Press Release Written by Sports Information Graduate Intern MaryKate Rumbaugh
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – To finish out the month of September, Wilmington University athletics had five student-athletes receive Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Player of the Week honors.
Men's soccer's Ellis McSharry received Defensive Player of the Week, while Alex Keck received the same honors for the women's side. Jenna Brown also received Defensive Player of the Week for women's volleyball. Men's cross country's Brandon Cruz received Rookie of the Week, as women's cross country's Grace Slate earned the same distinction for the women.
Freshman Ellis McSharry helped the men's soccer team to a 2-0 record this past week against Holy Family and Concordia. McSharry made a defensive save with one minute left in regulation against Holy Family in a 1-1 game, when goalkeeper, Vinny Tasca, got beat by an attacker for McSharry to come flying in to clear the ball off the line and help the Wildcats force overtime. He also scored the game's first goal in WilmU's 4-1 win over Concordia in Saturday's Homecoming game.
Alex Keck also had a good week on defense, as she received Defensive Player of the Week for women's soccer. The redshirt freshman had three assists in two games for the Wildcats. Keck made a pass to the middle from the right side for teammate Kelly Robbins in their 2-0 win over Holy Family. Keck also recorded two assists in the Wildcats' 8-1 victory over Concordia, including another pass from the right side for Emily Navarette to head in. Right now, she has four assists for the season.
For the fourth time this season, and for the second-week in a row, volleyball's Jenna Brown earned Defensive Player of the Week. She recorded 65 digs with 5.42 digs per set in 12 sets played this past week for WilmU. The redshirt senior recorded 16 digs against Goldey-Beacom and eight digs against Dominican. Brown then tied the Wildcats' single-match record by posting 41 digs in Wilmington's, 3-2 come-back win against Nyack on Homecoming this past Saturday. She is second in the CACC with 359 digs and third in the league with 4.72 digs per set.
Men's cross country's Brandon Cruz earned Rookie of the Week as he finished 11th in the 30th Annual Don Cathcart Invitational this past weekend at Salisbury University. The freshman runner finished with a season's best time of 26:27.20 in the 8K, helping the Wildcats to a second place victory out of 13 teams for a total of 76 points. He was one place away from finishing in the top 10 out of 129 runners.
Grace Slate also received CACC Rookie of the Week for women's cross country as she finished ninth overall in the Don Cathcart Invitational. Slate ran a 23:19.79 to just finish in the top 10 out of 102 runners. Her time helped the Wildcats finish sixth overall out of 12 teams with a total of 124 points.
Six other student-athletes earned their spot in the weekly awards by being named to the Honor Roll, including men's soccer's Tom Garratt who had two goals and two assists helping the men to a 2-0 record. Freshmen Jasmine Brake and Cassidy McErlain received the honors for women's soccer as they both had two goals in their wins over Holy Family and Concordia. Mandy Behiels earned the honors for volleyball as she had an impressive week with 47 kills and 39 digs. Women's tennis' Laura Gil also received the weekly honors in the fourth singles with a 6-1 and 6-3 decision. Mark Corrigan received the honors as he finished third overall with a time of 25:25.96 at the Don Cathcart Invitational.