For the first time in program history, the LVC football team is receiving votes for consideration in the d3football.com Preseason Top 25 poll. The Dutchmen received 49 votes, which would be 32nd overall. Conference foe Delaware Valley is at #10, while Albright received 66 votes. LVC football has never appeared in the top 25; with high expectations for 2010, it'll certainly be something to watch as the season goes on.

 

 

 

It might be the dog days of summer in Annville, but that doesn't mean we haven't been cooking up some cool stuff here at GoDutchmen.com World Headquarters. You may have seen some small changes to the web site over the summer, but that's only a taste of the features we'll be rolling out in the next month or two leading up to the fall season, which believe it or not starts in just about a month. Here's a sneak peak of what we've done and what we're working on...

1. Football Preview Week
You've probably seen the ad on the front page - starting Aug. 2 we'll have a full week of daily previews for the 2010 football season. Very similar to last year, but this year we'll have a surprise that we can't reveal just yet. There will be a fall preview week later in August, as well, once camps start.

2. Enhanced Live Stats
You may have seen the sweet live stats we had last year for football and basketball - they have headshots, pretty graphics, etc. (like this) Well those are now coming for field hockey, soccer, baseball, softball, and lacrosse for 2010-11!

3. Mobile Live Stats
While those live stats are great on your computer, they had one flaw - since they're Flash-based, they didn't work on most mobile phones, including the iPhone. If you're completely addicted to your iPhone like me, then you'll be excited to know that our web provider is rolling out mobile live stats so you can stay connected anywhere you go (check out a preview here). During the spring, we tested out encouraging fans to check out stats on their phone as the game was going on, and now we're going wide with it. We think this will be killer for football, especially.

4. The College Store
We've partnered with the LVC College Store to offer LVC athletic merchandise online for the first time. Anything from t-shirts to polos to hats for any team, there's a link on the front page to the store. Only five months until Christmas...

5. Media Aggregation
Once the season starts, we're rolling out a news aggregation service that will collect all of the articles about LVC sports from other web sites (newspapers, local TV, etc.). You'll be able to click right on and get a list of articles, all in one place.

6. More Facebook
We've been doing more and more with our Facebook page, with almost 1,000 fans joining us since early last season. In 2010-11, we're going full-blast with it. If you're a fan, you already know that you get exclusive news in your Facebook feed before anyone else - well, we have even more coming up this fall. If you haven't liked us on Facebook yet, you'll want to.

7. More History
You might have noticed over the past six months some record books and historical pages popping up on some of the individual sport pages. In the next month we're going to add tons more and centralize it, so if you ever wondered what the score was from the 1978 LVC-Albright football game was (we won 27-20) or who was on the roster of the 1989 men's soccer team, you can. It'll be popping up under our History and Tradition section soon.

8. More Video
Two things about video. First, we now have the ability to take all the old game reel-to-reel film we have lying around and dub it digitally - we have decades' worth of film that we're transferring to DVD, and we're glad to say those will soon be for sale on the site, with some of the best popping up on our YouTube channel for everyone to view. This is been a big request from alumni for years now, so we're glad to be able to do this. Speaking of YouTube, we also have the ability to do some exciting new things with our YouTube channel. We aren't streaming games live just yet - sorry. That's coming, just not this fall. But we will be doing more with it and integrating it into GoDutchmen.com in a new way. Stay tuned.

 

Almost done with the refurbishment of the pool, and as this photo shows, it's been refilled. A few small things left to go (they were just delivering new ladders as I was walking out), but LVC students will be treated to a much nicer swim when they get back in August.

It's like the Super Bowl in June around these parts today.

Just hours after I posted about the New Orleans Saints' Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks being at LVC for the lineman camp this past weekend, coach Jim Monos and his son, Jim Jr., popped by GoDutchmen.com World Headquarters for a visit this afternoon. Jim Jr. brought along his Super Bowl champion ring. Maybe "brought" isn't the right word. "Lugged" is more accurate. The thing is HEAVY, with 44 diamonds on it (to commemorate winning Super Bowl XLIV).

