Bucknell University Athletics
Jake Clarke Receives Senior Athletic Award at Bucknell
5/3/2011 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
May 3, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell senior Jake Clarke (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich), a three-time All-Patriot League men's lacrosse player, received a special award at the University's annual Senior Athletic Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Bison Club and held in the Terrace Room on campus on May 3.
Clarke won the Ronald J. "Pete" Pedrick Award, presented in recognition of demonstrated improvement and special contributions to Bucknell athletics over a four-year period. Clarke shared the award with Sarah Moniz, an all-conference performer in both cross country and track and field.
In addition to Clarke and Moniz, several other student-athletes were honored at the banquet, including the winners of the Christy Mathewson Award, given to the most outstanding athletes in the senior class. Two-time Patriot League Women's Soccer Player of the Year Christa Matlack and two-time All-America wrestler Kevin LeValley won the Mathewson Awards.
Clarke is a former walk-on to the program who began taking faceoffs in his sophomore year. Since then, he has shattered the Bucknell records for faceoffs won, faceoff percentage and ground balls in both a season and career. Clarke has registered 96 ground balls this season, just two shy of his own single-season record, and he now owns the top three ground ball totals in program history.
He has also been a standout short-stick defensive midfielder, contributing to a defense that annually ranks among the stingiest in the country. This year's team ranks fourth nationally, allowing only 6.88 goals per game.
Clarke earned First Team All-Patriot League honors at the faceoff position in both 2009 and 2010, and this spring he was a Second Team All-Patriot League pick as a defensive midfielder.
This past weekend, Clarke helped lead the Bison to the Patriot League Tournament title with terrific performances in wins over Lehigh and Colgate. Bucknell will be headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.
Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,500 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 16 of 20 years.
Bucknell annually ranks among the national leaders in graduation rates. In addition, Bucknell ranks fifth in Division I in the total number of CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, with 119 national Academic All-Americans since 1970.
