National, Regional Recognition Flowing In
We’ll start with soccer, most notably on the men’s side. Colgate’s Alex Weekes, the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week, received the Player of the Week honor from the ECAC. Two players who just lost out to Weekes for the League honor, Bucknell’s Conor O’Brien and Lafayette’s B.J. Glenn, were selected as two of 11 players on College Soccer News’ Team of the Week. There was recognition for some of the teams as well, as five Patriot League schools were in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region top 10. Lafayette took the top spot for a PL school at No. 2, followed by Bucknell at No. 4, Colgate at No. 5, American at No. 7 and Navy at No. 10. Lafayette, off to a 4-0-1 start, also received votes in the national rankings. The Leopards will face Northern Illinois and Northwestern in Chicago this weekend, while Navy plays Temple and Penn in Philadelphia and every other team takes to the pitch once. In the women’s soccer regional rankings, Navy is eighth in the Mid-Atlantic with a 6-1-1 record. The Mids host VMI and go to Mt. St. Mary’s on Friday and Sunday.
Two Patriot League football student-athletes followed up their League plaudits with a national honor, as Bucknell’s A.J. Kizekai was honored by the College Sporting News and Colgate’s Greg Sullivan was selected by the ECAC. There have already been three national honorees out of the Patriot League in just two weeks, with Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph selected by The Sports Network last week. The Crusaders maintained their position in The Sports Network top 25, moving to No. 23 on the Monday. They will face off in a battle of ranked opponents when they host No. 25 Harvard on Saturday, while Lafayette hosts No. 24 Liberty in a great chance to provide two non-League wins over ranked opponents.
In field hockey, American climbed back into the national rankings at No. 19 in Monday’s Kookaburra/NFHCA coaches poll. The Eagles posted a 3-1 win over then-No. 13 Penn State on Sunday to earn the recognition, and will host California on Friday and travel to No. 13 James Madison on Sunday this week. Lafayette also showed up in the others receiving votes category, and the Leopards enhanced their case for national recognition by beating Penn State, 1-0, on Wednesday.
One of the bigger upsets came in volleyball, where Army knocked off then-No. 19 Pepperdine on the road on Saturday. It was Army’s first win against an AVCA Top 25 opponent. The Black Knights also received an honor for a recent graduate, as Briana Stremick ’09 was named the 2009 ECAC Robbins Scholar-Athlete Of The Year
With the wins by Army volleyball and American field hockey, as well as earlier victories against nationally ranked opponents by the American men and Navy women in soccer, the Patriot League is looking pretty good on the national scene so far. And a couple of the League’s top football teams have a chance to add their name to that list on Saturday.
