A pair of Northern Illinois baseball alum, Chuck Lukanen '10 and Brian Smith '10, won the Frontier League Championship Series Sept. 18 with the Joliet Slammers by defeating the River City Rascals, 6-5. The Slammers took the five-game series 3-1. Congratulations to Chuck and Brian on their accomplishment.

For more on the Slammers run to the league championship, click here.

The Northern Illinois women's soccer team earned mention in TopDrawerSoccer.com's women's soccer national column this week for its senior day celebration before the team defeated Loyola 2-0. It was the Huskies final non-conference contest of 2011.

Hey Huskie football fans,

As most of you probably already know, a trio of student-athletes on this year's squad garnered preseason accolades on college football's major award lists. Below is a multitude of links with easy access to the award pages, Facebook and Twitter pages. Be sure to vote for the Huskies, bookmark and follow the pages.

Fan voting is currently open for the Davey O'Brien Award. Should quarterback Chandler Harnish advance to the semifinals, fan voting will be available.

Each award is listed below, with the players nominated in parentheses next to it.

Davey O'Brien Award (Chandler Harnish)

www.daveyobrien.com | www.voteobrien.org | www.facebook.com/daveyobrien | www.twitter.com/daveyobrien

Lowe's Senior CLASS Award (Chandler Harnish)

www.seniorclassaward.com/football | www.facebook.com/LowesSeniorCLASSAward | www.twitter.com/snrclassaward | www.seniorclassaward.com/vote *

* - Voting currently unavailable on Senior CLASS Award

Maxwell Award (Chandler Harnish)

www.maxwellfootballclub.org/maxwell-award | www.twitter.com/Maxwell_MW | www.facebook.com/MaxwellFootballClub

Manning Award (Chandler Harnish)

www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site26.php | www.twitter.com/SugarBowlNola | www.facebook.com/allstatesugarbowl

Rimington Trophy (Trevor Olson)

www.twitter.com/rimingtontrophy | www.rimingtontrophy.com | www.facebook.com/rimingtontrophy | www.rimingtontrophyblog.com | www.twitter.com/cysticfibrosis

Outland Trophy (Trevor Olson)

www.outlandtrophy.com | www.twitter.com/fwaa

Lombardi Trophy (Scott Wedige)

www.rotarylomardiaward.com | www.twitter.com/lombardiaward | www.rotarylombardiaward.blogspot.com