Abuhoff Named Ivy Special Teams Player of the Week

HANOVER, N.H. — Thanks to an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown against Harvard, Dartmouth junior Shawn Abuhoff (Hialeah, Fla.) was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week. This is the fifth weekly award won by a Big Green player this season and second special teams award.

Trailing 24-0 in the second quarter, Dartmouth forced Harvard to punt for the first time in the game. Abuhoff fielded the punt at the Big Green 18, then started upfield before veering to the left sideline. He found the big hole he was looking for and turned the jets on, leaving the Crimson in his wake for his second punt return for a touchdown this season. Abuhoff also returned five kickoffs for a total of 109 yards on the afternoon as well.

The 82-yard punt return is the fourth longest in Big Green history. Abuhoff is second all-time at Dartmouth in combined kick- and punt-return yardage with 1,630 yards to his credit, trailing only Steve Jensen '05 who had 2,027 and is the only other Dartmouth return man to earn the Ivy's special teams weekly award (2001). The junior also currently ranks among the top 10 active FCS players in both career kickoff and punt return average with 26.40 yards (third) and 10.24 yards (ninth), respectively.

This is the fourth time Abuhoff has won a weekly award during his career, as he was named the league's rookie of the week three times during the 2008 campaign. He joins placekicker Foley Schmidt (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) in earning the special teams award this year, while tailback Nick Schwieger (Norton, Mass.) has earned the Offensive Player of the Week award twice and tailback Dominick Pierre (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) the Rookie of the Week.

This weekend, Dartmouth (4-3, 1-3, Ivy) travels to Cornell (2-5, 1-3 Ivy) where the Big Green have lost their last six meetings with the Big Red. Cornell is coming off its first Ivy victory of the year, 21-19 over Princeton.

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