WEST POINT, NY - The Army West Point men's soccer team struck for two unanswered goals in the second half to top service academy-rival Air Force, 3-1, in the season opener for both teams on Friday evening at Clinton Field. The Black Knights begin the year 1-0 for the first time since 2013, while the Falcons slip to 0-1 to start their 2016 campaign. Click here for the video: https://youtu.be/6hELX7VF2bQ. Seniors Christian Clark and Nick Williams each provided goals for Army and freshman Tyler Mitchiner opened his scoring account in his first collegiate game. Williams netted the game winner in the 82nd minute before Mitchiner scored 1:04 later in the 83rd minute to seal the victory for the Cadets. Read More

Today at Trophy Point, the West Point Class of 2017 received their class rings during the annual Ring Ceremony. The rings donned by 2017 are symbols of pride and commitment as they enter their final year at West Point, and within each gold ring remains a physical connection to previous West Point graduates. Ring Weekend, which includes the Ring Ceremony, Ring Banquet and a Cadet Hop, commemorates the Firsties’ academic careers as they enter their final year at West Point. Each year since 2001, the gold from rings that have been worn and donated by U.S. Military Academy graduates has been melted and mixed into the gold to make the rings for the Academy’s next graduating class, a WPAOG tradition that physically and symbolically links The Long Gray Line with its newest members. Watch this short video on the Class of 2017 Ring Melt: https://vimeo.com/179239310

Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Vito T. Bryant. For more photos from the ceremony, visit https://flic.kr/s/aHskFsGQQ1.

Freshman Rex Epps was selected as Patriot League Rookie of the Week for the first time on Monday after scoring two goals in Army's match against LIU Brooklyn last week. Epps was also honored as Army Athletic Association Athlete of the Week for his performance. Epps started in each of Army's first two games, including a 3-1 victory over Air Force on Aug. 26 and a 3-2 setback against LIU Brooklyn on Aug. 28. A native of Irmo, S.C., Epps netted both goals for the Black Knights during the LIU Brooklyn game, striking his first in the 65th minute before adding a second 2:10 later in the 68th minute. Epps scored on a pass from sophomore Grayson Naquin for his first tally and took advantage of a bad pass inside the 18-yard box to score his second of the afternoon. Read More

For the sixth year in a row, the U.S. Military Academy Ranks No. 1 on the Princeton Review’s list of “Most Accessible Professors.” “The Princeton Review’s ranking of our faculty accessibility shows our deep commitment at the U.S. Military Academy to educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets,” said Brig. Gen. Cindy Jebb, Dean of the academic board. “I speak on behalf of the entire faculty when I say that it's an honor to serve and to help prepare our cadets to become leaders of character who are critical thinkers, internalize their professional identity and employ their education to help build the Army and the Nation’s future.” Read the USMA Press Release.

The report released 29 August ranked West Point in its Top 10 schools in several categories, including No. 1 for “Students Study the Most.” Other notable rankings include No. 2 in “Best College Library,” No. 2 in “Everyone Plays Intramural Sports,” No. 3 in “Best Health Services” and No. 3 in “Most Active Student Government.” The rankings in the 2017 edition of The Princeton Review are based on surveys of 143,000 students (average 374 per campus) at the 381 colleges in the book in 2015 - 16 and/or the previous two school years. The survey asks students 84 questions about their school’s academics, administration, student body, and themselves. The ranking methodology uses a five - point Likert scale to convert qualitative student assessments into quantitative data for school-to-school comparisons.

For the second year in-a-row, the Army West Point women's cross country team defeated Maine to open the season on Friday. The Black Knights won by the score of 16-46 to improve to 1-0 on the season. Sophomore Abby Halbrook won her first race at Army. Abby Halbrook - First (18:46.33) Bethany Nunnery - Second (18:51.00) Samantha Coletti - Third (18:55.61) Andrea Karlen - Fourth (18:56.64) Ramsey Wagner - Sixth (19:10.42) Cassie Mundekis - Seventh (19:32.93) Kate Sanborn - Ninth (19:43.00). Read More

For the second year in-a-row, the Army West Point men's cross country team defeated Maine to open the season on Friday. The Black Knights won by the score of 20-37 to improve to 1-0 on the season. Robbie Santoyo placed fourth in his collegiate debut. Benjamin Petrella placed sixth in his first career race. TOP FINISHES Jacob Fong - Second (25:50.16) Mikey Singer - Third (25:54.48) Robbie Santoyo - Fourth (25:56.09) Johnny Valeri - Fifth (25:57.10) Benjamin Petrella - Sixth (25:57.14) Matthew Bearden - 10th (26:16.51) Roman Ollar - 11th (26:17.67). Read More

