HAVERFORD, Pa. – Recent graduate Eric Caliendo '16 has become the 30th student-athlete at Haverford to receive a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Haverford's most recent award winner earned the honor following the conclusion of the men's lacrosse season.
Caliendo is the second player in the history of the men's lacrosse program to be awarded the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, joining Daniel Bloomfield '82. Mike Fischette '04 was an alternate for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship as a member of the men's lacrosse team.
As an athletic department, Haverford has had at least one student-athlete earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship during each of the past nine academic years. Caliendo joins fellow Class of 2016 Sam Yarosh as a recipient this year to mark the sixth time at Haverford more than one student-athlete has garnered this recognition from the same athletic class.
The NCAA awards up to the 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 each for men and women. Recognizing student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are at least in their final year of intercollegiate athletics, the scholarships are awarded for fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. There are 29 scholarships (one-time grants of $7,500) available for both men and women each sports season (fall, winter, spring).
An All-American goalie for the Fords in 2016, Caliendo graduated from Haverford with a degree in biology and was also named the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's lacrosse. A team captain, Caliendo was also named a Scholar All-American. He finishes his career as a two-time All-Centennial Conference performer and three time member of the conference's academic honor roll. He was also honored on the Centennial Conference All-Sportsmanship Team twice in his career and was named the Centennial Conference Male Sportsmanship Award recipient for the 2015-16 academic year.
Honored as a Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week during the 2016 season, Caliendo started every game for Haverford and played all but a few minutes late in four games which the Fords had sizeable advantages. He allowed just 7.01 goals against average and stopped 58.8 percent of the shots he faced on the season. Caliendo also ranked third in the team in ground balls (51) and fifth in caused turnovers (14). He made at least 10 saves in eight different games, including a season-high 19 saves in a win against McDaniel. His goals against average for the year was the third best single season mark in program history.
The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. Athletics and academic achievements, as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership, are evaluated. An equitable approach is employed in reviewing each applicant's nomination form to provide opportunity to all student-athlete nominees to receive the postgraduate award, regardless of sport, division, gender or race. In maintaining the highest broad-based standards in the selection process, the program aims to reward those individuals whose dedication and effort are reflective of those characteristics necessary to succeed and thrive through postgraduate study in an accredited graduate degree program.