Posted: Jun 02, 2010
Senior Sam Love (Berwyn Heights, MD, Dematha)was the recipient of the 2010 William C. Stiles Memorial Award announced by the USILA this week. It is given to the nation's most outstanding defensive player in NCAA Div. III. His brother, Ben Love '06 earned this honor as a senior following the 2006 season. Love joins John Pirro (1976-77), Bob Rotanz (1978) and Dan Morrison (1992) along with his brother as the only Roanoke players to earn this honor.
Love, a team captain, helped lead a team consisted of 14 seniors to a school-record 18 wins, the longest win-streak in ODAC history (21-straight), captured the programs' 16th ODAC Championship and advanced to Roanoke's 22nd NCAA Tournament. They finished the year as a national quarterfinalist for the 19th time in the tournament.
The 6'3 defender earned All-American honors for the second-straight season, with first-team honors 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 today and played in the annual USILA North/South All-Star Game in Baltimore, MD 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 over the past two seasons. They finished with a #5 ranking and advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the 19th time in program-history. The men finished second in the country in scoring offense, groundballs and assists per game while leading the nation in points per game and scoring margin.
