Monday, September 23, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - A total of 12 Great Northwest Athletic Conference athletes including soccer players Catherine Miles of Western Washington and Shayla Page of Seattle Pacific have been selected GNAC Red Lion Players of the Week for the Week of Sept. 16-22:

The honorees include:

Women’s Soccer

Offense – Catherine Miles, Western Washington (F/M, 5-7, So., Anacortes, WA – Anacortes) scored twice and provided an assist as the No. 4 Vikings cruised to a pair of road victories over Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings to remain undefeated on the season. On Thursday, Miles was the middle part of a three-player connection that resulted in the Vikings’ third and final goal in a solid 3-0 victory over NNU, as she received a pass from Anna Geldenhuys and played it through to Stephanie Hamilton, the goal scorer. The sophomore striker stepped up on Saturday, notching a pair of goals in Billings  to help WWU down the Yellowjackets 4-1. “Catherine makes an impact in every game with her work rate, athleticism, and composure when finishing chances in front of the goal,” WWU head coach Travis Connell said, adding, “last weekend was no exception.”

Defense – Shayla Page, Seattle Pacific (D, 5-6, So., Redmond, WA – Eastlake) played stellar defense as the Falcons increased their winning streak to five and won their first two GNAC games of 2013. Since SPU lost to UC San Diego in its first game of the season, the Falcons have not allowed a goal in a span of 450 shutout minutes. “Shayla played a huge role in our shutouts and defensive success with her ability to lock down our opponents’ top players, dominate in the air and make plays,” Falcon head coach Chuck Sekyra said.

Honorable Mention – Heather Young, Seattle Pacific; Danielle Brandli, Central Washington; Heidi Greenback, MSU Billings; Kim Cooper, Western Washington; Katlyn Lokay, MSU Billings; Makana Pundyke, Western Oregon.

Men’s Soccer

Offense – Stephen MacDonald, Seattle Pacific (F, 6-2, Fr., Phoenix, AZ – O’Connor)   scored two game-winning goals as the Falcons extended their winning streak to four games by taking their first two GNAC contests of 2013. MacDonald scored in the 69th minute on Thursday against South Dakota Mines in a narrow 2-1 road win, and then drilled home a shot from 15 yards out on Saturday against the University of Mary that was the only goal of the game.

Defense – JJ Olson, Saint Martin’s (GK, 5-11, Jr., Lakeville, MN – Shattuck-St. Mary’s) notched a shutout and helped the Saints to their first win of the season in a 1-0 overtime road victory over Mary on Thursday. The junior played 107 minutes and made 11 saves to keep the Marauders off the board long enough to set up CJ Chu’s game-winning goal.  “JJ had several crucial saves, great organization and distribution against a very good Mary team,” head coach Rob Walker said regarding Olson’s composure. “JJ has been training hard in the past couple of weeks and it was great to see him come through for us in Bismarck.”

Honorable Mention – Gabriele Zaccagnini, Western Washington; Fredy Razo, Northwest Nazarene; Johannes Hallman, Simon Fraser; CJ Chu, Saint Martin’s; Uche Ugwoaba, Western Washington; Michael Aringer, MSU Billings; Cody Lang, Seattle Pacific.

Football

Offense –  Chris Tolbert, Simon Fraser (RB, 6-0, 190, Jr., Silver Springs, MD) and Ryan Bergman, Western Oregon (QB, 6-2, 175, Jr., Issaquah, WA) ... Tolbert, a transfer from Central Connecticut, scored twice in the fourth quarter to power the Clan to a 21-14 road win at Central Washington.  He rushed for 106 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run which set up a game-tying two-point conversion pass from quarterback Ryan Stanford to Bobby Pospischil.  Later in the period Tolbert caught a 27-yard TD pass from Ryan Blum after Stanford had handed the ball off to Blum as the Clan beat the Wildcats in Ellensburg for the first time since 1980.  Tolbert caught a total of four passes for 38 yards ... Bergman tied the GNAC and the WOU school record tossing six touchdown passes in a 51-32 home win.  Bergman completed 23 of 32 passes for 417 yards.  Bergman tied the school record set by Jim Bowlen in 1957 against Lower Columbia and the conference record set last season by SFU’s Trey Wheeler against Dixie State.

Defense –  Sean Barber, Azusa Pacific (LB, 6-1, 220, Sr., Edgewood, WA - Puyallup) had 15 tackles and two fumble recoveries as the Cougar defense held Humboldt State’s offense scoreless in a 28-2 win.  It was the second time this season Barber has accounted for two of APU’s takeaways in a game.   Barber also had a pass breakup.

Honorable Mention: Offense – Terrell Watson, Azusa Pacific; Joe Don Duncan, Dixie State.  Defense – Mitchell Barnett, Simon Fraser.

Cross Country

Male – Michael Luhr, MSU Billings (Jr., Gillette, WY) finished 14th overall and fourth among Division II athletes in the Erik Anderson Invitational Saturday at Spokane.  Luhr posted a time of 26:07.55 on the Plantes Ferry course which will be the site of the NCAA West Regional Nov. 9 and the NCAA National Nov. 23.  With Luhr leading the way, MSUB finished fifth overall and first among Division II teams including regionally third-ranked Humboldt State, sixth-ranked Western Washington, No. 7 Cal Baptist and No. 10 Western Oregon.

Women – Kirsten Allen, Simon Fraser (Sr., London, Ont. – Saunders) finished seventh at the Erik Anderson Invitational, earning her second seventh place finish in two weeks.  In the process, she closed the gap on teammate Lindsay Butterworth from 16 seconds to seven. Butterworth finished fifth after earning a third place finish last week at the University of Washington Sundodger.  Butterworth and Allen finished 1-2 among Division II athletes as the Clan finished second in the team standings in back of Division I Lipscomb University.

Honorable Mention – Michael Gordon, Northwest Nazarene; Connie Morgan, Central Washington; Natalie Evans, Northwest Nazarene.

Volleyball

Offense – Sam Harthun, Alaska Fairbanks (OH, 6-0, So., Oregon City, OR) and Julia Mackey, Alaska Anchorage (OH, 5-11, So., Fairbanks, AK – West Valley) .... Harthun had a GNAC opening conference week high 31 kills and also hit for a .344 percentage, 140 points above her season average as the Nanooks split two matches.  Harthun, who leads the GNAC on the season in kills (4.02) and service aces (0.53), had 18 kills and a .469 percentage in Thursday’s 3-0 win over Montana State Billings.  On the season, she has had three of the top five kill totals (19, 18 and 17) this fall in the GNAC ... Mackey had 13 kills in 20 attempts and didn’t make an error as the Seawolves hit for a .437 percentage in a 3-0 win over MSU Billings.  That was UAA’s best percentage in a conference match in the 13-year history of the GNAC.  Mackey finished the opening weekend with 26 kills and a .345 percentage as UAA swept a pair of matches. 

Defense – Taylor Roberts, Northwest Nazarene (L, 5-5, Jr., Nampa, ID) led the Crusaders, who have won five straight, to road wins at Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon.  Roberts had 50 digs as NNU held the Saints and Wolves to a combined .148 attack percentage.

Honorable Mention – Elayna Rice, Northwest Nazarene; Quinn Barker, Alaska Anchorage;  Brooklyn Gould-Bradbury, Simon Fraser; Alanna Chan, Simon Fraser; Linden Firethorne, Central Washington; Kaely Kight, Central Washington; Hannah Deede, Western Oregon.