Oct. 10, 2012

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Three more Patriot Leaguers were honored with weekly awards Tuesday, it was announced by the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), with two coming in football.

Fordham was the big winner this week, as senior linebacker Michael Martin and senior punter/kicker Patrick Murray were named the football Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively. The League’s third selection was Bucknell senior goalkeeper Sandita McDermott, who was recognized as the women’s soccer Defensive Player of the Week.

Martin recorded a career-high 18 tackles with 0.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in Fordham's 38-31 win over Georgetown on Saturday. He had a stop as part of a goal line stand as the Rams prevented the Hoyas from tying the score late in the fourth quarter. Martin is 14th in the country with 10.83 tackles per game for the year, and stands 13th among all active FCS players with 272 career tackles. He was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week Monday for the first time.

Murray converted all three field goal attempts and averaged 47.8 yards on eight punts in Fordham's 38-31 win over Georgetown on Saturday. He hit field goals from 30, 44 and 43 yards in the first half to stake Fordham to a 16-10 lead at intermission, and had a long punt of 59 yards with one inside the 20 in the game. Murray also recorded touchbacks on five of his seven kickoffs. He leads the FCS in field goals made this season (12-of-14), and stands third in the nation with a 46.22 punting average. Murray was named Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week for the third time this season, and was also named College Football Performance Awards National Placekicker of the Week on Monday.

McDermott bounced back from a 3-1 loss to No. 4 Penn State by posting back-to-back shutouts as the Bison picked up six points during the first of two double weekends of League matches this season. She stopped five shots in Friday’s 1-0 victory over Holy Cross, and logged four saves in Bucknell’s 2-0 blanking of defending League champion Army Sunday. McDermott takes over the League lead with six shutouts this season, placing her second in Bucknell single-season history. Her 13 career clean sheets are also second in Bison annals. On Monday she tied the League record with her fourth BRINE Goalkeeper of the Week award this season.

A total of 22 Patriot League student-athletes have collected ECAC weekly honors this fall.