown kicks in a defeat of Penn. He also booted two field goals, from 46 and 26 yards, in last week's win over Bucknell. It's surprising, then, that Lafayette had so little competition for his services when he was at Mars.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Brandon Hall writing up a successful formula at tight end
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
One of these days, Brandon Hall's name may be up there after the word "By" in the newspaper. "I'm taking a journalism class right now," said Lafayette College's starting tight end. "I know it's a kind of a tough business right now, but I have been enjoying the class." For now, Hall's name will stay in this part of the article as the Leopards junior has been enjoying a very successful start for Lafayette football. The Leopards take a 3-0 mark into Saturday night's non-league game at Robert Morris and will try to go to 4-0 for the first time since 1988. Hall has been a key contributor to the early season success.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College facing second 'monumental' football coach of the season
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
For the second time this season, Lafayette College will take the field against a football team whose coach already has a building named after him. In this case it actually is the field, as the Leopards meet Robert Morris University Saturday (6 p.m.) at Joe Walton Stadium, named after the only coach the Colonials have ever had. Walton, 76, founded the program at the university of 5,000 students just west of Pittsburgh in 1993 and has a 105-82-1 record in 19 seasons. Walton was the head coach of the New York Jets from 1983 to 1989 and played for the Washington Redskins and New York Giants from 1957 to 1963.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette freshman kicker Gralish off to solid start
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
It was uncharted territory for Lafayette freshman Ryan Gralish. His first collegiate field goal attempt. His longest try in a game -- ever. "My leg felt pretty heavy as I was standing there waiting to kick," Gralish said on Tuesday. "I was definitely nervous, but I knew I had prepared enough and had kicked the ball thousands of times. I thought if I did the same thing I always did, I'd be able to make it." A perfect snap from Morgan Donohue; a perfect hold from Andrew Shoop; good blocking up front, and, finally, a 46-yard kick that would have been good from 56 sailed through the uprights to give Lafayette a 10-0 second quarter lead en route to its 20-14 Patriot League victory over Bucknell Saturday afternoon in Lewisburg. Lafayette, which won its third straight game, had moved, with the aid of two 15-yard penalties against Bucknell, to the Bison 19, but a three-yard loss and a sack pushed the ball to the 29, where it was fourth-and-20. Too far for a gamble and too close to punt. Lafayette coach Frank Tavani elected to go with Gralish, even though he knew the freshman had not had the greatest pregame warm-up.

FOOTBALL: RMU's Joe Walton: Leopards are "a step up"
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
When's the last time you heard someone say this about Lafayette football: "We're in a step up to play somebody like Lafayette." That was Robert Morris University Coach Joe Walton's comment during a telephone conference with Lehigh Valley media on Tuesday. The Colonials opened the season with North Dakota State, the 2011 FCS champion and definitely on another level. "They have a very, very good team; I'd be very surprised if they don't win it again this year," Walton said of NDSU. RMU's second game was against Albany, the defending Northeast Conference champion that, after this season, will move to the Colonial Athletic Association. Albany won 35-14, and Walton said, "We didn't have all our people we normally would have" because of injuries sustained in the opener. A step up? Maybe, although RMU has had lots of success in the NEC over the years - six championships. Is a Patriot League team a step above the NEC? We can only note that RMU has played Bucknell twice and lost each time. The last time was in 2009, when Bucknell won by three points. In that same season, Lafayette defeated Bucknell by 21. Make of it what you will.

Monday, September 24, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Andrew Shoop comes up a winner on a critical Saturday
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Andrew Shoop said it was "just another Saturday," but it wasn't, not quite. There was too much going at Bucknell University's Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon for it to be a normal game day for Lafayette College's senior quarterback. Saturday marked Shoop's return to the Leopard lineup after being suspended for a game and losing his captaincy for violating team rules. While Leopards coach Frank Tavani never hesitated to hand Shoop's starting job back to him and said Shoop handled himself well through the suspension week, there's always a potential when such events occur to leave an unpleasant and long-lasting stain on a season. Not this time. There wasn't the slightest evidence during the game that there was the tiniest hangover from any off-field issues as Shoop led the Leopards to a 20-14 win to take the Patriot League lead and keep Lafayette (4-0) unbeaten.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

