Pair honored by PAC for impact in last three games

The Waynesburg University men’s soccer team had two players given Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) awards for the week of Oct. 1.

Adam Dolan, sophomore goalkeeper of the Yellow Jackets (4-7, 1-1), received Defensive, Goalkeeper of the Week and Thomas Robinson, freshman midfielder for the Yellow Jackets, won Rookie of the Week.

“I was really excited when I first found out,” said Dolan. “I think that the defensive award shouldn’t have been an individual thing. When the goalie has a good defensive game, that means the whole team had a good defensive game.”

Dolan won the award based on the Yellow Jackets games against the University of Mount Union Raiders and Saint Vincent College Bearcats. Through the two games, Dolan allowed just one goal and had 10 saves. Dolan also got his first shutout of the season against Saint Vincent.

Dolan was forced into action last season when junior goalkeeper James Snyder went down with an injury. Dolan started seven games last season and has started every game so far this season.

“I didn’t know I was going to have the starting spot,” said Dolan. “I busted my butt in the offseason and hoped that I could just come in here and play my best.”

Dolan is currently ranked third in the PAC in shutouts.

Robinson won the Rookie of the Week award for his two-goal performance against Saint Vincent. Robinson also had three shots on goal in the game against Mount Union.

“I didn’t even know what this award was until my high school friends started re-tweeting it,” said Robinson. “Once I found out I was really excited, and I noticed people started recognizing me. If I keep working hard I can get higher awards and more people will recognize me.”

Robinson is currently second on the team and eighth in the conference in goals with four as of Oct. 9.

Robinson, a Mount Lebanon High School graduate, said he was drawn to Waynesburg because of his love of soccer.

“When I came here I knew not many people from my high school were looking into college soccer, so I was just really hoping for the best,” said Robinson. “I found out about Waynesburg through soccer from visits my junior and senior years of high school.”

Men’s soccer head coach Brad Heethuis said he knew Robinson would be an asset to the team immediately.

“We didn’t know if he would be starting right off the bat or coming off the bench, but we knew he could help us,” said Heethuis. “He has a high soccer IQ, good technical ability, he is very versatile and can play a few different places for us.”

After having a week off, the Yellow Jackets hosted the Bethany Bison on Wednesday night, but the result of the game was determined past print of this issue. Waynesburg will play its next game on Saturday against the Thiel Tomcats (5-7-1, 1-1-1), and then have four more games in the PAC to finish off the season.