West Chester Tied For Top Spot In First Lambert Meadowlands Trophy Poll

CENTERVILLE, Mass. – West Chester University ranked tied for first atop the initial Lambert Meadowlands Football Poll of 2013 it was announced by the Eastern College Athletic Conference Monday afternoon.
 
West Chester (6-0) and Bloomsburg (6-0) are each tied for first place. Fellow PSAC participant, Slippery Rock (5-1), is ranked third while Northeast-10 leader New Haven is fourth in the first poll of the fall season. Shippensburg is ranked fifth with Indiana (Pa.) coming in sixth and American International College is seventh. East Stroudsburg, Stonehill and California (Pa.) are all tied for eighth to round out the poll.
 
The Golden Rams finished seventh in the poll a year ago. West Chester last won the Lambert Meadowlands Trophy in 2006. Head coach Bill Zwaan has won the trophy, which is handed out to the top college football program in the East at Division I-FBS, Division 1-FCS, Division II and Division III, twice (2004, 2006).

West Chester moved up to No. 15 in the latest American Football Coaches' Association (AFCA) poll released on Monday as well. The Golden Rams had spent the last two weeks at No. 17.
 
About the Lambert Meadowlands Football Poll 
Established in 1936 as the Lambert Trophy to recognize supremacy in Eastern college football, the award has since grown to recognize the best team in the East in the Bowl Subdivision. In 1957, the Lambert Cup was created to recognize non-Division I-A teams, and in 1966 a Division III award was added. In 1983, the Lambert family decided the Meadowlands Sports Complex would be the best organization with a sincere and involved interest in college athletics to sponsor and manage the award, and since that time, the awards have been known as the Lambert Meadowlands Awards.
 
To be eligible for the Lambert Meadowlands Award, a school must be located in the East or play at least half of its schedule against eligible Lambert teams. The territory includes New York, New Jersey, New England and Pennsylvania, while teams in the bordering states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia and the District of Columbia qualify if at least half of their schedule features eligible teams. 
 
Teams in Eastern-based football conferences, regardless of location, qualify if at least half their schedule is against Lambert eligible teams.
 
About the ECAC
The ECAC is the nation's largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference in the country with more than 300 Divisions I, II, and III colleges and universities. The ECAC stretches from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Colorado. Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors nearly 100 championships in 37 men's and women's sports and assigns more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. The ECAC also administers nine affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues, and through the public relations arm of the conference, more than 2,500 student-athletes in 23 sports are recognized annually. Finally, the ECAC serves as the primary conference for select members in the sports of men's and women's ice hockey and men's lacrosse.