#8 Story of the 2014-2015 Year
William Penn Athletics
The men’s basketball team overcame mountain after mountain of adversity last winter and their improbable run into the league finals was the #8 story of the 2014-2015 year.
The up-and-down campaign witnessed the Statesmen open league play at 1-4 overall. The team’s fortunes began to turn at that juncture with a pair of three-game winning streaks as WPU landed the #3 seed for the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament with a 7-5 mark
A pesky sixth-seeded Viterbo team gave the navy and gold all it could handle in the quarterfinals, but the higher seed prevailed 90-80 with three players posting at least 19 points.
Late in the game, honorable-mention all-MCC pick Shane Bosek suffered an injury, and despite all efforts to get him back to playing status, he unfortunately was basically unavailable the remainder of the tourney (played five minutes in the final). The rest of the squad picked up the slack in the semifinals, however, as the Statesmen were in control throughout to drop #2 AIB 71-63. Alec Schwab paced his crew with 27 points.
As hot as WPU was entering the championship contest, a determined top-seeded Mount Mercy group was just too much to overcome in a 91-73 setback.
Schwab picked up an Honorable-Mention All-America laurel after producing one of the top single-season efforts in program history (717 points, 22.4 points/game). Oliver Wells joined Schwab on the league’s first team and was also the MCC Newcomer of the Year.
The team’s 20-win season (20-12) was its seventh in the past nine years.
#8 Performance of the 2014-2015 Year
A great effort is made even better when it is done against your biggest rival and that is what one individual did to land in the #8 slot on the 2014-2015 performance list.
Women’s soccer goalkeeper Kelly Button entered the season having never played between the pipes in her collegiate career. She took to her new role well, though, and posted numerous great outings. None more impressive, however, than her shutout against rival Grand View.
The senior managed a season-high 10 saves versus the Vikings in a scoreless draw. For the year, Button was 6-8-3 with a 1.54 Goals Against Average and six shutouts. The reward for her top play was a first-team all-Midwest Collegiate Conference honor and three MCC Defensive Player of the Week nods.
Original story can be found at http://www.statesmenathletics.com/article/5507.php
#8 Video of the 2014-2015 Year
The #8 video on the 2014-2015 top 10 list is definitely a bit of a gut-buster, but it actually made the top 10 by winning the Most Facial Hair Award!
Baseball pitcher Logan Overly stopped in the ‘studio’ back in April for a fun few minutes. Enjoy!
Original video can be found at http://www.statesmenathletics.com/youTubeList/186.php
