College honors pouring in

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Lehigh and Lafayette's men's soccer teams both were well represented on the All-Patriot League team.

In addition to winning two major awards, five Mountain Hawks made the first team while three Leopards won first-team honors.

Lehigh's two major award winners were senior Kevin Strunk as Defensive Player of the Year and sophomore Ciaran Nugent as Goalkeeper of the Year.

Moravian College For Lafayette, Sean Peckham earned first-team honors for the second consecutive season, while Kyle Scharfenberg and Julian Plummer took home second-team honors.

Strunk was a unanimous choice. He currently sits third on the Mountain Hawks in goals (three) and points (seven), with all three of his markers serving as game-winners. The senior has been one of Lehigh's top defenders for the last two seasons, helping anchor a Mountain Hawk defense that surrendered a League-low eight goals in 17 matches and tied for the most team shutouts with 10.

Strunk has started every game the past three years and has played the most minutes on the team this season (1,656). He has led Lehigh to its third straight Patriot League Tournament berth and a highly nationally ranked defense. The Mountain Hawks rank No. 3 in goals against average (0.43), No. 4 in saves percentage (0.893) and No. 6 in shutout percentage (0.59).

Right behind Strunk in net is Nugent who had a breakout sophomore season. He started only one match last season as a rookie but after Lehigh graduated its keeper, Nugent has stepped into the role and been stellar.

Nugent ranks No.3 in the nation in goals against average (.440), only surpassed by the keepers from No. 2 Creighton and No. 7 UConn. Nugent has allowed just eight goals in 17 games and 1,636 minutes of action.

Nugent also ranks fourth nationally in save percentage (.889). During the course of the season, Nugent had been named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the week three times.

Lehigh's five All-League honorees are tied for the most in the Patriot League.

Melchionni and Omsberg — the team's co-captains — have helped lead Lehigh from the front and the back respectively. Melchionni is second on the team with nine points as he has four goals and one assist. Two of his goals have been game-winners. Omsberg, who does have a goal and assist on the season, plays alongside Strunk in the back is another part of the reason why Lehigh's defense has been superb. Puleo leads the team with 10 points (4 goals, 2 assists), 37 shots and 22 shots on goal for a stellar .595 SOG percentage.

The Mountain Hawks will begin their run to what they hope is a Patriot League title on Friday at 2 p.m. as the No. 3 seed Lehigh takes on No. 4 Colgate at 2 p.m. in Washington, D.C. The Mountain Hawks and Raiders played to a 0-0 draw earlier this season while Colgate has not lost since its Patriot League opener when it fell to American on September 24th. Lehigh has fallen in the semifinals the previous two years in the Tournament, but is hoping to turn that around this year.

Peckham, the Leopards' junior midfielder who handles the Leopards' corner- and direct-kicking duties, scored one goal and tallied six assists in 15 matches – leading all Patriot League players with 0.40 assists per match. Three of Peckham's assists came in League play.

Scharfenberg scored a team-high seven goals in 2011, the most by a Leopard since Scott Hawkins '08 found the net seven times in 2007. The junior midfielder's 16 points were also a team-best total and the most by a Lafayette student-athlete since Hawkins' 18 points in 2006. Scharfenberg's shared a pair of League highs with three goals and seven points in Patriot League play despite missing the Leopards' Patriot League opener against Navy.

Plummer anchored one of the strongest defenses in the nation at middle back. The Leopards rank fourth in Division I with a 0.47 goals-against average and posted 10 shutouts in 18 matches. Plummer was a two-time BRINE Patriot League Rookie of the Week this season and was the lone freshman to earn All-Patriot League honors, though Colgate midfielder Jimmy McLaughlin was selected as Rookie of the Year by the League's head coaches.

MORAVIAN SOCCER PLAYERS MAKE CONFERENCE TEAM

Four Moravian College women's soccer players have been named to the Landmark All-Conference Teams announced Tuesday.

Senior defender Diana Feldmann was named to the first team. Senior forward Arielle Caldas, junior defender Eileen Black and freshman midfielder Kirsten Schall were named to the second team.

For Feldmann, this year marks her third straight year being named to the All-Conference Team. Feldmann has been the foundation of the defense since her freshman year, playing in and starting all 79 matches, and rarely coming off the field.

CATTY GRAD HAS STELLAR SEASON FOR MORAVIAN FIELD HOCKEY

Sophomore goalie Andrea Eck, a Catasauqua graduate, is ranked in the latest NCAA field hockey statistics. Eck is ranked 33rd in the country with a 1.57 goals against average.

Eck started all 17 games this season for the Greyhounds while logging 1,156 minutes. She made 89 saves, good for a .774 save percentage. She also had nine wins (second most in a single season) and four shutouts (fifth most in a single season).

http://www.mcall.com/sports/mc-college-honors-1108-20111108,0,2378699.story