FOOTBALL: Catching Up With: Bill Russo reminisces on his career as head football coach at Lafayette College
The Express-Times/ By Tom Hinkel
Bill Russo did not have a difficult choice to make when deciding what line of work to pursue for a professional career. "They say if you're a lousy football player," maybe you'll make a better coach," the 5-foot-9 Russo said. "I was a midget, but I just loved the game, and sports in general." It's a good thing Russo went with his gut feeling. The 1969 Brown University graduate distinguished himself with a long and successful run as Lafayette College head football coach. Russo was 103-98-4 and won three league championships on College Hill from 1981-99. Russo must have impressed somebody as a football player, too. The former linebacker is a member of Brown's Athletic Hall of Fame.

FOOTBALL: A final look back at Lafayette-Bucknell
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
So, you weren't impressed with Lafayette's running attack -- that's really a bad description of it -- against Bucknell on Saturday, eh? What's not to hate about 11 net yards on 31 plays! Just when it looked like maybe the Leopards' young offensive line -- no seniors in the group -- might be maturing faster than expected, the Bison rip it to shreds with 13 tackles for loss (four QB sacks) and five other no-gain stops. If you think you're baffled and upset, imagine how Leopard Coach Frank Tavani and offensive line coach Stan Clayton feel. I got into some of it in my game followup in the print edition, but because I know so many people are asking, I thought I'd hit it here, too.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette is finding ways to win
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette offensive line coach Stan Clayton likes to grade his players' game film before leaving for home the night of a game. Head coach Frank Tavani knew that, so not long after the Leopards' buses returned home from Bucknell on Saturday, Tavani decided to have a look for himself, too, even though he admitted Sunday that "it's not my favorite thing to do after a win." Why? Well, despite a 20-14 Patriot League victory over the Bison to put its overall record at 3-0, Lafayette wound up with only 11 net yards rushing on 31 plays. Four Bucknell sacks of Lafayette quarterback Andrew Shoop had an impact on that number, accounting for 24 negative yards. So, too, did nine other tackles for loss. Then there was also the fact that the Bison packed nine defensive players near the line of scrimmage on almost every play to deny the run.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College showing 2012 a very different football season than the recent past
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
The difference between Lafayette College's football team being unbeaten and leading the Patriot League in September 2012 and what happened in September 2010 and 2011 may not be huge -- but it's making a big difference for the Leopards.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

FOOTBALL: Shoop leads Lafayette over Bucknell in football
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
LEWISBURG - Andrew Shoop said he had 100 to 120 friends and relatives from his Danville, Montour County, home in the stands at Christy Mathewson Stadium on Saturday, but the 57 brothers he had on the sideline -- and some 30 more not in uniform -- figured a lot more in the final analysis of his return to his leadership role with the Lafayette football team.

FOOTBALL: Opportunistic Lafayette topples Bucknell
The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pa.)/ By William Bowman
LEWISBURG -- Before Andrew Shoop could even answer the question, his head coach, seated at the other end of the table, was already nodding his head with an answer of his own. Thanks to a defense that forced three more turnovers, Lafayette was in position to put Bucknell away a couple of times on Saturday in the Patriot League opener for both teams. But the Leopards left some points on the field, giving Bucknell one last chance at the win at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College wide receiver Mike Duncan follows unusual path to College Hill
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Mike Duncan is your basic non-typical Lafayette College football player. The sophomore wide receiver's slender build might, at first glance (and second for that matter), allow him be mistaken for a soccer or baseball player, at 6-foot-1 and 180 (maybe) pounds. "I hope he ate two chicken sandwiches today," Leopard head coach Frank Tavani said at the weekly media luncheon. On a team filled with players from the Mid-Atlantic region and the South, Duncan is from Missoula, Mont.

