Dec. 4, 2002
Within 26 hours in eastern Massachusetts over the weekend, the Fordham football team and the Holy Cross men's basketball team re-inforced the Patriot League's concept that academic success does NOT have to come at the expense of athletic success.
The academic proof is published on the national level annually. This year's numbers show the PL leads the country in graduation rates among NCAA Division I conferences. All full-member institutions rank among the top 27 schools in the country with a graduation rate of at least 82%. No other League can boast every member more than HALF of their members with 80% graduation rates.
On the field Saturday, the Patriot League co-champion Rams jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead and held off the late-charging Northeastern Huskies for a 29-24 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA Tournament. Sr. PK Matt Fordyce booted an NCAA playoff record five field goals in the victory, which advanced the Rams to this week's quarterfinal-round playoff game at Villanova (noon).
Sunday afternoon at the Worcester Centrum, the two-time defending men's basketball champion Crusaders snapped a 12-game losing streak vs. Big East rival Boston College. Senior guard Brian Wilson shared game-high scoring honors with 18 points, including two free throws with nine seconds remaining to clinch the victory for the 3-1 Crusaders. And in two weeks, HC adds 7-6 sophomore center Neil Fingleton to the lineup for a run at a third-straight title and NCAA Tournament bid.
This on top of a strong fall season that included Lafayette's nationally-ranked field hockey squad and three men's soccer teams earning Top 25 national recognition and berths into the 48-team championship tournament.
The fall season will continue Thursday night when American faces 24th-ranked South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament at North Carolina. If the two-time PL champion Eagles can get by the Gamecocks, Coach Barry Goldberg's squad would face the winner of the Winthrop vs. UNC first-round matchup on Friday night.
In the classroom and on the playing field -- it just keeps getting better and better. The only question is which will be the next team to prove it.