Dan Taylor

Classroom

Taylor has enjoyed success in the classroom, especially as his career has progressed. He earned a spot on the 2013 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll (for a spring semester GPA above 3.2). Taylor also garnered the Faculty Athletics Council Award that semester and in the fall of 2014. Taylor began his Lehigh career in the business school, but has since become an English major and owns a strong 3.30 GPA in his English classes.

Character

Taylor was voted as a team captain for the 2015 season by his peers. He emerged as a leader of the Mountain Hawks in 2014, when he not only became an All-American with his play on the field, but was also a leader among his peers and a unifying factor. When Taylor was playing well, so was his team. In the five games he tallied seven or more points as a junior, the Mountain Hawks went a perfect 5-0.

Taylor is a leader in the lacrosse community as someone who youngsters (both locally in the Lehigh Valley and back home in Canada) look up to. He also is part of Lehigh’s Leadership Legacies program through which select leaders from across the department meet to talk about responsibilities and leadership techniques that will help their respective programs. The focus is on practical application of emotionally intelligent leadership and the navigation of team leadership challenges in partnership with their coaches.

Community

Lehigh men’s lacrosse is very active in the local community, and Taylor has helped pave the way. During the fall semester, the Mountain Hawks separated into four groups and spent Wednesday afternoons at four locations: Calypso Elementary School, Nitschmann Middle School, Lehigh Child Care Center and South Bethlehem Boys & Girls Club.

Taylor and the Mountain Hawks also host an annual “Community Night” in the fall as local youngsters converge at Lehigh for a one-hour clinic with the players and coaches. Taylor and all the Lehigh student-athletes are involved with C.O.A.C.H. at Lehigh (Community Outreach by Athletes who Care about Helping), which is a service program to help middle and high school student-athletes and their peers make informed choices regarding their education, drug and alcohol issues and other factors. Lehigh student-athletes talk about substance abuse, time management, academic motivation and other concerns of younger students. Lehigh student-athletes also participate in the “Reading Rocks” program.

The C.O.A.C.H. program handles numerous presentations to student groups in settings ranging from team meetings to school assemblies to sports banquets. They also run sports clinics with an educational theme, outings to Lehigh athletic events and more. One special event, which Taylor and the C.O.A.C.H. program have coordinated, is an annual Adopt-a-Family during the holidays. Each Lehigh Athletics team adopts an underprivileged family and raises money throughout the semester to purchase holiday presents for their adopted family. The event wraps up with an event where the student-athletes present the gifts to the families. Nearly $30,000 is raised annually.

Competition

Taylor has developed into one of the best players at his position. He contributed from the get-go, tallying 11 goals and six assists in Lehigh’s 2012 Patriot League Championship season. Taylor scored two of the game’s first three goals in the championship-game victory over Colgate. Taylor reached 50 points in 2013 (29 goals, 21 assists) as the Mountain Hawks won another championship. He continued to improve as a junior, finishing seventh nationally with 76 points (47 goals, 29 assists), which was tops on the team and Patriot League, and the most among Canadian-born Division I players.

Taylor was named a First-Team All-Patriot League honoree and an Honorable Mention All-American in 2014, and he reached seven or more points on five different occasions. Included was a four-goal, four-assist effort in the Patriot League Semifinals against the nation’s top scoring defense (Army) as the Mountain Hawks won 12-11 to reach their third straight Patriot League championship game. Taylor earned Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week the last three weeks of the regular season.

Over Taylor’s first three seasons, the Mountain Hawks won 39 games, tied for third nationally in that span trailing only Duke and Loyola while standing tied with Denver. Prior to this season, Taylor was named a Preseason First-Team All-Patriot League member and a Preseason All-American. He’s been tabbed by many as a legitimate Tewaaraton Award candidate. Taylor was selected by Denver in the MLL Collegiate Draft and is also expected to be selected high in the NLL Draft.