FOOTBALL: A couple of midweek Leopard notes
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
We had Bucknell Coach Joe Susan on a conference call at Tuesday's media luncheon. While the depth chart in the weekly notes for the Bison lists Jeremiah Young, Charles Thompson and Justin Shangold at running back, Coach Susan said, "we're planning on using (Tyler Smith) this Saturday." Smith, the 5-9, 195-pound senior from North Penn High in Lansdale led the Patriot League in rushing last year with 795 yards, and a good chunk of that -- 212 yards on 42 carries -- came in the snow at Fisher Field as Bucknell ripped the Leopards 39-13. He had just five carries for 19 yards in the 2012 opener against Marist and sat out last week's Delaware game with an ankle injury.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's young linebacking corps looking like a major strength
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
As Lafayette College prepares to open its Patriot League football season at Bucknell University on Saturday, no position on the field may offer more of a surprise -- a pleasant one to Leopards fans, much less so to the Bison offensive staff -- than Lafayette's linebacker corps and its role in the team's 2-0 start. "As a group they are getting better and better no matter who's in the game," Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani said. What looked like a potential weakness due to lack of game experience a month ago now appears an athletic and dynamic area of strength thanks to the attacking and aggressive mindset of linebackers such as junior outside starter Kasheem Hill and inside reserve Colton Kirkpatrick, who have already made big plays for the Leopards.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

FOOTBALL: Duncan's development key for Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Mike Duncan went to summer camp between his junior and seniors years at Big Sky High School in Missoula, Mont. Check that, Duncan went to six camps. Each was just one day, and he and his dad, Rodger, hit all of them in less than two weeks -- and something like 2,500 miles from home. They went from Dartmouth to Penn to a number of open sessions. And, because he received an email inviting him, he also stopped at Lafayette. "I wanted to go to a good academic school, probably for engineering, I was thinking, and I still wanted to play Division I football," Duncan said Tuesday. "So, other than Stanford out west, which was kind of a stretch, it was mostly Ivy League and Patriot League schools that had both."

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football coach Frank Tavani confirms return of Andrew Shoop
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College head football coach Frank Tavani confirmed today that senior Andrew Shoop will be the starting quarterback for the Leopards' Patriot League opener Saturday at Bucknell University. Shoop had been suspended for last week's Lafayette victory over the University of Pennsylvania for "a violation of team rules," according to Tavani. The incident, details of which have not been made available, also cost Shoop his tri-captaincy of the Leopards (2-0). Seniors Darius Safford and Rick Lyster will serve as co-captains for the remainder of the season.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College defense's turnover show proves a real hit
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
If there's one statistic that captures the difference between Lafayette College's 0-2 start in 2011's football season and 2-0 in 2012, it's turnovers. Last year, the Leopards forced a total of 12 turnovers, just over one a game. In 2012, after just two games, Lafayette has 10 takeaways, including a startling eight, including a school-record tying seven interceptions, in Saturday's 28-21 defeat of the University of Pennsylvania at Fisher Stadium. It's not likely the Leopards will average five forced turnovers a game the rest of the season, but it's obvious that this defense has taken enormous strides from last season.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette turns tough situation into a positive
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Zach Zweizig will "more than likely" be back on the sidelines when Lafayette opens its Patriot League football season Saturday at Bucknell, but the Leopard coaches and players learned a lot about the sophomore quarterback that should come in handy in the future. Zweizig, who played his high school football at Wilson West Lawn and was somewhat of a surprise to Lafayette recruiters when he was still uncommitted less than two weeks prior to 2011 National Signing Day, started his first college game Saturday in place of suspended Andrew Shoop. Zweizig threw for two touchdowns and ran for one as the Leopards - with the help of seven pass interceptions and a fumble recovery -- defeated Penn 28-21 for their second straight victory. As tough as the week was for Tavani and the Leopards after the suspension decision was reached on Tuesday, the head coach couldn't resist looking at the silver lining in the whole scenario on Sunday.

FOOTBALL: Shoop speaks, special teams, injuries, etc.
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
When writing my Lafayette football followup for the Monday print edition of The Morning Call, I emailed Andrew Shoop and asked if he was interested in commenting about his suspension for the Penn game. He graciously consented and sent me the following, which was received too late to be used with the print story. The statement, along with the Monday-paper article, will constitute the end of the story for me. I, like Andrew, Coach Frank Tavani and, I'm sure, everyone else connected with the program, want to move on. I have respected and will respect Shoop and I understand fully the importance of forgiveness and a second chance. He deserves both.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football steps out, up, and in to down Penn, 28-21
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Stepping in, stepping out and stepping up. That theme summed up Lafayette College's remarkable and wildly entertaining 28-21 win over the University of Pennsylvania in front of 8,376 fans Saturday night at Fisher Stadium. Stepping in -- as in stepping in front of Penn passes -- provided the primary fuel for the victory as the Leopard secondary hauled in a school record-tying seven interceptions (five in the first half), two by senior co-captain Darius Safford, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College intercepts seven Penn passes en route to 28-21 win
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College's secondary made a primary contribution to tonight's 28-21 football win over the University of Pennsylvania at Fisher Stadium. The Leopards needed every big moment they got from their defense, as senior starting quarterback Andrew Shoop was suspended for the game for an undisclosed violation of team rules. Shoop was replaced by sophomore Zach Zweizig, who made his college debut in the home opener. Zweizig finished 13 for 20 passing for 134 yards and also ran a for touchdown.