The Army West Point men's rugby team opened its season with a commanding 49-3 victory over Stony Brook on Friday night at Anderson Rugby Complex. The Black Knights move to 1-0 on the season while the Seawolves drop to 0-1. The Black Knights move to 2-0 against Stony Brook all-time. Chris L'Amoureux, Jon Kim, Tony Smith, Sam Sutera and Nathan Williams all made their 15s debut as starters this evening. Michael McTiernan, John Royston and Will Miller saw action in their first collegiate game as reserves. Kim broke the program record for conversions in a single game with seven in his collegiate debut. Maul formed around Jareth Long-Garrett pushes him into the try zone off an Army line-out to make it a three-score game. Read More

Two members of the West Point Polish Club took a trip to Krakow Poland this summer. Here is a wonderful first-hand account from Cadet Isabela Vargas ’19 about their trip! “Krakow is such a beautiful, historical city with a rich culture. I had the privilege of spending almost two weeks there this summer. Two years ago I was fortunate enough to visit there with my family but was not able to fully integrate and be on my own as I was this Au-gust. This time, I was a less tourist and a little more of a local. Mornings would start with a traditional Polish breakfast (rye bread and lunch meats with pickles) and tea. Sometimes I would stop at a café and order coffee before classes. Ordering a cookie crumble frappe in Polish was not easy. Cadet Matt Watts ’18 would have Polish classes until the afternoons. I thought I knew some Polish, but taking those classes made me realize that I knew NOTHING (besides cat, or “kot”). Surprisingly, learning some simple grammar rules and vocabulary has actually been very helpful for my first week of Russian classes. It was our responsibility to navigate to and from classes using public transportation on our own. I learned the word for “lost” the first day.

After classes, we had lunch and extra lectures about Polish society and history. One moment from the trip stood out: it was Friday night, and we were coming back from climbing a hill that overlooks the city. Passing some food trucks, I decided to try the French fry vendor. I successfully ordered a large fry with no sauce and a water in Polish, and handed over the money. The cashier asked me something else that immediately lost me, but it was my first real transaction in Polish, which felt great. From then on, in shops and restaurants, I’d ask cashiers and waiters how to pronounce things that I would point to. It was wonderful to stay connected to my family’s culture and share some things with older members of the family. For example, my grandmother went to school a few minutes away from Krakow’s central market square, and I got to see the street where she lived. I also met students from Germany, Ukraine, Netherlands, and elsewhere. It was interesting to learn about different cultures and see how their education systems work. I plan to go back to Poland to keep learning more Polish and learn more about Polish holidays and traditions. Matt and I would like to thank the Irene Buynoski Trust, which supported in full our travel to Poland.”

The Army West Point volleyball team competed in its final contest at the American Campus Classic Saturday evening with a 3-0 win over UTSA. Allie Strong shined for the Black Knights in today's match with 11.5 points off 11 kills and a .588 hitting percentage along with six digs. Amber Clay continued to be a standout player for Army with a team-leading 15 points, 14 kills and a .414 hitting percentage. Vanessa Wesley hit .364 tonight off six kills while adding two blocks. Haven Bethune controlled the Cadets' offense with 23 assists and a team-leading three blocks. Olivia Fairfield also assisted in tonight's efforts with 5.5 points off five kills (.300) and one block assist. Megan Bryn recorded eight digs to lead Army defensively and tallied a match-leading three service aces. Read More

Cadets and faculty from the Department of Systems Engineering (DSE) and Department of Physical Education (DPE) participated in a meeting hosted at the Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center with members of the Soldier systems research community. DSE and DPE delivered FY17 study plan briefings describing efforts to better understand the effects of load on dismounted Soldiers. PEO Soldier plans to deliver a Load Effects Assessment Program - Army (LEAP-A) system to USMA for use during the fall semester. LEAP-A is an instrumented obstacle course designed to mimic likely physical tasks in combat to include tunnel crawling, window entries, wall climbs, and casualty drags. The DPE experiment, led by Dr. Jennifer Hewit and Dr. Daniel Jaffe, will use LEAP-A to assess the impact of various load configurations on Soldier task performance. The DSE cadet capstone team (Cadets Robertson, Pattillo, Ross, and Murray) will research load effects measurement methodologies and propose improvements, both inclusive and exclusive of the LEAP-A. The client for this study, PEO Soldier, ultimately needs a better understanding of load limits and an assessment methodology capable of supporting current and future materiel acquisition decisions.

