Brandywine Ranked Fifth In USCAA Directors’ Cup Standings

MEDIA, Pa. -- Following the conclusion of the fall sports season, the Penn State Brandywine athletic department ranks fifth in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Directors' Cup standings, which rates the top athletic departments in the association annually.

Aided by its soccer teams' national title appearances, Brandywine owns 315 total points. SUNY ESF, which won the women's cross country national championship and had top-five finishes in men's cross country and golf, leads all schools with 472 points. St. Mary of the Woods (455 points), Cleary (336) and SUNY Delhi (322) round out the top five.

In November, Brandywine men's soccer claimed the department's first-ever national championship in dramatic fashion, knocking off Johnson & Wales (N.C.) in overtime in Virginia Beach. The Lions' women's soccer team also reached the national title game in just its fourth season as a varsity program, finishing the year as the USCAA runner-up.

In addition, Brandywine sent four cross country qualifiers to the USCAA National Championships. Freshman Catharine Mooney posted the top finish ever by a Lion in the women's 6K race, while classmate Brian Abel accomplished the same feat in the men's 8K race.

Brandywine men's golf, playing its second year since returning to varsity status, finished 17th at the USCAA National Championship in October for the second-straight season.

Brandywine leads four Penn State University Athletic Conference schools that rank in the top 20. Fayette stands eighth, while Schuylkill is 15th and DuBois is 18th.

Last year, Brandywine claimed fourth in the Directors' Cup standings, its best showing in department history. Only one PSUAC school - Penn College in 2008-09 and 2009-10 - has finished in the top five of the Directors' Cup standings in back-to-back years.