Jan. 10, 2003

VILLANOVA, PA. - The ECAC announced on Friday that Villanova University has won the Lambert Meadowlands Cup, recognizing the Wildcats as the best I-AA football team in the East for the second time in head coach Andy Talley's 18 seasons on the Main Line.

The 2002 season was a memorable one for Villanova (11-4), advancing to the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs for the first time in school history and recording the second highest single-season win total in program history. The Wildcats also won the Lambert Cup in 1992.

Maine (11-3) finished fourth in the poll, followed by Northeastern (10-3) in fifth and Massachusetts (8-4) in seventh. A team from the Atlantic 10 Football Conference has won the Lambert Cup in 10 of the last 12 seasons, with the last team being Delaware in 2000.

To be eligible for the award, a school must be located in the East or play 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 half of their schedule features eligible teams.

This year, 44 schools in I-AA were eligible and four separate panels of media, one in each division, participate in a weekly poll and the final poll determines the winners. Playoff games are included in the polling.