FOOTBALL: Stand-in QB, 7 interceptions pace Leopards
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
The guy usually responsible for picking up his Lafayette College teammates let them down instead. The Leopards of 2010 and 2011 probably would have been ripped apart by the adversity. But not this bunch. Starting quarterback Andrew Shoop was serving a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules. But an outstanding relief effort by Zach Zweizig and a record-tying seven pass interceptions by the defense enabled Lafayette to defeat Penn 28-21 Saturday night. Coach Frank Tavani said the Fisher Stadium crowd showed a school spirit "that was unparalleled in a long time."

FOOTBALL: Penn struggles early, can't rally in 28-21 loss to Lafayette
The Philadelphia Inquirer/ By Mike Tony
EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette wasted no time turning its home opener into a party, handing Penn a loss to start the season for the second year in a row. The Leopards (2-0) dropped the Quakers, 28-21, at Fisher Field, ending Penn's first three drives with interceptions.

Friday, September 14, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-Penn: A scouting report
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
When I talked with Freedom High grad Zack Mazur at Tuesday's media luncheon, the conversation eventually came around to offensive line coach Stan Clayton. Mazur said Clayton was one of the main reasons why he chose Lafayette over the likes of Lehigh, Princeton Penn Holy Cross and Colgate. "I didn't want to go too far away from home, so a lot of the schools fit that, and from being with the coaches (during his visit to Lafayette), I loved Coach Clayton and wanted to learn from him." I asked Mazur what it was like when, in the middle of a practice, Clayton will bark out, "63, get out of there!" when he does something wrong. I always think I would probably cower at the rebuke, but Mazur said, "It makes you want to do it right so you don't get yelled at. It's not really yelling, it's more coaching; it's not how he's saying it, it's what he's saying. He wants it done right and you have to get the job done."

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's football win over William & Mary impresses Penn coach Al Bagnoli
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Al Bagnoli has been a head college football coach for 30 years, so the University of Pennsylvania coach knows what a strong effort looks like when he sees one. And Bagnoli, the dean of Ivy League coaches in his 21st season with the Quakers, saw one Saturday in Lafayette College's 17-14 season-opening win at William & Mary. "I want to congratulate Lafayette on a great win," said Bagnoli during a conference call at the weekly Lafayette media luncheon. "That's one of the best wins of (coach) Frank (Tavani's) tenure. To go down there and get a win like that over a scholarship team -- kudos to them."

Thursday, September 13, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Zack Mazur learning his trade quickly and thoroughly at right tackle
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Playing offensive line for Lafayette College this season comes with several built-in incentives to improve before the opposition even enters the picture, as sophomore right tackle and Freedom High School graduate Zack Mazur can tell you. Mazur is part of a rebuilt offensive line that was impressive in a 17-14 win at William & Mary to start the season and looks to continue to improve in Saturday's home opener versus the University of Pennsylvania at Fisher Stadium.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette win highlights a strong nonleague Saturday
The Morning Call/ By Keith Groller
It was a good Saturday for the Patriot League, which went 4-2 in nonleague games with the most impressive, of course, being Lafayette's win at Colonial Athletic Association power William & Mary. Lehigh coach Andy Coen, whose team beat Central Connecticut State to go to 2-0, took note of the Leopards' win in hostile territory and other wins recorded by league members. "I was thrilled to see Lafayette beat William & Mary," Coen said. "I thought it was a great win for the league, particularly as we're moving forward with the scholarship model.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's James Coscia will have plenty of support in Saturday's home football opener
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Lafayette College football fans heading to Fisher Stadium for Saturday night's home opener against the University of Pennsylvania from the Poconos may want to leave extra time for the James Coscia fan caravan. "I have lots of close family in the area and a lot of friends coming so I'll have a pretty good fan section," said Coscia, an East Stroudsburg South graduate. And he wants to reward his fans. "I'd love to get a sack for them," said Coscia, a sophomore defensive end who will be playing his first game at Fisher when the Quakers arrive for a 6 p.m. kickoff. Coscia may have more fans than he knows, attracted by his impressive debut in last week's thrilling 17-14 win at William & Mary. And given Coscia's versatility he could please that fan base with a sack and an interception -- after all, he posted a pass breakup and quarterback hit in his first college game.

