Roger S. Penske/Lehigh Athletics Hall of Fame
Sweeney Van Ackeren, Lisa
Lisa Sweeney Van Ackeren
- Induction:
- 2019
- Class:
- 2009
Athletic success. Academic achievement. Engagement in leadership and service initiatives. Lehigh softball standout Lisa (Sweeney) Van Ackeren ’09 succeeded in all of these areas in her time in the Brown and White. She remains the most accomplished pitcher in Patriot League history and is perhaps the top all-around softball player in Lehigh’s rich program history; and was equally as successful in her off-field endeavors.
“I’m honored because Lehigh just means so much to me,” Sweeney said. “It’s where I met my husband. It’s where my career started. It’s where my values were solidified. It’s the place, and to be honored in this way by the place that is so close to my heart, means a lot to me.”
Sweeney enjoyed a record-setting career for the Mountain Hawks from 2006-09. She is the only student-athlete to garner Patriot League Pitcher of the Year honors four times, and also was the league's Player of the Year in 2008. Sweeney owns Lehigh and Patriot League career records for games pitched (141), complete games (91), victories (94), innings pitched (774.2), shutouts (31) and strikeouts (928). Sweeney also hit 23 career home runs and played in five of Lehigh's seven all-time NCAA Tournament wins, including all three versus Texas A&M in 2006 and 2009. She was a four-time NFCA All-Region selection.
The Lumberton, N.J. native burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2006, setting school records with 26 victories, 228 strikeouts and a 1.14 ERA. She threw an eight-inning no-hitter, the first of four in her career, in just her third career start. Sweeney began her postseason career by hurling the only perfect game in Patriot League Tournament history in a 2-0 victory over Army. The Mountain Hawks went on to make national headlines after beating No. 13 seed Texas A&M twice in the NCAA Tournament, with Sweeney earning a save in the first win over the Aggies.
“Kate Arico is the best captain I have ever been around and played with,” Sweeney said of Lehigh’s starting pitcher in both of those NCAA Tournament wins. “She was a phenomenal, authentic leader and she set the tone for our whole team there. Beating them in that first game, I knew we could do something special as a program in general. That moment was really exciting.”
Sweeney won her second straight Pitcher of the Year award in 2007 and made an even bigger leap in her 2008 junior campaign. She matched her own school record with 26 victories and broke her own school mark with 304 strikeouts. In addition to her pitching prowess, Sweeney became a factor at the plate, batting .414 and setting a school record with 13 home runs. She was named Patriot League Player of the Year in addition to her third straight Pitcher of the Year award.
As a senior, Sweeney capped her career with a fourth straight Pitcher of the Year honor, winning 23 games and striking out 247. For the third time in her career, Lehigh won the Patriot League championship, with Sweeney winning her third Tournament MVP award. For the second time in four years, the Mountain Hawks advanced to a NCAA regional final, with Sweeney firing a complete game to eliminate old nemesis Texas A&M.
“Lisa was very talented, but honestly, we’ve had more talented players than her in our program,” Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan explained. “What she had was not only talent, but an incredible drive. She was driven to be the best that she could be on the softball field and in the classroom as well. She was just a born leader. She took people that new they wanted to do something and through her force and personality she was able to get people to do uncomfortable things that made them better as softball players and as people.”
Off the field, Sweeney was a history major who was a regular on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. She was a third team CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2008 and was the Patriot League’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year for softball in 2009. She held leadership roles in Lehigh’s C.O.A.C.H. community outreach program and was active in the early stages of Lehigh’s Leadership Academy (now Flight45). As a senior, Sweeney was recognized often at the year-end Athletics Convocation, earning the Graduating Female Athlete award, the Mary O. Hurley Female Leadership Award, and the department’s highest honor, the Graduating Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
“The Leadership programming and being involved with SAC and with C.O.A.C.H. were formative in my values off the field,” Sweeney explained. “That’s important because you get into your college career and there’s so much about the competing that matters to you, but real life goes so far beyond that. That’s where I was able to connect what I was doing on the field to what really mattered. Those areas gave me a really great ability to learn the value of that and of how to make a positive impact on the people around you.”
While Sweeney continues to strive to make a positive impact on the people around her, it’s the people she encountered at Lehigh that played the biggest role in her development.
“It’s the people and how important the people that you surround yourself with every day are and how that impacts your whole life,” she said. “From getting recruited by Coach (Troyan) and having such a connection to that coaching staff. My teammates were phenomenal. I don’t think I’m getting into the Hall of Fame without them. They were so crucial to my personal development. That’s now what I look for in life; to try to find that same type of culture where people and relationships matter. That’s the biggest takeaway from Lehigh that made a huge impact on my life.”
“Lisa is wired to just be the best that she could be, no matter what she is doing,” Troyan said. “As a student, she was tremendous. As a leader, within all of Julie Ammary’s leadership areas, she was tremendous and as a person she was tremendous.”
