Nov. 7, 2011

Center Valley, Pa. -- The Patriot League announced its weekly awards for Oct. 31-Nov. 6 in men's soccer, volleyball and swimming and diving Monday.

The regular season slate in men's soccer closed Saturday, with American wrapping up the top overall seed for this weekend's Patriot League Tournament. The Eagles had to sweat just a bit after dropping a 1-0 decision at Holy Cross, but hosting duties were confirmed when Colgate and Navy battled to a scoreless draw. That tie, along with Lehigh's 3-0 win over Army Saturday night, clinched a tournament berth for the Mids for the first time since 2001 and put the Mountain Hawks in for the third year in a row. American hosts Navy Friday at 11 a.m., while Colgate takes on Lehigh at 2 p.m. in the other semifinal. Sunday's championship match is set for 1 p.m.

The field of four was set over the weekend for the Patriot League Tournament in women's volleyball, and the jockeying for position continues heading into the final weekend of the regular season. American defeated Army in four sets Saturday to take a one-match lead in the standings over the Black Knights, and now the Eagles need one victory next weekend against either Lafayette or Lehigh to secure tournament hosting responsibilities for the second year in a row and 10th time in 11 tries. Meanwhile, Lehigh went 2-0 and picked up a five-set win over Colgate Saturday to move into sole possession of third place with two matches left. The Raiders, however, still own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Mountain Hawks.

In swimming and diving, both the Navy men and women posted 3-0 records Saturday in a quad meet inside Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md., against visiting League opponents American, Bucknell and Lafayette. The meet, which was contested in long-course meters, served as an early chance for the Eagles, Bison and Leopards to get reacquainted with the pool on The Yard before it hosts the Patriot League Championship Meet in February. Meanwhile, Army split with Connecticut at West Point, N.Y., while Lehigh swept Rider in Bethlehem, Pa.


Patriot League Men's Soccer Weekly Awards

BRINE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
STEVEN MILLER, COLGATE Sr., Ivyland, Pa.
Miller notched his first career hat trick and the first by a Patriot Leaguer this season as Colgate drew Harvard 3-3 Tuesday in Cambridge, Mass. Now with 11 goals on the year, Miller increased his lead in the League standings, sitting four markers ahead of a second-place tie, while his 23 points are six ahead of second. He now has 26 career goals, which ties him for fourth in Colgate annals and knots him in ninth in League history. Miller and the Raiders wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament.

BRINE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
MICHAEL LEMONICK, NAVY Fr., D, Wynnewood, Pa.
Lemonick's defensive efforts were instrumental in Navy securing at least one point in Saturday's match at Colgate. Lemonick played all 110 minutes of the scoreless draw and led a strong defensive effort that delivered the Mids their fourth clean sheet of the season. He came up with a critical defensive save in the 79th minute, chesting down a ball that was headed toward an open net and clearing it out of danger to keep the game scoreless. Lemonick has made four straight starts with Navy going 3-0-1 in that span, with the Mids allowing just two goals over 384 minutes.

BRINE GOALKEEPER OF THE WEEK
MAX RENALDO, NAVY Jr., GK, Tampa, Fla.
Renaldo posted a five-save shutout Saturday as Navy secured a 0-0 draw at Colgate. The lone point was enough to put the Mids into the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2001. Renaldo made his best saves of the match in the second half, coming up with two sensational stops with 15 minutes to go in regulation to keep Colgate off the scoreboard. It was Renaldo's first career clean sheet, and his five saves are also a career best. Three of those stops came in the second overtime. He improved to 2-0-1 on the season with a 0.44 goals-against average.

