Sept. 21, 2011

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - One week after three Patriot League student-athletes were recognized with weekly awards from the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), five more received accolades when the organization announced its next set of laurels Tuesday. For the second consecutive week, Patriot Leaguers in the sports of football, field hockey and men's soccer were honored, while student-athletes in women's cross country and women's soccer received recognition for the first time.

Lafayette boasts two of the five honored, with senior defensive back Kyle Simmons being named its FCS Defensive Player of the Week and senior midfielder/defender Carolyn Cabrey garnering the Defensive Player of the Week nod in field hockey. American senior Octavia Rinehardt was named the Women's Cross Country Player of the Week, while Lehigh sophomore Murphee Greeley and Bucknell senior Tommy Caso were honored as the Women's Soccer Offensive Player and Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week, respectively.

Tuesday's laurel from the ECAC marks Simmons' fourth award of the week. He was all over the field in Lafayette's 37-12 win at Penn on Saturday with 15 tackles and a pair of interceptions, one of which he returned 31 yards for a touchdown to break the game open late in the third quarter and give Lafayette a 30-12 lead. He returned the other interception 21 yards in the fourth quarter to set up Lafayette's final score. The 15 tackles were a career-high, and the pick-six was the first of his career. In addition to being named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week, he earned FCS Defensive Player of the Week laurels from The Sports Network/Fathead.com and was named one of five National All-Stars by the College Sporting News.

Cabrey scored a pair of goals and played a significant role for a Lafayette defense that allowed just two goals in three games last week while posting a 2-1 record. Cabrey tallied a goal in Lafayette's 4-1 win over Penn on Wednesday, and also scored the game-winner in a 2-0 win over Vermont on Sunday. She helped the Lafayette defense limit Drexel, which came in just outside the top 20, to eight shots on goal in a 1-0 loss on Friday. The Leopards allowed just 11 shots combined in the wins over Vermont and Penn.

Greeley broke through for the first markers of her sophomore season, scoring twice in Lehigh's 4-2 win Friday at Quinnipiac and adding the eventual game-winner in Sunday's 2-0 shutout at NJIT. Friday's effort against the Bobcats was her first career multiple-goal outing. She found the back of the net in the 21st minute to put Lehigh up 2-0, and added an insurance tally at 51:40 to give her team a 4-1 lead. In Sunday's victory against the Highlanders, she entered the match at the 23:56 mark and scored less than three minutes later to give the Mountain Hawks the 1-0 lead. Greeley has taken over the team lead with three goals and seven points.

Caso totaled seven saves in a pair of matches last week for Bucknell, posting two shutouts as the Bison rebounded from a pair of one-goal losses the week before against nationally-ranked opponents. He stopped four shots in Friday's 1-0 win over Saint Joseph's and made three more saves in Sunday's 2-0 blanking of Monmouth. Both shutouts came on the road. The clean sheets were the 15th and 16th of Caso's career, moving him into fifth place on the Bison's all-time list. He is now two shy of making the Patriot League's all-time top 10 in the category.

Rinehardt placed fourth out of 127 runners at the Salty Dog Invitational, posting a time of 22:09.77 in the 6K race. She finished 5 seconds behind the individual champion. She helped American finish eighth out of 11 teams. Her ECAC nod comes a day after earning her first Patriot League weekly award of the season.

Patriot Leaguers account for eight winners in the first two weeks that the ECAC awards have been presented this fall.

For the latest on what's going on in the Patriot League, check out the weekly releases for each sport by visiting PatriotLeague.org.