LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA. (January 5, 2009) – Lincoln University of Pennsylvania freshman women's soccer player Stephanie Anderson (Coatesville, PA, Coatesville Area)will share the same dais with the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies during the 105th annual Philadelphia Sports Writers' Association Banquet on Monday January 26, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, NJ. (BUY TICKETS)
Anderson is the second consecutive Lincoln student-athlete to be honored by this prestigious organization. Tickets for the event are $75. Visit http://pswa.org/index.html or contact Sports Information Director Rob Knox at rknox@lincoln.edu for more information on the banquet. Ashley Parker, a ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America and NCAA Woman of the Year Finalist, was recognized during last year's banquet.
Anderson will be among the many guests recognized and honored for an outstanding year during the banquet. Anderson, who was the first women's soccer player in program history spotlighted in the Faces In the Crowd section of the October 6 issue of Sports Illustrated, will be eating at the head table with several dignitaries, honored guests and celebrities from the local and national sports scene. Anderson had a season to remember.
Anderson scored a school record five goals in her first collegiate soccer contest against Trinity (D.C.) University on September 8. The affable Anderson completed her first week with a hat-trick against Gallaudet on September 14. That eight-goal burst helped Anderson to be named ECAC Division II Offensive Player of the Week. Anderson finished with 14 goals, a single season record for goals for a Lincoln women's soccer program. Anderson also scored a game-winning overtime goal against Penn State-Abington on September 17.
Among some of the announced award winners are the Philadelphia Phillies, who won the World Series for the first time since 1980, will be honored as the Team of the Year. Phillies closer Brad Lidge will be honored as the Pro Athlete of the Year. The 2008 World Series trophy will also be on display during the Awards banquet.
Former Penn State football player Adam Taliaferro, who was temporarily paralyzed and told he would never walk again after suffering a spinal injury during a game against Ohio State in 2000, will be honored with the Humanitarian Award for his work with his own Adam Taliaferro Foundation, whose mission is to help athletes who, like Adam, have suffered spinal cord injuries.
Mike Washington, the record-setting wide receiver from West Chester University and leading candidate for the Harlon Hill Trophy as outstanding player in the NCAA Division II, will be honored as the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association's top amateur athlete for 2008. Bernie Parent, Conn Smythe Award winner when the Flyers won Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975 and a hockey Hall of Fame member since 1984, will be recognized with the Philadelphia Sports Living Legend Award.
In addition, members of the Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers, the Philadelphia Big Five and other organizations will be honored on this special evening. With that kind of momentum, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association is projecting this to be one of our top dinners in recent memory.
Harry Kalas, the legendary and Hall of Fame voice of the Phillies and NFL Films, will serve as the Master of Ceremonies of the event. Some of the past banquet honorees have included Jimmy Rollins, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, Carl Lewis, Dawn Staley, John Chaney, Joe Frazier, Herb Magee, Donovan McNabb, Jameer Nelson and Allen Iverson.
Doors for the banquet open at 5 p.m. and dinner starts at 6:30. For additional information, e-mail PSWAdinner@yahoo.com.
Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is the first historically black institution of higher education and its graduates include such luminaries as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court, and acclaimed poet and author Langston Hughes. Lincoln University is nationally regarded for producing African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences.
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