FOOTBALL: Frank Tavani, Penn's Al Bagnoli speak out
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The Patriot League's decision to go to merit-based scholarships for football beginning with the class of 2013 is almost certainly going to have some kind of effect on the league's relationship with the Ivy League. So while we had Penn Coach Al Bagnoli on the phone on Tuesday, I asked him if he thought Penn will want to continue to play Lafayette in the future. "Our schedule this year, certainly, we are the only ones in our league playing three scholarship teams -- Lafayette now scholarship, Villanova has been on our schedule forever and we picked up William and Mary," he said. "Far and away, we have the most daunting non-league schedule of in our league. It's an issue we're going to have to look at and ask, 'Is it in our best interest to play three scholarship teams, two scholarship teams or one scholarship team.' It's hard to answer. It's a variable none of us thought about when we put together these schedules, which might have been five or 10 years ago. Kudos to the Patriot League. I think they are very progressive, and that allows them to open their schedule a little bit and play some other people and feel good about doing that. It puts the Ivy League out there isolated and our league is going to have to make some philosophical decisions on how we approach scheduling -- what do we do, where do we go, who do we align ourselves with, etc, etc. The issue needs to be discussed. There are no answers."

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

WOMEN'S SOCCER: Smedley enjoying senior season on pitch at Lafayette
The Trentonian/ By Joe O'Gorman
As her senior season began, Lauren Smedley felt both the joy of another chance to take the soccer field with her teammates while also understanding this is her final season at Lafayette. "It's bittersweet," said Smedley, the former Peddie star. "You want to go out with a great season and at the same time you don't want it to end." Smedley, the two-time Patriot League Goaltender of the Year, is Lafayette's career leader in shutouts. She's already bagged a Goaltender of the Week honor this season. Smedley is sporting a 0.80 goals against average and an .844 save percentage with three shutouts. The former Falcon has 23 career shutouts. Over the years, her toughest critic has been herself. But at the same time she brings a definite confidence to the field.

FOOTBALL: Local linemen helping Lafayette
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette's Tahir Basil said Tuesday he "felt like a proud father out there" as he watched offensive tackle Zack Mazur work on William & Mary defensive linemen during the Leopards' season-opening victory Saturday night in Williamsburg, Va. Basil, a senior who is a returning starter at defensive end, figures he had something to do with getting the inexperienced Mazur ready for his first collegiate start. And Mazur agrees. Basil, Mazur and James Coscia, who also made his first start on Saturday, were guests at Lafayette's weekly media luncheon; and while all are now well into the preparation for Saturday's 6 p.m. home opener against Penn, they were all still basking in the afterglow of a 17-14 victory over W&M, the Leopards' first opening-night win since 2009. Mazur, a 290-pound Freedom High product and Coscia, a 6-3, 240-pound defensive end and East Stroudsburg South grad, are members of a talented sophomore class that has brought some new life into the Lafayette program, which is coming off back-to-back losing seasons. Both were two-way starters for their high school teams but spent most of last year sitting. Coscia played in nine games as a freshman at Lafayette but had just five tackles. Mazur saw action in only one game in 2011.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football team follows in historic footsteps with win at William & Mary
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Once again Lafayette has conquered in Virginia. In 1781, it was Lafayette College's namesake who ran Lord Cornwallis to ground at Yorktown and made possible the great triumph there that assured the United States' victory in the Revolutionary War. Saturday's 17-14 Leopard win at William & Mary in Williamsburg, just minutes from Yorktown, perhaps won't make such a powerful impact in world history but head coach Frank Tavani made sure his team knew whose footsteps they walked in on the trip south.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football posts 'best win in a while' at William & Mary
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Saturday brought a good omen to Lafayette College's football team. The Leopards won their opener, 17-14 over host William & Mary, in a storm-rocked and heavily-soaked Zable Stadium. The omen? The Leopards hadn't won their opener since 2009 -- also the last time they posted a winning season. Whether Lafayette enjoys a winning season remains to be seen but the Leopards should surely enjoy an impressive road win over a quality foe top get the 2012 campaign underway. "That was the best win we've had in a while," Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said.

