Ty Souders

Classroom

Souders has enjoyed strong success in the classroom, owning a 3.54 GPA as a Finance major. He has been named to the end-of-year Patriot League Academic Honor Roll on multiple occasions while making the Dean’s List each of the last two semesters. Souders has garnered the Faculty Athletics Council Award every semester (for a GPA over 3.2). He’s been one of only 11 players in the league named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team, earning a spot on the team each of the last two seasons. Souders has work experience in his field at Solebury Capital Group as an Equity Capital Markets Summer Analyst. He worked there this past summer, performing a case study analyzing gross spreads for all IPO’s from 2008-2013, using data pulled from Dealogic in order to determine the affect on bank proceeds when an advisor was on the deal. He was responsible for updating various databases, daily market summaries and drafting internal memos. Souders contributed to the breakdown of pitch books into a consolidated summary for clients, specifically created biography pages on research analysts.

Character

Souders was voted a captain for the 2014 season; he was a game captain as a junior last season. Souders has been part of Lehigh’s Leadership Legacies Program where he participates in biweekly workshops to become a more effective team leader. As part of the program, he studies conflict resolution, communication and group dynamics. Souders is a tremendous influence for his younger teammates in all areas. The Macungie, Pa. native is also a founder/coach of Souders Defensive Fundamentals. He teaches hour-long private lessons for high school defensemen who want to improve their fundamental and overall lacrosse knowledge. Souders organizes lesson plans and schedule facilities to the satisfaction of athletes and their parents.

Community

Lehigh men’s lacrosse is very active in the local community and Souders has helped pave the way. He recently volunteered at the Bethlehem Boys and Girls Club and Calypso Elementary Homework Club on Wednesday afternoons during the fall semester, doing various activities with the youngsters, including help with homework and athletics. Souders has been involved with Make a Wish, MS Society, selling t-shirts and collecting change while helping to raise over $2,000 for various charities. Souders and the Mountain Hawks host a yearly “Community Night” in the fall as local youngsters converge at Lehigh for a one-hour clinic with the players and coaches. Souders has been involved with C.O.A.C.H. at Lehigh (Community Outreach by Athletes who Care about Helping), a service program that operates in accord with the National Consortium for Academics and Sports to help middle and high school student-athletes and their peers, make informed choices regarding their education, drug and alcohol issues and other factors which may affect reaching their full potential. Souders and other Lehigh student-athletes talk about substance abuse, time management, academic motivation and other concerns of younger students and student-athletes. 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, group outings to Lehigh athletic events and more. One special event is an annual Adopt-A-Family around the holidays. Each Lehigh Athletics team adopts an underprivileged family and provides them with a Christmas.

Competition

Souders excelled since setting foot on campus. He started every game and has been part of Lehigh Lacrosse’s transformation (and especially the defense), which has become one of the best in the country. The Lehigh defense ranked second nationally in 2012, holding opponents to just 6.61 goals per game. The Mountain Hawks followed in 2013 by finishing sixth in the nation (7.94 goals per game). Lehigh currently stands fourth in the nation in 2014 allowing just 7.22 goals per game. A local product out of Emmaus High School, Souders owns 139 career groundballs and 56 caused turnovers, earning All-America recognition as a sophomore and junior. Souders also garnered All-Patriot League (and Academic All-Patriot League) honors this season for a third straight year. He was named to the first team as a sophomore and second team as a junior and senior. Souders wrapped up his senior season with 44 groundballs and 14 caused turnovers. He had 29 groundballs and eight caused turnovers as a freshman, 31 and 15 as a sophomore and 35 and 19 as a junior. The Mountain Hawks advanced to a third straight Patriot League Championship Game this season and have been in the national polls for most of the year. Lehigh beat Navy and Army to extend its Patriot League Tournament winning streak to six games. Souders was named to the All-Tournament team. Souders was the team’s lone captain in 2014.