NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - An all-round solid week of contests played by the Wilmington University athletics programs resulted in five student-athletes being named Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Players of the Week, with three more making the Honor Roll.
The men's cross country team swept the awards with Mark Corrigan earning Runner of the Week while freshman Garrett Checchi was named the Rookie of the Week. Vinny Tasca was named the Men's Soccer Goalkeeper of the Week while Jenna Brown was named the Volleyball Defensive Player Of the Week for the fifth time this season. Freshman Marie Rondot was named the CACC Women's Tennis Rookie of the Week as well.
Corrigan (Wilmington Del./St. Mark's) and Checchi (Wilmington, Del./Concord) helped lead the men's team to a third place finish at the Inter-Regional Border Battle hosted by Rowan University on Saturday. Corrigan was only eight seconds off the lead runner, finishing third out of 204 runners, to continue his late season surge. He finished the 8K event n 26:27.1. Checchi was the second Wildcat to cross, placing 10th overall with a new season low time of 26:54.7.
Tasca (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) helped lead the men's soccer team to a 2-0 week, defeating East Region No. 8 LIU Post, 2-1, and Bloomfield, 2-0. It was the first time the Wildcats defeated the Pioneers in program history, coming from behind to do so. Tasca recorded two saves against the Pioneers and needed only one save against Bloomfield in the 2-0 shutout, but made many plays at the top of the box before anything could accumulate. Saturday's shutout gave Tasca 15 career shutouts, breaking the mark held by Dan Mangat from 2004-07.
No stranger to the weekly reports, Brown (Darnestown, Md./Northwest) was named the CACC Defensive Player of the Week for the fifth time this season. She may have had the two best games of the season all told last week, finishing the week in averaging 6.67 digs per set while only playing six sets in helping the Wildcats to a 2-0 week. The week started with a 24-dig performance (8.00 per set) against Chestnut Hill before she picked up 16 more digs at Goldey-Beacom on Saturday. She is currently third in the CACC in averaging 4.89 digs per set on the year.
Rondot (Suresnes, France) helped the Wildcats claim a share of the CACC Women's Tennis Regular Season Championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming CACC Tournament by going a perfect 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles last week. The freshman played at No. 2 singles at the District of Columbia before beating both Post and Chestnut Hill at No. 3 singles. She also teamed up with Tess Paya to defeat UDC, Post, and Chestnut Hill at No. 3 doubles. She did not lose a set all week.
Men's soccer's Will Stone made it to the Weekly Honor Roll after scoring in each game this week, including the game-winner against LIU Post. Rondot's teammate Tess Paya also earned a spot on the Weekly Honor Roll after going 4-0 in both singles and doubles for women's tennis. Cross country's Gabby Brown also earned a spot on the Weekly Honor Roll after leading the women at the Inter-Regional Border Battle with a new 6K personal record.