Tri-captain and defender Chris Nitta of the United States Merchant Marine Academy soccer team has been named the Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week. The announcement was made by the league office earlier today. The sweeper anchored a Mariner defense that posted two shutouts this week and only allowed an average of 4.5 shots on goal per game.

The Mariners beat Old Westbury in their home opener on Wednesday night by a score of 1-0. Nitta and the defense only allowed the Panthers to take two shots on goal the entire game.

On Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22, Nitta and the defense came through once again in a 1-0 overtime victory over Coast Guard. The Mariner defense only gave up seven shots on goal. Goaltender Preston Stokes - who leads the conference with an 0.73 goals against average - made five saves while David Poulnot and Dan Twito each recorded team saves.

Freshman quarterback Derrick Ventre of the United States Merchant Marine Academy football team has been named the Liberty League Co-Rookie of the Week. The announcement was made by the conference office earlier today. The freshman made his Mariner starting debut in last Saturday's 36-31 loss at Coast Guard.

Ventre completed 27 of 45 passes, threw for 327 yards and three of his completions were for touchdowns. Furthermore, he did not throw any interceptions against the Bears.

With the Mariners trailing by two touchdowns, Ventre helped march the blue and gray down the field and eventually threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Davey May with 1:58 left in the game to give his team its first lead of the game at 31-30.

After Coast Guard scored again with 52 seconds left on the clock to take a 36-31 lead, Ventre used his arm to bring the Mariners back into the red zone for a chance to win the game with seven seconds left on the clock. He completed four passes for 40 yards and also rushed 6 yards on his own for a first down.Unfortunately, both of his passes fell incomplete and the Bears held on for the victory.