Starting Dec. 20 through Dec. 29, we are reliving the top games, championships, awards, firsts, and memories from the year that was in the Ten For 2010 series. You the fans can vote on your top story of the year starting Dec. 29, and the results will be unveiled on New Year's Day. We present our top 10 in roughly chronological order, not in a ranking of any sort.
Ten For 2010
Dec. 20: The Hall of Champions
Dec. 21: Women's Basketball In The NCAA Tournament
Dec. 22: Lax Comes Back
Dec. 23: Softball's NCAA Run
Dec. 24: Field Hockey Is #1
Dec. 25: LVC Cares
Dec. 26: Football's Turnaround
Dec. 27: "The Comeback"
Dec. 28: Cross Country's Turnaround
Dec. 29:
The Best Fall Ever
If the fall of 2010 was any indication, Lebanon Valley College fans have a lot to look forward to for the winter and spring of 2011. For the first time in school history, every autumn team qualified for postseason play and every team had a .500 record or above. Volleyball and field hockey made NCAA Tournament runs, and cross country runner Jenn Cronin competed individually at the NCAA Championships.
The team milestones came one after another. Volleyball capped its season by becoming the first LVC team to win three consecutive conference titles, then won their first NCAA match to advance to the second round. Field hockey earned a #1 national ranking and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Football qualified for its second straight ECAC Bowl game, the first back-to-back postseason appearances in program history, and gave LVC students a day off thanks to their win over Albright. Both the men's and women's soccer teams played in the ECAC Tournament.
Individually, Cronin earned a silver medal at MAC Championships on her way to the NCAA Championships in cross country, while on the field hockey field, Jocelyn Novak was smashing record after record with her amazing 39-goal season to lead the nation in scoring. Ben Guiles ran for more yards than any Dutchman in history in football, while Joelle Snyder earned all-America honors in volleyball.
"Success breeds success," explained athletic director Rick Beard '90 M'92. "The fall is important to get your sports season going, and our winter teams are off and running. I think for morale on campus, our whole student body starts to feel good and take pride in the College. People want to be around winners. But winning's not everything - the thing to be most proud about is our academic success. It's a tribute to our coaches and our student-athletes."
Indeed, perhaps the most impressive number from the fall didn't happen on the field, but instead was from the classroom. LVC was represented by a record 64 student-athletes with 3.2 GPAs on the Middle Atlantic Conference Academic Honor Roll - more than any of the other 15 MAC schools.
Overall, both athletic and academic, the numbers were impressive. LVC fall teams went 68-36-2 overall (.651) combined; if you attended an LVC home game, you had a 72% chance of seeing a win since the Dutchmen went 32-12-1 in Annville. LVC sent five teams to the postseason, and had six all-Americans: Novak, Caitlin Vasey, and Shelly Lobach in field hockey; Snyder in volleyball; and Zach Bleiler and Jason Sneeringer in football. LVC had 28 all-conference and seven all-region selections, and men's soccer's Chris Hall was named Academic All-Region.
It all added up the best fall in school history - and arguably the best season ever.