FOOTBALL: 'Hungry' Leopards get their fill in win over William and Mary
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
"Why do you want to open up with another powerhouse?" people asked Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani for months concerning the Leopards' season-opening opponent, William and Mary. And after the Tribe played Maryland tough before losing 7-6 on Sept. 1, the skeptics added things like, "You'll kill the kids." Tavani wasn't gloating when he mentioned those things late Saturday night after the Leopards, accorded minimal respect after a two-season run of 6-16, outplayed W&M on both sides of the ball and opened the season with a victory for the first time since 2009 with a 17-14 decision that was not as close as the score would indicate. But he did say of the victory, "That's the best one in a while, and we've had some great ones." Vaughn Hebron, who scored the Leopards' first touchdown, put it simply after the game: "I think we wanted it more than they did - I KNOW we wanted it more."

FOOTBALL: Cleaning out the Lafayette-W&M notebook
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
This year marks the fifth season of my second stint as the Lafayette football beat writer for The Morning Call. The last two years have not been a lot of fun for either the Leopards or the guys who report on them. But I've seen some impressive things, too. That 2008 victory over then-No. 14 Liberty -- in Lynchburg, no less -- stunned not only the Flames, but all the FCS world. And in 2009, the overtime win over Penn, the first win ever over Yale, the first win ever at Harvard and that Rob Curley aerial circus in the 56-49 win over Colgate will be remembered for a long time.

FOOTBALL: Tribe Falls to Lafayette in Home Opener
Williamsburg Yorktown Daily/ By Rob Turner
The William and Mary football team fell to Lafayette, 17-14, in its home opener on Saturday evening at Zable Stadium. Much of the contest was played in steady rain, as lightning forced an hour and twenty-minute delay late in the first quarter. While the inclement weather hampered both teams' offensive production, Lafayette (1-0) outgained the Tribe (0-2), 301-197, and controlled the time of possession by nearly 14 minutes (36:58-23:02).

Saturday, September 8, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-W&M game day report
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
WILLIAMSBURG -- Rain is still in the forecast, but you wouldn't know it now. Hot sun is BRUTAL. Maryland led Temple 26-0 at one point today. Last week W&M held Md to 7 pts. What does this mean? White shirts and black pants for the Leopards; green shirts and gold pants for the Tribe. And it's getting cooler in the press box because clouds are moving in. Talked to Andrew Anastor on Friday night. He is here filming the game for the coaches. Anastor says he is running the stairs at Fisher and the rehab is going well after four months. "I'll be ready to go in the spring," he said. Good news.

Friday, September 7, 2012

FOOTBALL:Long wait over, Crosby eager to show his worth
The Boston Globe/ By Marvin Pave
Pat Crosby worked diligently to get back onto the football field last fall at Lafayette College, earning a pair of starts at center in late October. But his return from off­season shoulder surgery proved to be a major challenge, so after the Leopards' 39-13 loss to Bucknell on Oct. 29, the former Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High stalwart was shut down for the final three games of a 4-7 season.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette-W&M: A scouting report
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Finally. It seems like we've been waiting forever for the Lafayette season to begin. No more. So, here are some notes to get you ready for the Leopards' game at 7 p.m. today in Zable Stadium.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Jason Marshalek ready to take on all comers at defensive tackle
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Jason Marshalek wants to take on everybody he can on the football field. And not one at a time, either. "I love the role of taking on two blockers at a time," the senior Lafayette College defensive lineman said. "If I can take on two or three blockers at a time it gives our linebackers a chance to run through free." Opposing offensive coordinators may not always grant Marshalek his wish, though, because with a defensive line as deep and talented as Lafayette's, choosing who among the three seniors to double team may be impossible. There's Marshalek, a 6-foot-4, 300-pounder who lines up at nose tackle and was the Leopards' Most Improved Player in 2011. There's 6-2, 280-pound Rick Lyster, a powerhouse defensive tackle who won second-team All-Patriot League honors. And there's 6-2, 260-pound Tahir Basil, speedy and explosive at one end.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College more than ready to get football season under way
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
After spring practice and summer workouts and training camp and a bye week to start the season, Lafayette College's football players want the real thing badly. "When you think about it we've just been hitting each other since the end of last season," said junior left guard Brad Bormann, a Hunterdon Central graduate, at Tuesday's media luncheon. "We're excited just to unload on somebody else. A lot of preparation has gone into that pressure cooker that gets under way Saturday night."

