NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - The Wilmington University baseball and women's lacrosse teams got off to hot starts to the 2024 season, resulting in three Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Players of the Week as announced by the conference office on Monday.
Baseball's Jack McDonald and women's lacrosse's Ella Royer were named CACC Players of the Week for their respective sports while Katie Vindigni was named the CACC Women's Lacrosse Goalkeeper of the Week.
Jack McDonald (Pompton Lakes, N.J.) led the baseball team to a 3-1 record in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, hitting .625 (5-for-8) with three home runs, seven RBI, six runs scored, and seven walks. He finished with a .765 on-base percentage and a 1.750 slugging percentage, good enough for a 2.515 OPS.
McDonald had at least one hit, one RBI, and one walk in all four games over the weekend, going 1-for-1 with an RBI, three walks and three runs scored against Franklin Pierce. He then went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and a walk in game one against New Haven. He broke out in game two against New Haven by going 2-for-2 with two homers, two RBI, two walks, and two runs, and then finished the weekend by going 1-for-2 with a homer, three RBI, a walk, and a run scored against Staten Island.
Ella Royer (Sherwood Park, Alberta) was a scoring machine in the Wildcats first two games of the season, finishing with 18 points while scoring 11 goals and adding seven assists. She also added a team high seven ground balls while picking up six draws and four caused turnovers. She only needed 16 shots to score the 11 goals, putting 12 of her shots on frame.
In the season opener, Royer scored six goals and added two assists for eight points, reaching the 100-career point milestone in the process. She added four draws and three ground balls in the win against St. Thomas Aquinas. She then scored five goals and added five assists for 10 points in the Wildcats' win at Pfeiffer, adding four ground balls, three caused turnovers, and two draws.
Katie Vindigni (Montvale, N.J.) was named the CACC Goalkeeper of the Week after making eight saves in two games while only allowing two goals. She had a .800 save percentage while the Wildcats went 2-0 over the weekend. She made six saves in a 23-0 shutout victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in the season opener, including three in the fourth quarter to preserve the blanking. She then made two more stops at Pfeiffer, not allowing a goal until midway through the second quarter, starting the season by not allowing a goal in the first 82:26 of the season. The Wildcats beat Pfeiffer, 24-2, to move to 2-0 on the year.
The baseball team heads to Durham, North Carolina, this weekend to play four more games while the women's lacrosse team has road games on Wednesday and Saturday.