Love Named D-III's Best Defender

Love Named D-III's Best Defender

Senior Joins Brother, Three Other Maroons as Award Winners

SALEM, Va. --- Roanoke College senior Sam Love was named the recipient of the 2010 William C. Stiles Memorial Award by the USILA this week.  It is given to the nation’s most outstanding defensive player in NCAA Division III.  His brother, Ben Love ’06, earned the honor as a senior following the 2006 season.  Love also joins John Pirro (1976-77), Bob Rotanz (1978) and Dan Morrison (1992) as other Roanoke players to earn this honor.

Love, a team captain, helped lead a team consisting of 14 seniors to a school-record 18 wins, the longest winning-streak in ODAC history (21-straight), the programs’ 16th ODAC Championship, and to Roanoke’s 22nd NCAA Tournament.  The Maroons finished the year as a national quarterfinalist for the 19th time.

The 6'3" defender earned All-American honors for the second-straight season, receiving first-team accolades this spring. He was a First-Team All-ODAC selection for a second-straight year. Love totaled 73 groundballs in 2010 and finished with 241 for his career. He also scored two goals and had three assists.  He was named Roanoke’s 2009-10 Male Athlete of the Year (announced on Wednesday), and played in the annual USILA North/South All-Star Game in Baltimore last weekend.

The Maroons finished 18-3 on the season, breaking their own school and ODAC record from a year ago. Roanoke was ranked in the top-10 in every weekly poll, a streak that has spanned the past two seasons. RC ended the year with a #5 ranking in the USILA Coaches' Poll.  The Maroons ranked second in the country in scoring offense, groundballs and assists per game while leading the nation in points per game and scoring margin.

This release is courtesy of the Roanoke College sports information department.