2002 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team

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.

2002 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football
Conference	Patriot League
2002 record	8–4 (4–3 Patriot)
Head coach	Pete Lembo (2nd season)
Captains	Matt Salvaterra Jeff Santacroce
Home stadium	Goodman Stadium

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

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

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
August 29	at Buffalo*	No. 6	University at Buffalo Stadium Amherst, NY	W 37–26	21,103	[4]
September 7	Georgetown	No. 3	Goodman Stadium Bethlehem, PA	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	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	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	Towson University Stadium Towson, MD	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	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 21–12	2,247	[11]
November 2	at Fordham	No. 16	Coffey Field Bronx, NY	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	Fisher Field Easton, PA (The Rivalry)	L 7–14	13,750	[14]
*Non-conference game Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game

References

1. "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.