Aug. 30, 2010
Center Valley, Pa.-- The Patriot League announced its weekly awards for Aug. 23-29 in field hockey, women's soccer and women's volleyball Monday.
In field hockey, American and Colgate each nabbed two awards. American's Anne Van Erp was named the Offensive Player of the Week and Gina Hofman was named the Defensive Player of the Week. Colgate's Kirsten Lalli was the Goalkeeper of the Week and Halle Biggar was the Rookie of the Week
Navy won two awards in women's soccer with Ashlynn Soellner being named the Offensive Player of the Week and Katelyn George earning the Defensive Player of the Week. Lehigh's Lauren Mains was the Goalkeeper of the Week and Army's Molly McGuigan was selected as the Rookie of the Week.
American's Magdalena Tekiel earned the women's volleyball Player of the Week award and Lehigh's Courtney McCutchan was the Rookie of the Week.
Patriot League Field Hockey Weekly Awards
Offensive Player of the Week
ANNE VAN ERP, AMERICAN Sr., M/D, Hilversum, Netherlands
Van Erp posted her first career hat trick to lead American to a season-opening 5-1 win over Richmond Friday. She scored the game's first goal just 2:07 into the contest and added the third and fifth tallies for the Eagles in the second half. She scored on all three of her shots in the game.
Van Erp has now won the Offensive, Defensive and Rookie of the Week honors in her career, and has started the season with a weekly award for three straight years after opening with Defensive Player of the Week honors in the past two campaigns.
Defensive Player of the Week
GINA HOFMANN, AMERICAN So., D, Braunschweig, Germany
Hofmann had an outstanding debut to her career as an Eagle, scoring the game-winning goal and assisting on two others to lead American past Richmond 5-1 on Friday. She tallied the game-winner in the 56th minute to put the Eagles up 2-1 and also assisted on the next two goals. She helped the American defense limit Richmond and Old Dominion to a combined 12 shots overall and five on goal over the weekend.
Goalkeeper of the Week
KIRSTEN LALLI, COLGATE Sr., GK, Pound Ridge, N.Y.
Lalli recorded her first collegiate shutout as Colgate opened its season with an impressive 5-0 victory over Robert Morris on Saturday. She notched four saves while starting a season opener for the first time in her career. Lalli is Colgate's first Goalkeeper of the Week honoree since Sarah Pedersen in 2008.
Rookie of the Week
HALLE BIGGAR, COLGATE Fr., A, Pepper Pike, Ohio
Biggar got the Raiders off to a fast start by registering the first two goals of the game in an eventual 5-0 blanking of Robert Morris on Saturday. She tallied her first collegiate goal just 1:24 into the contest, and scored the second goal of the game on a reverse shot from inside the circle.
Honorable Mentions
KIM ENG, LEHIGH So., F, Morristown, N.J.
Eng scored a goal and recorded two assists in Lehigh's 4-1 win over Sacred Heart on Friday, and added another goal in the Mountain Hawks' 4-1 loss to Quinnipiac on Sunday.
LAURA DENENGA, COLGATE Sr., A/M, Harare, Zimbabwe
Denenga had two goals as Colgate won its season opener, 5-0, over Robert Morris on Saturday.
Patriot League Women's Soccer Weekly Award
Offensive player of the week
ASHLYNN SOELLNER, NAVY Fr., F, Hollidaysburg, Pa.
Soellner came up with late-game heroics not once but twice in a 2-0 week for the Midshipmen with a pair of game-winning goals. She netted her first career tally in the 85th minute of Navy's 1-0 win over Mount St. Mary's, then scored in the 99th minute against George Mason to give the Mids an overtime victory by the same 1-0 count. Both goals were headers scored off corner kicks.
Defensive player of the week
KATELYN GEORGE, NAVY Jr., D., Loveland, Ohio
George is part of the Midshipmen defense that has held opponents scoreless during a stretch of 281 minutes over the last three contests. Navy is 2-0-1 in those matches. She also added an assist in each of Navy's two contests during the week. Both were corner kicks that set up the game-winning goals notched by Ashlynn Soellner in victories over Mount St. Mary's and George Mason.
