2002 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team

2002 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football
ConferencePatriot League
Record8–4 (4–3 Patriot)
Head coach
Defensive coordinatorTom Gilmore (3rd season)
Captains
  • Matt Salvaterra
  • Jeff Santacroce
Home stadiumGoodman Stadium
Seasons
← 2001
2003 →
2002 Patriot League football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 12 Fordham +^   6 – 1     10 – 3  
No. 25 Colgate +   6 – 1     9 – 3  
Lafayette   5 – 2     7 – 5  
Lehigh   4 – 3     8 – 4  
Towson   3 – 4     6 – 5  
Georgetown   2 – 5     5 – 6  
Holy Cross   2 – 5     4 – 8  
Bucknell   0 – 7     2 – 9  
  • + – Conference co-champions
  • ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from The Sports Network poll

The 2002 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team was an American football team that represented Lehigh University during the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Lehigh finished fourth in the Patriot League.

In their second year under head coach Pete Lembo, the Mountain Hawks compiled an 8–4 record.[1] Matt Salvaterra and Jeff Santacroce were the team captains.[2]

The Mountain Hawks outscored opponents 319 to 216. Their 4–3 conference record placed fourth out of eight in the Patriot League standings.[3] The fourth-place finish broke a four-year streak of conference championships for Lehigh.

Lehigh was ranked No. 6 in the preseason national Division I-AA poll, and remained ranked until the final game of the season. The Mountain Hawks' ranking peaked at No. 2 in the poll released September 10 (a bye week for Lehigh), but scattered losses throughout the year saw the team drop steadily. Following their rivalry loss to Lafayette, the Mountain Hawks were unranked in the season-ending poll, and did not participate in the national playoffs for the first time since 1997.

Lehigh played its home games at Goodman Stadium on the university's Goodman Campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
August 29 at Buffalo* No. 6
W 37–26 21,103 [4]
September 7 Georgetown No. 3
W 69–0 9,368 [5]
September 21 Princeton* No. 3
  • Goodman Stadium
  • Bethlehem, PA
W 31–24 12,176 [6]
September 28 at Penn* No. 4
L 21–24 13,275 [7]
October 5 at No. 25 Harvard* No. 14
  • Goodman Stadium
  • Bethlehem, PA
W 36–35 9,458 [8]
October 12 at Towson No. 10
L 19–23 3,137 [9]
October 19 at Yale* No. 19
  • Goodman Stadium
  • Bethlehem, PA
W 14–7 8,670 [10]
October 26 at Holy Cross No. 18
W 21–12 2,247 [11]
November 2 at Fordham No. 16
W 26–23 OT 5,728 [12]
November 9 Colgate No. 16
  • Goodman Stadium
  • Bethlehem, PA
L 14–28 15,023 [13]
November 16 Bucknell No. 23
  • Goodman Stadium
  • Bethlehem, PA
W 24–0 [1]
November 23 at Lafayette No. 20
L 7–14 13,750 [14]

References

  1. ^ a b "Year-by-Year Results". Lehigh Football Record Book (PDF). Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University. p. 23. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  2. ^ "Lehigh Football Captains". Lehigh Football Record Book (PDF). Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University. p. 12. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  3. ^ "Football All-Time Year-by-Year Results". Patriot League Football Record Book (PDF). Center Valley, Pa.: Patriot League. 2020. p. 8. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  4. ^ Groller, Keith (August 30, 2002). "Lehigh Wings It, Tops Buffalo". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pa. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Groller, Keith (September 8, 2002). "Lehigh Unleashes on Georgetown". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pa. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com. Attendance figure in Paul Reinhard column on same page.
  6. ^ Groller, Keith (September 22, 2002). "Lehigh Salvages a Victory Thanks to Salvaterra". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pa. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com. Attendance figure in Paul Reinhard column on page C8.
  7. ^ Groller, Keith (September 29, 2002). "Princeton Snaps Lehigh's Streak". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pa. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com. Headline error is in source. Attendance figure in "Ivy League Standings, Summaries". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. September 29, 2002. p. C17.
  8. ^ Burris, Joe (October 6, 2002). "Crimson Thrown for a Loss". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C17 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Baker, Kent (October 13, 2002). "Towson Rises, Pulls Down Lehigh, 23-19". The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Md. p. 11D – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Hine, Tommy (October 20, 2002). "For Yale, No Finishing Touch; Can't Take Advantage of Lehigh's Errors". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Conn. pp. E11, E12 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Toland, Jennifer (October 27, 2002). "Crusaders' All Is Not Enough to Beat Lehigh". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C18 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Brennan, Sean (November 3, 2002). "Lehigh Leaves Rams Kicking". Daily News. New York, N.Y. pp. 60, 76 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Groller, Keith (November 10, 2002). "Lehigh Runs Out of Comebacks". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pa. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Groller, Keith (November 24, 2002). "Lafayette Marches Past Lehigh, 14-7". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pa. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.