Sweeney is entering her eighth season as the head softball coach at Princeton University, where she has led the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League titles and NCAA Regional appearances. She resides in New Jersey with her husband, former Lehigh football team captain Brendan Van Ackeren ’09 and their daughter Jordyn.
“I’m honored because Lehigh just means so much to me,” Sweeney said. “It’s where I met my husband. It’s where my career started. It’s where my values were solidified. It’s the place, and to be honored in this way by the place that is so close to my heart, means a lot to me.”
Sweeney enjoyed a record-setting career for the Mountain Hawks from 2006-09. She is the only student-athlete to garner Patriot League Pitcher of the Year honors four times, and also was the league's Player of the Year in 2008. Sweeney owns Lehigh and Patriot League career records for games pitched (141), complete games (91), victories (94), innings pitched (774.2), shutouts (31) and strikeouts (928). Sweeney also hit 23 career home runs and played in five of Lehigh's seven all-time NCAA Tournament wins, including all three versus Texas A&M in 2006 and 2009. She was a four-time NFCA All-Region selection.
The Lumberton, N.J. native burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2006, setting school records with 26 victories, 228 strikeouts and a 1.14 ERA. She threw an eight-inning no-hitter, the first of four in her career, in just her third career start. Sweeney began her postseason career by hurling the only perfect game in Patriot League Tournament history in a 2-0 victory over Army. The Mountain Hawks went on to make national headlines after beating No. 13 seed Texas A&M twice in the NCAA Tournament, with Sweeney earning a save in the first win over the Aggies.
“Kate Arico is the best captain I have ever been around and played with,” Sweeney said of Lehigh’s starting pitcher in both of those NCAA Tournament wins. “She was a phenomenal, authentic leader and she set the tone for our whole team there. Beating them in that first game, I knew we could do something special as a program in general. That moment was really exciting.”
Sweeney won her second straight Pitcher of the Year award in 2007 and made an even bigger leap in her 2008 junior campaign. She matched her own school record with 26 victories and broke her own school mark with 304 strikeouts. In addition to her pitching prowess, Sweeney became a factor at the plate, batting .414 and setting a school record with 13 home runs. She was named Patriot League Player of the Year in addition to her third straight Pitcher of the Year award.
As a senior, Sweeney capped her career with a fourth straight Pitcher of the Year honor, winning 23 games and striking out 247. For the third time in her career, Lehigh won the Patriot League championship, with Sweeney winning her third Tournament MVP award. For the second time in four years, the Mountain Hawks advanced to a NCAA regional final, with Sweeney firing a complete game to eliminate old nemesis Texas A&M.
“Lisa was very talented, but honestly, we’ve had more talented players than her in our program,” Lehigh head coach Fran Troyan explained. “What she had was not only talent, but an incredible drive. She was driven to be the best that she could be on the softball field and in the classroom as well. She was just a born leader. She took people that new they wanted to do something and through her force and personality she was able to get people to do uncomfortable things that made them better as softball players and as people.”
Off the field, Sweeney was a history major who was a regular on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. She was a third team CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2008 and was the Patriot League’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year for softball in 2009. She held leadership roles in Lehigh’s C.O.A.C.H. community outreach program and was active in the early stages of Lehigh’s Leadership Academy (now Flight45). As a senior, Sweeney was recognized often at the year-end Athletics Convocation, earning the Graduating Female Athlete award, the Mary O. Hurley Female Leadership Award, and the department’s highest honor, the Graduating Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
“The Leadership programming and being involved with SAC and with C.O.A.C.H. were formative in my values off the field,” Sweeney explained. “That’s important because you get into your college career and there’s so much about the competing that matters to you, but real life goes so far beyond that. That’s where I was able to connect what I was doing on the field to what really mattered. Those areas gave me a really great ability to learn the value of that and of how to make a positive impact on the people around you.”
While Sweeney continues to strive to make a positive impact on the people around her, it’s the people she encountered at Lehigh that played the biggest role in her development.
“It’s the people and how important the people that you surround yourself with every day are and how that impacts your whole life,” she said. “From getting recruited by Coach (Troyan) and having such a connection to that coaching staff. My teammates were phenomenal. I don’t think I’m getting into the Hall of Fame without them. They were so crucial to my personal development. That’s now what I look for in life; to try to find that same type of culture where people and relationships matter. That’s the biggest takeaway from Lehigh that made a huge impact on my life.”
“Lisa is wired to just be the best that she could be, no matter what she is doing,” Troyan said. “As a student, she was tremendous. As a leader, within all of Julie Ammary’s leadership areas, she was tremendous and as a person she was tremendous.”
Sweeney is entering her eighth season as the head softball coach at Princeton University, where she has led the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League titles and NCAA Regional appearances. She resides in New Jersey with her husband, former Lehigh football team captain Brendan Van Ackeren ’09 and their daughter Jordyn.
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