Three Swarthmore Men Earn Centennial Honors
OFFICIAL CENTENNIAL RELEASE (pdf)
Lancaster, PA - Swarthmore College men's soccer midfielder Pat Christmas (Chapel Hill, NC / East Chapel Hill), midfielder Stu Leon (Wrentham, MA / King Philip Regional), and defender Brendan Grady (San Jose, CA / Bellarmine College Prep), have been named to the 2006 All-Centennial Conference team. Christmas was a first-team selection, while Leon and Grady were named to the second team, as elected by the conference head coaches.
Christmas, a junior, captained the Garnet to its third straight season with a double-digit win total and a third consecutive conference playoff berth. He started all 18 matches for Swarthmore, finishing the season tied for second on the team with three assists. For the second consecutive year, Christmas was selected for the All-Tournament team at the Garnet Classic.
Christmas, a biology major, makes the All-Centennial team for the second time - he was an honorable mention in 2005. Christmas is the second Swarthmore men's soccer player to make the first team - current Garnet assistant coach Alex Elkins '06 was tabbed in 2005.
Leon, a sophomore, made 16 starts for Swarthmore and finished tied for second on the team in goals (four) and third in points (nine). Three of his goals were game-winners, including the deciding score with 45 seconds left in overtime to give Swarthmore a 1-0 win over Eastern in the Garnet Classic on Sept. 5 - Leon was named All-Tournament for the second straight year.
Grady, a junior captain, was instrumental in directing one of the top defenses in the nation and managed to notch two assists in 2006 (one came on the game-winning goal against Alvernia on Oct. 18). Grady, an English major, has maintained Swarthmore's reputation of having the top defenders in the conference, manning a backline that shut-out eight opponents in 2006 and maintained a 0.76 goals-against average.
After completing the 2006 regular season with an overall record of 12-4-1, Swarthmore secured the No. 3 seed in the Centennial Conference playoffs. The Garnet (12-5-1) were also selected as the top-seed in the 2006 ECAC South Region Men's Soccer Championship - Swarthmore will host eighth-seed Grove City on Nov. 8 in first round action.