Sept. 15, 2008

American won two of the Patriot League's field hockey weekly awards with Anne De Wiljes being named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week and Tatum Dyer earning the Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors. Bucknell's Amanda Faust was tabbed the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week, while Lehigh's Lilia Stefaniwsky earned Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week recognition.

Patriot League Field Hockey Release - 9.15.08

Offensive Player of the Week
Amanda Faust, Bucknell
Sr., D, Kingston, Pa.
Faust totaled five points in Bucknell's 3-2 win over Cornell to earn her third-career Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week award. Faust scored two goals and had one assist for the third five-point game in her career. The assist moved Faust up to seventh on the Patriot League's career list now with 28. The senior from the Keystone State is tied for first in the League with 10 points on the season and is second in assists with four.

Defensive Player of the Week
Anne De Wiljes, American
Jr., D, Hannover, Germany
No. 14 American earned a 5-2 victory over Northwestern, holding the Wildcats under their season goal average with De Wiljes as a key member on defense. The junior from Germany helped her own cause by scoring a goal and registering an assist. This is De Wiljes' third-career Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week award.

Goalkeeper of the Week
Lilia Stefaniwsky, Lehigh
So., New Vernon, N.J.
In her first career start, Stefaniwsky earned the first win of her career in goal as Lehigh defeated Georgetown, 4-1. The sophomore goalie made eight saves in the win for a .889 save percentage. She also played the second half versus No. 17 Princeton, allowing just three goals and made four saves. This is Stefaniwsky's first-career Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week award and the first for Lehigh since the award was created in 2006.

Rookie of the Week
Tatum Dyer, American
Fr., D, Windham, N.H.
Dyer collected her first Patriot League Rookie of the Week award after helping keep Northwestern to below their season average in goals in a 5-2 win for No. 14 American. The freshman defender has played every minute of every game this season for the Eagles.

Honorable Mention

Jessie Atieh, Bucknell
Jr., GK, North Caldwell, N.J.
Earned the 3-2 win over Cornell in goal...Made five saves and owned a .714 save percentage.

Kelly Fox, Lehigh
Jr., F, Wilmington, Del.
Had three goals against Georgetown and added one against No. 17 Princeton.

Patriot League Notebook

American Playing Top-20s
No. 14 American will play two nationally ranked squads this week. The Eagles will play at No. 1 Maryland on Wednesday and will host No. 9 James Madison on Sunday. American previously defeated No. 19 Albany for its first win over a nationally-ranked team this season.

Four At Even Or Better
Four of the Patriot League's six teams own overall records of .500 or better. American, Bucknell and Lafayette are all tied at 3-2 (.600), while Colgate sits even at 3-3.

Quotable
"We are very pleased with our conversion rate and attack in the first half. We put the game away early against a quality Big Ten opponent and look forward to the challenge against Maryland on Wednesday." - American Head Coach Steve Jennings after a 5-2 win over Northwestern

2008 Patriot League Championship
The 2008 Patriot League Field Hockey Championship will be held Friday-Saturday, Nov. 7-8 at the site of the highest seed. Two semifinal games will take place on Friday, Nov. 7 with the No. 1 seed facing the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed facing the No. 3 seed. The championship game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 8.

Team Notebooks

American American notched a 5-2 victory over Northwestern on Saturday. Sophomore Christine Fingerhuth scored a pair of goals. Senior Irene Schickhardt and juniors Savannah Graybill and Anne De Wiljes each tallied three points in the win on a goal and an assist. Alyssa Poorman posted six saves in net.

Bucknell Senior Amanda Faust collected five points in Bucknell's 3-2 win over Cornell. Faust scored two goals and added an assist. Senior Katie Ruiz had the other goal in the game. Junior goalie Jessie Atieh made five saves, including four in the second half.

Colgate Colgate dropped both its games last weekend, falling to Miami (Ohio) and Central Michigan. Sophomore Alison Waugh netted her third goal of the year against Central Michigan after not scoring any as a freshman in limited playing time in 2007. Senior Maddie Watrobski needs two assists to become Colgate's all-time leader. The senior has 20 on her career, one short of Natali Plesniarski's school mark of 21.

Holy Cross Senior Kristin Schulz scored the lone goal of the game to led Holy Cross to its first win of the season last Wednesday against Providence. Senior goalkeeper Erin Singleton made seven saves in tallying her first shutout of the season. The Crusaders fell to Yale on Saturday with junior Katie Aylward scoring her first collegiate goal in the 3-1 loss.

Lafayette Lafayette posted a 3-1 win over Temple, which was ranked 19th in the womensfieldhockey.com poll. Senior Maggie Condon, junior Kelly Hilovsky and sophomore Cara Lyons each netted a goal in the win. Sophomore Kelsey Andersen made four stops in goal. Hilovsky also scored the Leopards' lone goal in a 3-1 loss to Lock Haven on Sunday.

Lehigh Junior Kelly Fox netted a hat trick in Lehigh's 4-1 win over Georgetown. Fox's hat trick was the first for a Lehigh player since last September. Senior Kalynn Davies added the other goal in the victory over the Hoyas, while junior Lindsey Smith added two assists. Sophomore Taryn Hartzell recorded three defensive saves in Lehigh's loss to No. 17 Princeton. Hartzell also had an assist in the Georgetown game.