 

Over the weekend, LVC played host to a football camp specifically aimed at high school linemen, with two very special instructors on staff - the New Orleans Saints' guards Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks (seen showing off their Super Bowl bling above with LVC equipment man Jack Bixler). Evans, the all-Pro right tackle for the Saints, played under coach Jim Monos at Bloomsburg when Monos was the offensive coordinator there prior to taking over at Lebanon Valley. As we've blogged in the past, coach Monos' son, Jim Jr., is a scout for the Saints and helped to get Evans his break in the NFL. Considering he just signed a seven-year, $56.7 million contract extension as the highest-paid guard in NFL history, I'd say that's worked out pretty well for him.

Much more on the camp in Sunday's Lebanon Daily News.

Thanks to coach Monos for the photo

As I blogged last week, the pool in the Arnold Sports Center is undergoing an extensive renovation this summer. The scaffolding has been removed and the new lighting system is on, and all I can say is wow - the brightness on the pool deck is extraordinary compared to before. The photo above hardly does it justice as to just how bright it is - when you walk in the back lobby of the ASC, you're immediately struck by how white and bright it is. Next up - re-doing the pool itself. 

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If you've been over to the Arnold Sports Center this summer, you may have noticed that the pool isn't filled with water as much as it's filled with a labrynith of scaffolding. That's because for the first time since opening in 1988, the pool is getting a much-needed makeover this summer. Coach Lou Sorrentino, who was the athletic director when the pool was built, said it's the first time in a long time that he can remember it's been completely drained - a testament to the longevity and the popularity of the facility, which probably sees more community use than any other LVC venue.

So what's being done? For starters, painters and electricians just finished up a brand new white ceiling and a new lighting system, which should brighten the pool considerably. Once the scaffolding comes down, the pool itself will be completely resurfaced, along with new starting blocks, new skimmer, a chlorine control system, and enhanced ventilation. All of that is scheduled to be completed well in advance of the return of student-athletes in late August.

 

 

Well, not really. This post is about a different graduation - specifically, those of Annville-Cleona and Palmyra high schools, which take place tonight and tomorrow in the LVC Gymnasium. Rather than tempt the weather outdoors (which is a really good call on a rainy day like today), both schools opted to hold their graduations indoors, and LVC's arena is the perfect spot for them. You can see the setup above, taken as A-C was winding down their rehearsal. We purchased a new floor covering system for the gym this year, which you can see laid down, and graduates and their families will have plenty of room (and air conditioning) as they say one last goodbye to high school.

 

It's been quite the year for former LVC basketball star J.D. Byers '05. First we dedicated his retired #23 during his homecoming back in November, then he helped lead Randolph-Macon to the NCAA Final Four as an assistant coach. Now, Byers is on the move to Division I, going to be an assistant at St. Francis (Pa.) under another former Dutchman, Don Friday '90. You might remember Friday from his time as an assistant at LVC under Pat Flannery, including the 1994 national championship team, and later as the head guy at Lycoming. He will be in his third season at St. Francis in 2010-11.

That does it for another fantastic year of athletics at Lebanon Valley College - one of the most successful years, top-to-bottom, in LVC history. As we did last year, here's a breakdown of 2009-10 by the numbers:

Overall Record (among sports with head-to-head competition): 213-143-3 (.597)
Conference Record: 75-70 (.517)
Home Record: 108-57 (.655)
Road Record: 74-72 (.507)
Neutral Record: 31-14-1 (.684)

Conference Champions
1 - Volleyball

NCAA Team Participants
4 - Volleyball, Field Hockey, Women's Basketball, Softball

Postseason Team Participants
6 - Volleyball, Field Hockey, Women's Basketball, Softball, Football (ECAC), Men's Soccer (ECAC)

NCAA Individual Participants
1 - Jenn Cronin (WXC)

All-Americans: 4 - Shelly Lobach and Jocelyn Novak, FH; Sean Tetreault, FB; Andrea Hoover, WBB
All-Region: 20
All-Conference: 116
MAC Scholar-Athletes: 2 - Kristen Uhas, SB; Allix Sanders, WT&F
CoSIDA Academic All-District: 2 - Kristen Uhas, SB; Bryan Lynch, FB
Individual Regional Champions: 1 - Jenn Cronin, WXC
Individual Conference Champions: 5
Conference Player of the Year: 4 - Joelle Snyder, VB; Andrea Hoover, WBB; Johanna Walker, WT&F, Sarah Grodzinski, WTEN
Conference Rookie of the Year: 2 - Matt Nesmith, MXC; Caitlin Vasey, FH
Conference Coach of the Year: 3 - Wayne Perry, VB; Todd Goclowski, WBB; Stacey Hollinger, SB