SUWANEE, Ga. - Sewanee's Lynn
Hancock and DePauw's Sarah Riffle, the top two goal scorers in the
conference, were selected as the Southern Collegiate Athletic
Conference (SCAC) Offensive Co-Players-of-the-Year in exclusive
voting by the league's head field hockey coaches. In that same
voting, Patty Cowley of Centre and Clarkie Crawford of Sewanee were
named the league's Defensive Co-Players-of-the-Year award. Cowley
also earned a share of the SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year award,
splitting the vote with Kimberly Trainor of DePauw.
Tom Hobbs of Centre and Ellie Karvoski of Hendrix College were
voted SCAC Co-Coaches-of-the-Year.
Sewanee's Lynn Hancock, a senior forward from Paris, Ky., led the
SCAC in shots (92), goals (16), and points (34). She finished
second in the conference in shots per game (4.38), goals per game
(0.76) and game-winning goals (3) and was third in points per game
(1.62). Hancock set a new SCAC single-season record with her 16
goals in 2008 and her 27 career goals scored is the third-most in
league history. She was a two-time SCAC Offensive
Player-of-the-Week (Week 1, Week 8).
DePauw's Sarah Riffle, a junior forward from St. Louis, Mo., led
the SCAC in goals per game (0.83) as well as points per game (1.78)
and finished second in the league in goals scored (15), points (32)
and game-winning goals (3). Riffle had either a goal or an assist
in all but six of DePauw's games. Her 15 goals this year are the
second-most in a single-season in league history. She was SCAC
Offensive Player of the Week in Week 4.
Centre's Patty Cowley, a first-year goalkeeper from Louisville,
Ky., led the SCAC in shutouts (8), shutouts per game (0.42), and
goals against average (1.09). She was SCAC Defensive Player of the
Week in Week 5, and performed brilliantly in big games throughout
the season including two breakaway opportunities in the SCAC
semi-finals against Rhodes College. It is the fourth consecutive
year that a player from Centre has been named the league's
Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
Sewanee's Clarkie Crawford, a senior goalkeeper from Louisville, Ky., played consistently for the Tigers all season, and helped to keep her team in games by making some keys saves. Crawford, the SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week in Week 10, led the conference in saves (128), saves per game (6.40), and was second in save percentage (.810). Her play in goal helped Sewanee to become the first team in league history to win three games in three days and clinch the program's first-ever SCAC tournament title.
DePauw's Kimberly Trainor, a first-year forward from Brookfield, Wisc., finished her inaugural campaign with four goals and three assists for 11 points and started every game for the Tigers. Possessing great speed, Trainor often opened up space for DePauw on attacks by cutting through and creating lanes for her teammates to pass.
Tom Hobbs of Centre and Ellie Karvoski of Hendrix split the vote to share SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors.
Hobbs, who was the SCAC Coach-of-the-Year in 2007, led the
Colonels to a 12-7 mark (5-3 conference) and the No. 2 seed at this
year's conference championships. Centre advanced to the title game
of this year's event, losing a 1-0 decision to Sewanee. The
Colonels became the first team in SCAC history to earn a bid to the
NCAA Tournament last season.
Karvoski led the second-year Hendrix program to a 4-11 record and
the school's first-ever conference win - a 4-3 victory over
eventual SCAC champion Sewanee on Sept. 27. The Warriors, who went
0-15 and scored just one goal while giving up 66 in 2007, were much
more competitive in 2008, scoring 23 goals while allowing only 32.
The team was shutout just five times and posted three shutouts of
their own.
In the overall voting, DePauw led the way with five players
selected to the All-SCAC team. Sewanee had four players selected,
and Centre and Rhodes had three members each voted to the team.
Hendrix had two players voted on the team.
For the complete 2008 All-SCAC Field Hockey Team, click here.