The Army West Point Triathlon Team started off the 2016-17 season exactly where they wanted to be, on the podium. The first race came quickly at the start of the year and most of the cadets were some-what doubting their multi-sport fitness as they set off for the Cranberry Trifest at Lakeville, MA. They were fortunate to have sunny weather in the 70s with low wind and a fairly fast and flat single loop course. The cadets did not disappoint, they stuck to the plan and left it all out on the course, sweeping the men’s collegiate podium and giving us a 2nd place collegiate female. All of the men made the top 10, and three of our women were top 10. The final results: Nick Chatel was 3rd overall male &1st collegiate with a time of 1:12:19 Pete Hetzel 2nd collegiate male 1:13:02 Dylan Varrato 3rd collegiate male 1:14:06 Graham King 4th 1:14:27 Paul O’Donnell 6th 1:15:11 Alex Werden 7th 1:15:23 Taylor Rodenhuis 8th 1:17:39 Jake Petit 10th 1:18:44 Haley Conger 2nd 1:26:56 Anna Devries 5th 1:28:23 Katrina Josberger 6th 1:28:25 Megan Jarrell 13 1:29:45 Madison Jones 15th 1:30:18 Keriann Murphy 23rd 1:35:57.

The Army West Point golf team finished third at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial Invite hosted by Colgate at Seven Oaks Golf Club. The Black Knights totaled a 54-hole score of 901 (+37) to finish behind Cornell and champion Delaware. Leading the way for Army was Gunnar Doyle, who carded his third consecutive 74 to finish with a total score of 222 (+6). Nick Turner finished with final-round 75 for a 54-hole total of 224 (+8), while Peter Kim carded a 74 to end the tournament with a 228 (+12) total score. In the individual scoring, Max Messner and Brian Stecker finished with 54-hole totals of 251 and 260 combined Marc Oliveri of Delaware was the individual winner with a total of 214 (-2) and shot even par on Sunday. Hole No. 1 was once again the hardest hole, as just one birdie recorded and 51 bogeys or worse were made. Hole No. 12 was the easiest hole of the day relative to par, as there were 27 birdies and just five bogeys made. Read More

The West Point Cadet Glee Club's mens' a cappella group - the Knight Caps - was once again invited to perform the National Anthem and the Alma Mater at Saratoga Raceway's annual West Point Stakes Day, which takes place the day prior to the Travers Stakes. The five cadets sang the Anthem as the track opened, then sang the Alma Mater after the 9th race later that afternoon. In between performances, the cadets spent time touring the track, meeting the West Point graduates behind the share-ownership stable "West Point Thoroughbreds," and socializing with the West Point Society of the Capital Region, who also attended the event in force.

The much anticipated Army West Point football season kicked off Friday night at Lincoln Financial Field against Temple and it sure didn't disappoint. A strong offensive showing from the Black Knights handed Army its first season-opening win on the road since 2010 following a 28-13 victory. It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the opening half with the hosts taking a slight 10-7 edge into the break. But that was all about to change. Three second half touchdowns from the Black Knights, two from Andy Davidson alone, provided Army the needed scores to snap Temple's six-game winning streak over the Cadets. The Black Knights held a very strong Temple offense to just a lone field goal in the final 30 minutes. Army's defense combined for four sacks and three interceptions throughout the game. Davidson had a solid outing leading the team in rushing with 121 yards. Starting quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw posted 64 rushing yards, including a touchdown of his own. Click here for the video: https://youtu.be/U0JYtSBXxUU

The Black Knights are now 1-13 at Lincoln Financial Field. The outcome marked Army's first win in Philadelphia since the Army-Navy Game in 2001. The last time Army opened the season with a victory on the road was in 2010 at Eastern Michigan. This was the first win over a school currently in the American Athletic Conference since Army beat Connecticut at Yankee Stadium in 2014. Bradshaw recorded his sixth rushing touchdown to tie the game up at 7-7 with nine minutes to play in the first half. Davidson earned his first collegiate two-touchdown night in his first outing as a running back. He played linebacker and was a member of the special teams just a season ago. Davidson wasn't the only one to have a career night, as Aukerman posted two sacks in the contest for the first time in his career. Kenneth Brinson added one sack of his own, and picked up his first interception for the Black and Gold. Mike Reynolds and Marcus Hyatt notched their first career take away. Read More

Army West Point volleyball swept the Patriot League's weekly awards. Junior Amber Clay was honored as the Athlete of the Week, while freshman Allie Strong was awarded Rookie of the Week honors. Clay led the Black Knights offensively in all three matches over the weekend with contests against Lipscomb (W, 3-1), No. 3 Texas (L, 3-0) and UTSA (W, 3-0). The St. John, Ind., native averaged 3.7 kills per set and hit .329 on the weekend. She recorded her third double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs opposite the nationally recognized Longhorns. Clay hit over .400 with in both wins for Army and notched a season-high .414 hitting percentage opposite the Roadrunners. Strong continued to stand out for the Cadets throughout the tournament. She led the charge in Army's offense and block game and registered a career-high .588 hitting percentage versus UTSA. She also hit .323 against Lipscomb with a career-high 13 kills. Strong, who hails from Overland Park, Kan., led the team with seven blocks against the Bison to help aid Army's 16-2 block advantage in the contest. She also averaged 3.0 kills per set and tallied an ace and nine total blocks on the weekend. The Black Knights finished 2-1 over the weekend at the American Campus Classic to place second in the tournament just behind No. 3 Texas. Read More

