Tuesday, October 25, 2011

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - Four Westminster College athletes earned weekly awards for their performances during the week of Oct. 17-23, highlighted by the Westminster Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) honoring junior women's tennis player Alex Bailey (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) earning SAAC Titan Athlete of the Week honors.

The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) recognized two Westminster College athletes with weekly awards. Senior midfielder Samantha Killmeyer (Medina, Ohio/Highland) was named PAC Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week and senior quarterback Shawn Lehocky (Conway, Pa./Freedom) was named PAC Football Offensive Player of the Week.

Also, for a second straight week, a Westminster football player was included on the D3Football.com's National Team of the Week as junior Kyle Allen (New Wilmington, Pa./West Middlesex) was recognized as one of the top special teams players of the week.

Bailey won her first PAC title by capturing the No. 2 singles bracket at the PAC Championships Saturday. Bailey won her first two matches at No. 2 singles by identical straight-sets scores of 6-1, 6-0 before beating Grove City's Megan Bennett, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, in the championship match. Bailey also finished second in the No. 1 doubles bracket after winning two matches and losing to a team from Grove City. Westminster finished second at the PAC Championships for a sixth consecutive year.

Killmeyer scored three goals last week to lead the Titans to a 2-0 record with PAC home wins over Bethany, 2-0, Wednesday and Chatham, 10-0, Saturday. She scored the game-winning goal in the 15th minute against the Bison then added two tallies in the victory over the Cougars to give her a team-leading five goals on the season.

Lehocky completed his first 11 pass attempts in a 48-21 PAC road win over Thiel before setting a career high with 22 completions while completing 88 percent of his passes (22-25). He tied a career high with three touchdown passes (39, 5, 9) and finished with 202 passing yards.  Lehocky also rushed for 20 yards and was removed from the game in the third quarter once Westminster established a 48-0 lead.

Allen scooped a fumble during a Thiel kick return and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown that gave Westminster a 48-0 lead.

The Titan women's soccer team (6-9-1, 4-3 PAC) visits Thiel Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. The Titan football team (5-2, 4-1 PAC) hosts No. 6-ranked Thomas More Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in a showdown for a share of the lead in the PAC standings.

About Westminster College...
Founded in 1852 and related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Westminster College ranks first in the nation as "Best College for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math," according to Forbes.com. Westminster, a top-tier liberal arts college, ranks third in graduation rate performance, according to U.S. News Best Colleges guide. Westminster ranked 6th among liberal arts colleges in social mobility, according to the Washington Monthly College Guide, and is one of the most affordable national liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania. Westminster is also honored as one of "The Best 376 Colleges" by The Princeton Review, and is named to the President's Honor Roll for excellence in service learning.

Nearly 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students benefit from individualized attention from dedicated faculty while choosing from 42 majors and nearly 100 organizations on the New Wilmington, Pa., campus. Visit www.westminster.edu/advantage to view "Advantage: Westminster" A Strategic Plan 2010-2020.