Bucknell University Athletics
O'Brien, Swaneveld Earn Patriot League Weekly Men's Soccer Honors
11/3/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 3, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Patriot League awarded two members of the Bucknell men's soccer team Player of the Week citations on Monday for their roles in two victories last week, the second of which kept the team's postseason hopes alive. Junior midfielder Conor O'Brien (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./St. Anthony's) earned Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors, while senior defender Dirk Swaneveld (Blairstown, N.J./North Warren) picked up the Defensive Player of the Week nod.
O'Brien has been on quite a scoring binge of late, and his two goals in Bucknell's critical come-from-behind win over Lehigh on Saturday pushed him into the Patriot League scoring lead with 21 points (7 goals, 7 assists) on the season. Down 2-0 only 10 minutes into the game and facing elimination from postseason contention with a loss, the Bison rallied for a 3-2 win over Lehigh to stay alive in the playoff chase.
O'Brien scored two of the three goals in the comeback. His tally in the 16th minute got the team on the board, then after Swaneveld tied it in the 52nd minute, O'Brien scored on a free kick from 22 yards out with 26:54 to play to make it 3-2.
Named to the Hermann Trophy watch list prior to the season, O'Brien has tied his career high for goals in a season and surpassed his personal best for assists and points. He now has at least one point win 12 of the team's 18 games this season, including four straight. In those last four games he has four goals and two assists, and the team is 3-1. He also had an assist on the go-ahead goal in Bucknell's 3-0 non-conference win over NJIT on Wednesday.
Swaneveld's tying goal was his first tally of the season. In fact, his only other career goal also came at Lehigh from a similar spot on the field in the 2006 Patriot League Tournament.
Swaneveld contributed to a Bucknell defense that shut out NJIT on Wednesday, allowing only two shots on goal, and blanked Lehigh for the final 80 minutes on Saturday.
The Bison are now 8-7-3 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League. They finish up the regular season on Saturday at American at 1 p.m., and need a victory to have a shot at a Patriot League Tournament berth.