Goalkeeper of the Week
LAUREN MAINS, LEHIGH Sr., GK, Scotch Plains, N.J.
Mains stopped a career-high 13 shots and posted a .929 save percentage as Lehigh battled Syracuse to a 1-1 tie on Friday evening. The Orange sent 24 shots towards the Lehigh goal during the course of the match, with Mains making a save in double overtime to help preserve the tie. Mains has 195 saves in 52 games for the Mountain Hawks.
Rookie of the Week
MOLLY McGUIGAN, ARMY Fr., D, Boulder, Colo.
McGuigan netted the eventual game-winning goal early in the second half of Army's 1-0 victory over Delaware on Saturday night in the first-ever meeting between the programs. After losing their season opener, the Black Knights are 2-1-0 after a 2-0 week with a victory also coming against Central Connecticut State. McGuigan is part of a defense that has held opponents scoreless for 213 consecutive minutes.
Honorable Mentions
JILL DOZIER, LAFAYETTE So., F, Fallston, Md.
Dozier scored in the 119th minute to give Lafayette a dramatic 2-1 double-overtime victory over Wagner on Sunday in the team's season opener.
MEGAN DEGENNARO, BUCKNELL Jr., F, Westlake Village, Calif.
DeGennaro's tally in the 73rd minute gave Bucknell a 1-0 victory over Ohio and clinched a berth for the Bison in the championships of the Gamecock Courtyard Cup. She was named to the All-Tournament Team.
CARLIE TURNNIDGE, ARMY Sr., M, Waynesboro, Va.
Turnnidge found the back of the net with 36 seconds remaining in regulation to secure Army a 1-0 victory over Central Connecticut State, giving the Black Knights their first win of the season over the defending regular-season champions of the NEC.
Patriot League Women's Volleyball Weekly Awards
Player of the Week
MAGDALENA TEKIEL, AMERICAN Sr., OH, Warsaw, Poland
Tekiel played all nine sets as the Eagles went 2-1 and captured their third D.C. Volleyball Challenge in the last four years. In a pair of 3-0 defeats of George Mason and George Washington, she posted double-doubles in kills and digs, while she added nine kills and six digs in a 3-0 loss to Georgetown and was named Tournament MVP. For the weekend, she averaged 4.78 kills per set while notching a .411 hitting percentage. In addition to helping out defensively with 3.11 digs per set, she assisted on seven blocks for the tournament.
Rookie of the Week
COURTNEY McCUTCHAN, LEHIGH Fr., OH, La Canada, Calif.
McCutchan logged two double-doubles in the opening week of her collegiate career to help the Mountain Hawks start the season 3-1 at the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational in Pittsburgh, Pa. In the last two matches of the tournament, she logged 13 kills and 11 digs in Lehigh's 3-1 victory over Robert Morris, then added 11 kills and 12 digs in a 3-2 defeat of Radford. She also tallied eight kills and 16 digs in Lehigh's 3-1 victory over St. Francis (Pa.). At 3-1, the Mountain Hawks are out to their best start since 1995.
Honorable Mentions
D.J. PHEE, ARMY Fr., OH, Allen, Texas
Phee posted a double-double in kills and digs in her collegiate debut while collecting 26 total kills and 40 total digs as Army went 2-2 over the weekend. Her 11 kills against Fairleigh Dickinson were a match-best for the Black Knights.
CHELSEY O'DONNELL, HOLY CROSS Sr., S, Pittsburg, Pa.
O'Donnell totaled 125 assists and averaged nearly nine per set as the Crusaders began their season 2-2, their best start since 2001. She averaged 12 assists per set against Boston College, leading Holy Cross to a 3-0 victory, their first in the series against the Eagles in the last 16 meetings in the series.
KAYLEE FIFER, COLGATE Fr., S, Lantana, Texas
Fifer posted 53 total assists and a 5.30 assists-per-set average in the first three matches of her collegiate career, helping Colgate go 2-1 at the Colgate Classic in Hamilton. The freshman setter also netted nine kills, nine digs and two aces during the weekend.