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Andrew Shoop, always a leader, now a polished quarterback, too
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
It may have taken time for Andrew Shoop to master the intricacies of playing quarterback. It may have taken time for Shoop to harness his comprehensive athletic ability to the discipline and mental demands of playing quarterback. It's actually still taking time for Andrew Shoop to become the ultimate practice player for playing quarterback. But the Lafayette College senior tri-captain and quarterback knew leadership the minute he stepped on the field.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette feeling the electricity heading into season opener
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
"I'm pumped up; I'm chomping at the bit," Lafayette College quarterback Andrew Shoop said Tuesday. "Honestly, the fever pitch has reached the place where it is contagious for everyone," offensive guard Brad Bormann said. "The electricity is palpable; you can feel it." "Any time you have a month of going against each other, your friends across the line, that gets a little old, and we're looking forward to seeing a green jersey," head coach Frank Tavani said. All the Leopards are on the same page on this one. Bring on William and Mary. Lafayette will try to snap a two-game season-opener losing streak when it travels to Williamsburg, Va., on Saturday to take on the Tribe (0-1) at 7 p.m. in Zable Stadium.

Monday, September 3, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette football team wants to get back to winning ways
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Lafayette College football coach Frank Tavani really had his positive game face on on Feb. 4, 2009, when he said in a college news release that some extra hard work by his staff "helped us put together one of the best Lafayette football classes in recent history." That kind of rhetoric is not uncommon on National Letter of Intent Day. The problem was, and Tavani didn't make a big deal of it at the time, that the class consisted of only 17 players. That small class, and one the year before, were the products of drastic cutbacks in financial aid because of weakened economic conditions.

FOOTBALL: Five questions for Lafayette football
The Morning Call/ By Paul Reinhard
Who's got their back? - For the first time in a long time, Lafayette enters the season without at least one returning starter at linebacker, a position that has churned out some outstanding talent during the Tavani era. But it seems that no position has gotten better reviews during summer camp than the linebacking corps; and if the Leopards are to shore up a rushing defense that allowed an average of 165.5 yards per game last year and 173.2 ypg in 2010, some of those first-time starters and their backups are going to need to step up. The man in the middle, junior Mike Boles, is listed at 6-3, 230, but he may be closer to 240 and has been a rock at the position. He is a two-time letterman who blocked a punt last year against Penn. Fellow juniors Ben Aloi, another two-time letterman who played in all 11 games last year, and Kasheem Hill, who also played in every 2011 game, have had strong summer camps. Sophomore Colton Kirkpatrick and freshmen Chris Brockman (on the two-deep) and Mark Dodd have made an impression.

FOOTBALL: Basil diving into his senior season at Lafayette
Mcall.com SportsTalk Blog/ By Paul Reinhard
The entry on Twitter that day was: "Double back-flip off the high dive just what the doctor ordered before my first full practice after the Eid tomorrow." It came from Lafayette senior defensive lineman Tahir Basil, who is a Muslim and who missed the first two weeks of practice because he was observing the month-long Ramadan, which is considered the most sacred month on the Islamic calendar and which includes a sunrise-to-sunset fast each day. Every year, some part or nearly all of Ramadan has fallen during Lafayette's summer football camp. For three years, Basil observed Ramadan, but also continued to practice, albeit at a weakened level. The fast, combined with the hot summer weather, resulted in weight losses of between 15 and 20 pounds. Coach Frank Tavani decided this year to hold Basil out of the portion of summer camp that coincided with Ramadan.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Ethan Swerdlow may take on double duty in kicking game
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
A kicking guru from 3,000 miles away may make a huge difference for Lafayette College's football team this fall. Leopard fans found out last fall that John Matich can produce solid punters. This fall they may find out if Matich is equally adept at teaching placekicking. Matich runs The Kicking System, a kicking academy based in San Diego, and one of his star pupils is Lafayette College senior punter and placekicker Ethan Swerdlow. "I still see John when I go home," said the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Swerdlow, a resident of La Jolla, Calif. "He helps with technique, films me, narrows parts of my technique to focus on, gives me his personal experience. He makes me a better kicker." Swerdlow made a pretty good punter for Lafayette in 2011. He was named to the first-team All-Patriot League team as a punter, averaging 39.6 yards a punt with 10 fair catches, 13 kicks downed inside the 20 versus just three touchbacks and no blocked punts.