BRINE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
JIMMY McLAUGHLIN, COLGATE Fr., M, Malvern, Pa.
McLaughlin tallied an assist in the Raiders' 3-3 draw at Harvard last week. He has been a contributor all season for the Raiders, starting all 19 of the team's matches, and now has five points on the year with one goal and three assists. It's McLaughlin's third Rookie of the Week nod this season.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
JOE PULEO, LEHIGH Sr., F, Preston, Pa.
Puleo scored Lehigh's second goal and tallied an assist for a three-point night in his team's 3-0 victory Saturday over visiting Army. The win lifted Lehigh into the Patriot League Tournament for the third year in a row. The Mountain Hawks are the No. 3 seed.

KYLE SCHARFENBERG, LAFAYETTE Jr., M, Sylvania, Ohio
Scharfenberg tallied three goals on the week, including both of Lafayette's markers in its 2-0 win at Bucknell Saturday. The victory briefly put the Leopards into the Patriot League Tournament picture, but Navy's tie at Colgate and Lehigh's victory over Army wrapped up the final two bids to the tournament for the Mids and Mountain Hawks. He sits tied for second in the League with seven goals and 16 points. His goal total is the most for a Leopard since 2007, while it's the highest point total for a Lafayette player since '06.

SEAN PECKHAM, LAFAYETTE Jr., M, Warminster, Pa.
Peckham picked up three assists last week, and collected helpers on both of Kyle Scharfenberg's markers in Saturday's season-ending 2-0 victory at Bucknell. He's currently tied for first in the League with six assists.


Patriot League Women's Volleyball Weekly Awards

MOLTEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
TAYLOR POOLE, LEHIGH Jr., MB, Keller, Texas
Poole captures her second Player of the Week honor of the season after hitting .477 in a pair of League wins over the weekend. She logged a career-high 18 kills on 33 attempts with three errors to hit .455 as Lehigh took a 3-2 victory over visiting Colgate Saturday in a critical match that might play into seeding for the League Tournament. She tallied seven kills and just one error on 11 swings in Friday's sweep of Bucknell. Poole averaged 3.12 kills per set and logged seven digs and five blocks on the weekend, including three in the crucial five-set win over the Raiders. She now leads with a .408 hitting percentage in League play.

MOLTEN ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
SARA RISHELL, AMERICAN Fr., OH/MB, Hagerstown, Md.
Rishell was strong in two performances for American as it swept the weekend's two matches and secured the critical head-to-head tiebreaker with Army. She opened the weekend with a 13-kill, seven-block showing Friday in the Eagles' 3-0 win over Holy Cross. Rishell hit .476 in the match and pocketed two aces with three block solos. The next day, she added 15 kills on 28 attempts to hit .250 with three digs, one ace and seven more stops in American's four-set victory over Army. She totaled 28 kills and an incredible 14 blocks in the two matches and hit .347 for the weekend while averaging 4.00 kills per set. The Eagles are one win away from wrapping up hosting duties for the League Tournament for the second straight year and 10th time in 11 tries.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
REBECCA HEATH, AMERICAN Sr., OH, Naperville, Ill.
Heath hit .320 and averaged 3.14 kills and 3.29 digs per set as the Eagles went 2-0 and took over sole possession of first place in the League with two matches to go.

LINDSAY YOUNG, COLGATE So., MB, Odessa, Fla.
Young had a team-high 14 kills in Colgate's match Saturday at Lehigh. She hit .357 for the week, collecting six kills with just one error in a sweep at Lafayette and had only four errors in Saturday's five-set loss at Lehigh. She totaled seven digs for the week and had three total blocks against the Mountain Hawks.

ARIANA MANKUS, ARMY Jr., OH, Lisle, Ill.
Mankus led Army in kills in both matches during a 1-1 weekend. She averaged 4.00 kills and 3.00 digs per set and hit .219 as the Black Knights moved to 10-2 in League play. She recorded double-doubles in both matches.

MARY VACCARO, ARMY Fr., S, Orinda, Calif.
Vaccardo averaged 9.14 assists and 1.86 digs per set for the Black Knights, who split the weekend with a win over Navy and a four-set loss at American. Vaccaro finished with 64 assists and logged three block assists.