Cadets enrolled in the Center for Enhanced Performance's RS 100 course spent some very active time in the Jefferson Hall, finding their way from one service point to another and learning about Library resources, services, and staff along the way. The Library Poker Runs are designed to get cadets familiar with the people here at the Library who can help them in their studies, and with the resources they can use to complete the assignments they’ll have throughout their time at West Point. Cadets are given a checklist of locations (the Welcome/Circulation Desk, Info Desk/Reference Librarian/Print Stations, and the home of our Unique Resources collection and staff - newly relocated to the West Point Room in Bartlett Hall North) and are directed to complete a task at each checkpoint. The tasks help the plebes learn a multitude of research-related skills, such as how to search within our collections using Scout! - the Library’s discovery tool; how to renew books online; what to do when the Library doesn’t have an article or book they need (hint: Inter-Library Loan!); and the difference between primary and secondary sources. A highlight of the Poker Run is a visit to the Unique Collections and USMA Archives in the West Point Room, where this semester they saw Custer’s demerits (all six pages of them!), the West Point Post Order book that included an account of Edgar Allan Poe’s court-martial, and Civil War-era maps by Jeremy Gilmer ’39. After completing each task, the cadets draw a card, and the cadet team with the best poker hand at the end of class wins a prize from their instructor. Over 100 cadets participated in these Poker Runs, and judging from discussions with them at the end of class, everyone learned something new that they felt would help them throughout their academic career at West Point.

Members of the Hudson Valley Cultural Forum traveled to Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls to watch the Hudson Valley Renegades beat the Auburn Doubledays 2-1, after first learning about the connections between baseball, West Point and New York State. In route to the game, Cadets read an informational packet about the history of baseball, along with Ernest Thayer’s poem “Casey at the Bat” and Jack Norworth's song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” At the ballpark, the cadets discussed the readings, including the role MG Abner Doubleday (USMA 1842) played in creating baseball at Cooperstown, NY. Following the game, Cadets stepped onto the field to pose with one of the Renegades’ Pokemon-themed mascots. The Hudson Valley Cultural Forum’s mission is to expose Cadets to the history, arts, and culture of the Hudson River Valley.

Sophomore running back Andy Davidson was named the Army Athletic Association Athlete of the Week after his grand performance against Temple on Friday night. Davidson ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns in his first-career start for the Black Knights. Click here for the video: https://youtu.be/rKcNPZ-24Ac. Both of his touchdowns came in the second half, helping Army outscore the Owls, 21-3 in the final 30 minutes. The Allentown, Pa., native made the move from linebacker to fullback this season and carried out the American flag prior to the game at Lincoln Financial Field. Read More

Cadets Visit Louisiana’s Angola State Penitentiary. Cadets on the Civil Rights Staff Ride studying the criminal justice system, got a first-hand look at mass incarceration at the State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. In preparation for this visit the cadets read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. At Angola, cadets met inmates serving life-without-parole sentences participating in vocational training of inmates serving shorter sentences. Cadets also visited death row, and spoke with wardens who were adamant about the progress this once notorious prison has made. Cadets met with Equal Justice Initiative Founder Bryan Stevenson. and got to meet another author of their many required books, Bryan Stevenson. His book Just Mercy was a favorite of the cadets who admitted they were star-struck to meet its award-winning author at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which he founded in Montgomery, Alabama. They also took part in a ceremony to honor West Point’s first African-American graduate Henry Ossian Flipper, Class of 1877. The ceremony was sponsored by the West Point Society of Tallahassee in Thomasville, Georgia, Flipper’s hometown.

Doctors Laura and Derek Cabrera, internationally recognized experts in systems thinking from Cornell University and authors of Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems, led a seminar for 98 cadets in the Introduction to Systems Engineering course in Cullum Hall. During the seminar, Dr. Cabrera introduced the mental modeling construct “Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives” (DSRP) for understanding complex systems and approaching wicked problems. Cadets then employed the model with the use of “Think Blocks” to tackle the problem of refugee radicalization in Europe. This methodology and education will greatly help cadets both in the course and as they do their course project, but, more importantly, as they progress to greater positions of leadership in the Army and are faced with complex, ill-defined problems.