Ellis Named to the NCAA Div. III Women's Soccer Commitee

Principia College head women’s soccer coach, Lee Ellis was recently named to the NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer Committee.  Women’s Soccer Committee members serve as chairs of their regional advisory committee’s weekly ranking program, members of the selection committee for the 64-team national tournament, and overseers of the final four championships held in Greensboro, NC.  Ellis will serve from September 1, 2008 through September 1, 2012. 

Ellis has been the women’s soccer coach at Principia College since 1996.  He has compiled a record of 160-73-8 and has been named SLIAC Conference Coach of the Year five times, including 2007.  He has coached three SLIAC Players of the Year, five times; five SLIAC Newcomers of the Year; and 32 different players to all-conference post-season recognition 70 times. His teams have won the prestigious NSCAA Team Academic Award for 12 consecutive years, last year achieving the eighth highest GPA in the nation—3.58/4.0. The team was also recognized in 2007 by the NSCAA for ethical play and sportsmanship as one of five programs in the country to compete the entire season without accumulating either a caution (yellow card) or ejection (red card). 

For more information please contact Sports Information Director Vitalis Otieno at 618-374-5025 

PRINCIPIA COLLEGE
Athletic Department
Elsah, IL 62028

Sprague and DeLaney Earn SLIAC Player and Coach of the Year Honors respectively.

Cory Sprague has been named SLIAC Conference player of the year marking the fourth successive year a member of the Panther team has won the acclaim.  Kat Pomeroy won the award the previous three seasons and Sprague did well to pickup where Pomeroy left off.  The Senior from San Diego, Ca wraps up her career as the top dog in the conference.  Sprague’s career started off the right track as she was named Rookie of the Year after her freshman season but had to wait patiently behind Pomeroy before taking a firm hold of the top seed this year.  She is still eligible for one more season after sitting out her sophomore year to go on an abroad.   

Meanwhile, her coach Lyn Gerber Delaney was also named SLIAC Coach of the Year.  This marks the fifth such award and the second consecutive award she has garnered in her illustrious career guiding both the men and women’s programs to such great heights.    

 For more information please contact Sports Information Director Vitalis Otieno at 618-374-5025 

Panther Women Sweep SLIAC Post-Season Awards while men avoid shutout

The Principia Men’s and Women’s team fared well at the SLIAC Post Season Conference Award nominations.  The women’s team swept the awards earning first team honors in both the singles and doubles categories.  In the singles bracket belonged to the Panthers from the number one seed to the sixth seed.  The Panthers were led by #1 Cory Sprague, #2Ashley Ragnow, #3Juliana Ko, #4Carey Erwin, #5K.C Gahlon, and #6Jamie Furbush all earning first team honors in singles. Meanwhile on the doubles side, the Panthers were led by the partnership of #1Sprague and Ko, #2 Erwin and Furbush and #3 Heather Libbe and Ragnow

The Panthers also took home two major awards with Sprague being named SLIAC Player of the Year marking the second successive year this honor has been won by the Panthers.  Coach Lyn Gerber De Laney also got the nod as SLIAC Coach of the Year an honor she also won last year. 

On the men’s side, two players were Honorable Mention All-SLIAC.  Freshmen Christian Hagenlocher and Cameron Huber received recognition at the #4 and #5 seed respectively.

For more information please contact Sports Information Director Vitalis Otieno at 618-374-5025 

PRINCIPIA COLLEGE
Athletic Department
Elsah, IL 62028

May 5, 2008 

Women's Tennis Endures Tough Loss in NCAA Tournament

Women’s Tennis wrapped up their season over the weekend with a first round loss in the NCAA tournament to University of the South in Sewanee, TN.   The Panthers battled hard but failed to pull off a win in neither the singles nor doubles brackets.  Despite the loss, the Panthers season has been a great success after repeating as the SLIAC conference champs and sweeping the All conference first team nominations in both the singles and doubles categories.  

Doubles:

#1 Carvalho/Casey (Sewanee) def. Ko/Sprague (Principia) 8-0

#2 Wilburn/Lauren Robbins (Sewanee) def. Erwin/Furbush (Principia) 8-1

#3 Stone Laura Szyperski (Sewanee) def. Libbe/Ragnow 8-1

Singles:

#1 Gab Carvalho (Sewanee) def. Cory Sprague (Principia) 6-0, 6-0

#2 MK Stone (Sewanee) def. Ashley Ragnow (Principia) 6-2, 6-0

#3 Jordan Casey (Sewanee) def. Juliana Ko (Principia) 6-0, 6-2

#4 Shannon Logsdon (Sewanee) def. Carey Erwin (Principia) 6-2, 6-2

#5 Lindsay Wilburn (Sewanee) def. Jamie Furbush (Principia) 6-1, 6-3

 #6 Derrith Roberson (Sewanee) def. Heather Libbe (Principia) 6-0, 6-0

For more information please contact Sports Information Director Vitalis Otieno at 618-374-5025 

PRINCIPIA COLLEGE
Athletic Department
Elsah, IL 62028

April 29, 2008 

Women's Tennis Qualifies for NCAA Tournament

Principia Women’s Tennis team will make their second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance on Friday and Saturday at University of the South in Sewanee,Tenn. The women were victorious over the weekend, winning the SLIAC championship for the second year running and now look forward to performing on the national stage as they take on a strong Sewanee side.  On their road to the championship, the women defeated Fontbonne University 9-0 in the quarterfinals, Maryville University 5-0 (indoors) in the semi-finals on Friday, April 25th, and #2-seed, Greenville College, 8-1 on Saturday, April 26th.

For more information please contact Sports Information Director Vitalis Otieno at 618-374-5025