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Lauren Calabrese
Lauren Calabrese enters her second season as the head coach of the Lehigh women's soccer program. A 2007 Lehigh graduate, Lauren Calabrese was named the fifth head coach in Lehigh women's soccer history on January 25, 2022. Calabrese spent the previous six seasons on the sidelines as the associate head coach after rejoining the program in 2016. In those six seasons, the Mountain Hawks have posted a 40-42-15 record, including a 21-22-8 mark in the Patriot League, advancing to the league tournament in 4-of-6 seasons and the championship game in 2018. The three straight Patriot League Tournament appearances from 2016-18 tied a program record (the other being during Calabrese’s playing days from 2004-06).
Calabrese's first season as a head coach was highlighted by a 5-2-2 Patriot League campaign that saw the Mountain Hawks reach the Patriot League semifinals for the first time since 2018. The Mountain Hawks went 8-7-3 overall, finishing fourth in the Patriot League regular season. Lehigh hosted a Patriot League quarterfinal, hammering Navy 4-0 for its largest-ever win over the Midshipmen. Five Mountain Hawks earned All-Patriot League honors, highlighted by sophomore Corinne Lyght, who scored a Patriot League-leading seven goals to earn Offensive Player of the Year accolades.
The Mountain Hawks reached the title game in 2018 for the first time since 2010, when Calabrese was volunteer assistant coach on Lehigh’s staff. Needing a win to keep its season alive, Lehigh picked up a thrilling 2-1 victory at Holy Cross in the regular season finale. The Mountain Hawks went on to post 2-1 victories at Bucknell and vs. Colgate in the Patriot League Quarterfinals and Semifinals. Kayla Arestivo scored the game-winning goal in the final seconds of double overtime at Bucknell, while Sabrina Mertz netted the game-winner in the final minute against Colgate. Earlier in the week, Arestivo was named a first team All-Patriot League honoree while Mertz garnered second-team laurels. Arestivo went on to be earn All-Region recognition. In the championship game at Boston University, the Mountain Hawks gave themselves a chance deep into the contest, with BU scoring the game’s only goal in the 73rd minute.
Despite just missing the tournament for the first time in four years, the 2019 season actually saw the Mountain Hawks post a better Patriot League mark than the year prior. Lehigh finished 3-5-1, which included the program’s first-ever win over Boston University and a home victory over Holy Cross. The Senior Day win over the Crusaders handed the Crusaders what proved to be their only league defeat of the regular season. Lehigh also beat Bucknell, 3-1, scoring three goals in 12:18 to turn a 1-0 deficit into a comfortable victory. In the end, the Mountain Hawks defeated the two programs, BU and Bucknell, who had combined to win the previous six league tournament titles. As a team, the Mountain Hawks finished second in the Patriot League in goals against average (0.82). Individually, Arestivo was named All-Region for a second straight season while Mary Casey was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team.
The 2020 season was played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shortened six-game, Patriot League only schedule began with a 1-0 win over American and later saw ties against Bucknell, eventual league finalist Colgate and Loyola. Erin Keefe was named second team All-Patriot League and second team United Soccer Coaches All-Region. Meanwhile, Ryelle Shuey and Rebecca Van Siclen were named to the third team. Goalkeeper Miranda Royds wrapped up a stellar career in goal, posting a 0.60 goals against average for the season (third in program history) to finish her career with a 0.82 GAA (good for second in program history in a career). Royds was named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week following a scoreless draw at Bucknell. She pitched three shutouts to finish her career with 12 clean sheets.
In the fall of 2021, Lehigh reached the Patriot League Tournament for the fourth time in Calabrese's six seasons, with a 4-4-1 league record that saw the Mountain Hawks improve as the season progressed. Five Mountain Hawks garnered All-Patriot League recognition led by senior center back Erin Keefe, who earned first-team accolades.
In her first season, Calabrese helped lead Lehigh to an 11-5-2 record in 2016, its best finish in the regular season standings (third) and most wins since the Mountain Hawks’ 2010 Patriot League Championship campaign. The Mountain Hawks began the season with eight straight shutouts and a 7-0-1 record. The shutout streak reached 832:31 (dating back to the previous season) before the team was scored upon. Lehigh’s defense was anchored by freshman goalkeeper Sam Miller, whose personal shutout streak of 758:34, is among the top 25 longest shutout streaks in NCAA history. She finished the season with a stellar 0.64 GAA (now third in school history) and 0.859 save percentage to earn second team All-Patriot League honors. Adrian Vitello and Alyssa Riporti garnered first team laurels and All-Region recognition. Lehigh won 13 Patriot League weekly awards on the season while Miller was named the NSCAA National Division I College Player of the Week following shutouts of Binghamton and Villanova. The Mountain Hawks’ highlight win came at Bucknell when they defeated the previously-undefeated (13-0-1) Bison. Lehigh scored three first-half goals against a Bucknell team that had allowed just six all season entering the contest (14 games).
A year later in 2017, Lehigh was 9-5-4, 5-2-2 in the Patriot League. The league record was even better than the team’s 5-3-1 mark the year prior. The Mountain Hawks swept a weekend against Big East foes, defeating Villanova (1-0) and St. John’s (2-1) to spark a six-game unbeaten streak spanning most of the month of September. Lehigh was shut-out just twice in Patriot League play, finishing league play with 12 goals, third most in school history for league games. Individually, Riporti and Vitello earned All-Region for a second straight year while Miller, Stratton and Maggie Wadsworth also garnered All-Patriot League recognition. Lehigh’s five honorees were its most since its championship campaign of 2010. Miller one-upped her freshman-year GAA (0.58), good for second in school history. Off the field, Stratton was named Academic All-District by CoSIDA, Miller received Academic All-League recognition and Riporti was named a candidate for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, Lehigh’s first honoree since Jana Basubas in 2011.
A 2007 Lehigh graduate, Calabrese rejoined the Mountain Hawks’ staff after previously serving as volunteer assistant. Calabrese also played college soccer at Lehigh from 2003-06 then served as volunteer assistant during Lehigh’s 2010 Patriot League Championship season. As a player, Calabrese was a four-year starter and second team All-League honoree in 2003. She is currently fifth in school history with 13 career assists, which included eight as a freshman in 2003. In the classroom, she was a four-year member of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
Calabrese has garnered plenty of coaching experience since graduating from Lehigh. She returns to Lehigh from Moravian Academy where she taught and served as head girls’ varsity soccer coach. Calabrese was head coach of FC LVU Lady Sonic in the summer of 2014 while serving as head coach of the FC LVU Under 17 Girls’ Team since 2009. She has also been a volunteer with Soccer Without Borders since 2009.
Along with graduating from Lehigh with her Bachelor of Arts in English in 2007, Calabrese also earned her Master of Arts in Education (in 2011) and English (in 2013). Calabrese is also an adjunct professor in the English Department at Lehigh; for the past three years, she has taught Research and Argument during the spring semester.
Calabrese resides in the Lehigh Valley with her husband, Kyle Collina '06, and sons Tucker and Skyler.
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