Patriot League Swimming and Diving Weekly Awards

MALE SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
MARK MEYER, NAVY Sr., Bethesda, Md.
Meyer was a big part of Navy's 3-0 showing in Saturday's quad meet against American, Bucknell and Lafayette. He was the overall winner in both the 100- and 200-meter flys, posting first-place times of 57.99 and 2:06.77, respectively. He captured the former by 0.28 seconds over a teammate, while his win in the 200 came by 3.5 seconds over a Bucknell swimmer. Meyer moves to 7-0 this year in the 200 fly, while his victories in the 100 fly were his first of the season in that event. He was also part of Navy's 400 free relay foursome that finished second overall and posted first-place points in the duals with American and Lafayette.

FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
LAURA GORINSKI, NAVY Jr., Greensburg, Pa.
Gorinski was stellar as the Mids went 3-0 during the quad meet they hosted Saturday in Annapolis, Md., against League teams American, Bucknell and Lafayette. She was the overall winner in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events along with the 200 IM. Her time in the 100 breast of 1:14.29 was 3.28 seconds ahead of second place, and she won the 200 breast (2:40.61) by nearly six seconds. Her 200 IM clocking of 2:26.84 was over four seconds faster than her nearest competitor. In 21 races this season, Gorinski has 16 victories and four runner-up showings.

MALE DIVER OF THE WEEK
CHRIS NGUYEN, ARMY Jr., Cheshire, Conn.
Nguyen won both diving competitions Saturday in Army's victory at home against Connecticut. He recorded a season-best 351.22 from the three-meter board, qualifying him for NCAA Zones in March and was less than 30 points shy of his showing at last year's Patriot League Championship Meet. Nguyen won the one-meter competition with a 309.75, which was nearly 22 points ahead of second place. The Black Knight men have won five straight meets.

FEMALE DIVER OF THE WEEK
COURTNEY VANDAMENT, NAVY Sr., Coppell, Texas
Vandament scored a 256.25 from the three-meter board, giving her two victories and a runner-up showing in the quad meet hosted by the Mids Saturday in Annapolis, Md. She tallied a 229.45 in the one-meter event, giving her two more wins and another second-place finish. From the one-meter board, she won the American and Lafayette duals by 3.75 points, and took second overall in the three-meter competition by just 0.65 points while finishing nearly 27 points ahead of the third-place overall performer. Vandament has nine wins in 15 events this season.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
LEAH BREEN, AMERICAN Sr., Irvine, Calif.
Breen won the 50-meter free at the Navy quad meet Saturday, giving the Eagles first-place points with a time of 28.01, which was .05 seconds faster than Bucknell's Emily Wright. Her 1:01.35 in the 100 free was just .19 seconds out of first.

MELISSA PARKER, AMERICAN Fr., Livermore, Calif.
Parker scored a 256.90 to win the three-meter dive at the Navy quad meet Saturday in Annapolis, Md. She added a fourth-place overall showing from the one-meter board. Her three-meter score is the third-best in school history.

MATTHEW SEGAR, BUCKNELL Sr., Carmel, Ind.
Segar collected individual wins in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles and took second in the 100 free as Bucknell went 2-1 in the quad meet at Navy Saturday, falling to the Mids while posting victories against American and Lafayette.

WIL MAYO, NAVY So., The Woodlands, Texas
Mayo scored a 272.45 from the one-meter board to win all three duals at the Navy quad on Saturday, and added a 249.00 from the three-meter to take second overall.

ALISSA LEUNG, LEHIGH Fr., Garden City, N.Y.
Leung won three individual events against Rider, taking first place in the 100 and 200 backs and the 200 IM. Saturday's win was the Mountain Hawks' first against the Broncs since 2004.

KATIE HETHERINGTON, BUCKNELL Fr., Houston, Texas
Hetherington took first overall in the one-meter dive and captured second-place points in the three-meter competition in the Navy quad meet Saturday. She collected a 240.65 from the one-meter board for her second-best showing this year.