BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Senior linebacker Nicholas Ciriello was honored by the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) for his performance this past weekend in Geneva's 43-16 victory over Case Western Reserve, receiving the conference's Defensive Player of the Week award. It is the first time in Ciriello's career that he has received a PAC weekly award, and it comes after his final regular season game.

Ciriello was a force to be reckoned with in the Golden Tornadoes impressive victory over CWRU on Saturday, helping the GTs' defensive unit hold the high-powered Spartan offense to just 16 points. He finished the game with 12 total tackles, including a career-best 11 solo stops, as well as 2.0 tackles for loss and a sack. His best play of the afternoon came toward the end of the second quarter, when he recovered a fumble on the Spartan 10-yard line off a sack by fellow senior Payne Brereton and walked it in for a touchdown, the first of his career. That touchdown gave Geneva its first two-score lead of the day and proved to be a momentum-swinging play.

Following the conclusion of the PAC regular season, Ciriello leads the conference with 108 tackles, ten more than any other PAC player. He is also tied for the conference lead with 14.0 tackles for loss and has 3.0 sacks as well.

After finishing the regular season with a winning record for the first time since 2009, the Golden Tornadoes qualified for a postseason bowl game and will be traveling to Brockport, NY to take on SUNY Brockport in the ECAC Robert M. "Scotty" Whitelaw Bowl. That game is scheduled for Saturday, November 22^nd, with kickoff slated for 12:00 p.m.

Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God's kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).