Monday, August 27, 2012

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lafayette's Delaney, Willen continuing their careers overseas
Mcall.com Varsity Blog/ By Tom Housenick
A pair of Lafayette graduates are going to continue playing basketball. Guard Rob Delaney and forward Ryan Willen have signed professional contracts with Denmark's Aalborg Vikings. "I think it's tremendous for Rob and Ryan," Leopards coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "They will be able to continue their playing careers and it will be a great cultural opportunity as well. They've worked so hard over the past four years and I'm glad to see them continue playing together, which is pretty cool for them." Delaney and Willen are excited at the chance to play professionally, but the decision-making process was not an easy one for Delaney.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College's Mark Ross enters season as a man to watch among Patriot League wide receivers
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Mark Ross' cover has been blown. Ross came into Lafayette College's 2011 football season cloaked with the cover of anonymity. As a freshman wide receiver in 2010, he didn't even step on the field. So when Ross won a starting job in the offseason with a spectacular spring performance, he was still pretty much an unknown to the Patriot League. Not for long. The 6-foor-3, 215-pound Hopewell High School graduate earned second-team all-league honors and led Lafayette in virtually every receiving category with a spectacular sophomore season. He hauled in 49 catches for 703 yards and nine touchdowns, and his 73-yard TD against Penn represented the longest play from scrimmage of the season for the Leopards.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

FOOTBALL: Five Questions: Sports broadcaster Gary Laubach discusses the upcoming football season
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
For this week's Five Questions, sports columnist Brad Wilson sits down with Gary Laubach, sports director and broadcaster with RCN who can also be seen on the Lafayette Sports Network. Laubach provides play-by-play for Lafayette College football and basketball.

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College defensive end Tahir Basil taking major steps forward
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Beware the empty tables, Lafayette College football fans. Tahir Basil took a big personal step this summer. And now the senior defensive end wants to help his Lafayette College football team take big steps forward this fall. "If we play to the level of our talent, we can be a great defense," said the 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior from Philadelphia. Basil, 22, enjoyed a great moment in his life when he got married in June to a longtime friend.

Friday, August 24, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College cornerback Kyni Scott hopes to leave injury-filled past behind
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Beware the empty tables, Lafayette College football fans. Kyni Scott wants one thing from this Lafayette College football season: to stay healthy. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior cornerback wasn't healthy in 2011. He played in two games and then disappeared with an ankle injury. "Injuries come with the game; accidents happen you could say, but it was really frustrating," the Middletown, N.Y. resident said. "Sophomore year I got injured (an ankle, missing four games). Then last year I got hurt again, I had a slow recovery, and just when when I started feeling good I got hurt again and lost a whole season." As the Leopards prepare to open their season Sept. 8 at William & Mary, there might be no Lafayette player more ready to get on the field and hit somebody than Scott.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

FOOTBALL: Lafayette College football's drought of seniors may stand in way of improvement
The Express-Times/ By Brad Wilson
Beware the empty tables, Lafayette College football fans. Usually, at the Leopards' football Media Day activity, the Wilson Room of the Pfenning Alumni Center bursts at the seams with burly senior football players ready to meet the press. Not on Wednesday. The Leopards seniors didn't fill two tables -- even with two underclassmen boosting the count. It was so bad some food was even left over. There's a senior shortage on College Hill, and many of the challenges that lie ahead for the Leopards this season can be explained by the relative lack of seniors.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012