PSAC Athletes of the Week - 10/7 Monday, October 7, 2019 10:30 AM WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Stefanie Parsons Edinboro (Jr.) Acton, Ontario / Christ the King Parsons turned in a top-ten finish out of 368 runners to lead the Edinboro women’s cross country team in one of the most prestigious races in the country. The Fighting Scots competed in the 46th Lehigh Paul Short Run, and finished 12th out of 44 teams while competing in the Women’s College Brown race. Parsons placed sixth with a time of 21:20.2. The junior previously won the Doug Watts Open but did not compete in the LHU Invite. MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Casey Ellis East Stroudsburg (Jr.) Rome, Pa. / Northeast Bradford Ellis helped the Warriors capture the 8k team title at the Don Cathcart Invitational on Saturday with a third-place individual finish. Ellis crossed the line in 25:32.61, finishing just behind Patrick Watson (24:15.21) of Stevenson and Skyler Lattuca (25:12.40) of Virginia Wesleyan. East Stroudsburg claimed first place in the team standings with 44 points and a combined time of 2:09:39.33, beating out Wilmington (65 pts) and Stevenson (87). FIELD HOCKEY ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Celeste Veenstra East Stroudsburg (So. / F) Alkmaar, The Netherlands / Cios Haarlem Veenstra tallied four goals on the week for No. 4 East Stroudsburg as the Warriors went 2-0, including a 2-1 win on Wednesday against No. 6 Shippensburg. Veenstra scored the opening goal against the Raiders and recorded four shots on goal. She closed the week with three goals in a 4-0 win against Mercyhurst at home. Veenstra is tied for the national lead in goals with 14 and is averaging 1.27 goals per contest. FIELD HOCKEY DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Claire Nielsen West Chester (Fr. / GK) Wescoville, Pa. / Emmaus Nielsen shoutout the No. 1 ranked Millersville on Wednesday afternoon. Her season record is 9-0-0 and she has a save percentage of 0.769. For the entire week in PSAC play and one out of conference game, Nielsen let no goals in while her team outscored their opponents 13-0. VOLLEYBALL CENTRAL DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Sarah Smith East Stroudsburg (Sr. / OH) Circleville, N.Y. / Pine Bush Smith tallied 34 kills on the week as the Warriors went 2-1 with a pair of victories against Edinboro and Mercyhurst. She averaged 2.83 kills per set to go along with 52 digs and 13 total blocks. Smith recorded 44 points for East Stroudsburg and averaged 3.67 points per set. VOLLEYBALL SOUTHEAST DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Emily Hangen Shippensburg (Jr. / S) Reading, Pa. / Exeter Township Hangen, Shippensburg's two-time AVCA All-Region and All-PSAC setter, steered the offense with 76 assists while also providing 30 digs as the Raiders emerged victorious over Seton Hill and Cal U. Against Seton Hill, Hangen finished with 40 assists and 17 digs. Against Cal U, Shippensburg hit .238, and Hangen totaled 36 assists and 13 digs. She also had three kills in each match. VOLLEYBALL NORTHWEST DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Ally Smith Gannon (Sr. / OH) Penfield, N.Y. / Webster Schroeder Smith helped the Lady Knights go 3-0 last week and begin PSAC play 5-0 for the first time since 2014. She totaled 41 kills (3.42/s) and 37 digs (3.08/s) to go along with three service aces. Smith recorded three straight double-doubles and her weekend was highlighted by a season-high and match-best 18 kills with 14 digs at Kutztown. VOLLEYBALL SOUTHWEST DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Nicole Peterson IUP (Fr. / OH) Middleburg, Ohio / Berea-Midpark Peterson had a pair of 20-kill games and hit .284 as she helped the Crimson Hawks split a PSAC road weekend and earn their first conference win of the season. Peterson had 20 kills, six digs and a block in IUP’s comeback five-set win at West Chester Friday, notching important points at the end of a 27-25 fourth set rally victory to keep the match alive. She followed with 21 kills and two total blocks in a four-set loss at Millersville. Her hitting percentages of .286 against West Chester and .283 against Millersville were the second and third best performances of the season. She now has four 20-kill performances on the year. VOLLEYBALL DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Alyssa Cianciulli Bloomsburg (Jr. / DS) Royersford, Pa. / Pope John Paul II Cianciulli totaled 67 digs (8.4 per set) as she led the Bloomsburg women's volleyball team to a 1-1 weekend. After totaling 13 digs in a three-set loss against Clarion on Friday, Cianciulli posted a career-high and school-record 54 digs in a thrilling come-from-behind five-set win over Slippery Rock on Saturday - Bloomsburg's first PSAC win of the year. Her 54 digs were the most by any player in all of Division II in a single match this year. Cianciulli leads the country in digs per set (6.83) and she has now reached double-digits in digs in all 45 of her career matches at Bloomsburg. WOMEN'S SOCCER EASTERN DIVISION CO-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Olivia Muha West Chester (Jr. / MF) Pittsburgh, Pa. / Montour Muha scored the only two goals against Shippensburg to win the game 2-1. Muha has five goals on the season and ten points on the season. She has obtained a shot on goal percentage of 0.682. WOMEN'S SOCCER EASTERN DIVISION CO-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Kay Liebl Millersville (Sr. / F) Ephrata, Pa. / Ephrata Liebl scored two goals this week, but none more historic than her goal on Wednesday night against Mansfield. It gave her 33 career goals, which is a Millersville program record. Liebl has more than half of a season left to add to that number, and she did so on Saturday, scoring the only goal of the game in a win versus Shepherd University, tying her with Mahogany Willis and Nicole Varano for most game-winning goals (3) in the entire PSAC. WOMEN'S SOCCER EASTERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Mauri Jackson East Stroudsburg (So. / GK) Mount Royal, N.J. / Kingsway Regional Jackson helped lead East Stroudsburg to victories over Shippensburg and Lock Haven this past week as she racked up a combined 21 saves in the pair of contests. The sophomore made eight saves on Wednesday vs. Shippensburg while yielding just one goal in the 3-1 victory. She followed it up with a career-high 13 saves in Sunday's 5-2 win over Lock Haven as she collected her sixth win of the season in net. Jackson currently ranks second in the PSAC with a .897 save percentage on the season. WOMEN'S SOCCER WESTERN DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Maddie North Gannon (Sr. / MF) Leysdown-On-Sea, England / The Westlands School North scored a pair of goals in Gannon's 3-0 shutout victory against Clarion. WOMEN'S SOCCER WESTERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Kennedy Solymosi Gannon (So. / GK) East Lake, Ohio / Lake Catholic Solymosi notched four saves while producing a shutout effort against Clarion. It is her second shutout on the season. MEN'S SOCCER EASTERN DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Irvin Zuzic East Stroudsburg (Sr. / F) Falkenberg, Sweden / Aspero Zuzic helped lead ESU to wins over Shippensburg and Lock Haven this past week, scoring a pair of goals on six shots in the two victories. On Wednesday against Shippensburg, Zuzic knocked in a header off a cross from Marcus Torgersson to extend the Warriors lead to 2-0 in the 64th minute and give them some insurance. On Saturday vs. Lock Haven, Zuzic converted his second goal in as many games as he found the back of the net in fifth minute of play. Oliver Lundberg sent a corner to the short side of the six-yard box, where Zuzic ran onto it and redirected a header into the lower right corner past a diving Camden Cook for the goal, which proved to be the eventual game winner. MEN'S SOCCER EASTERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Daniel Good West Chester (Fr. / GK) Exton, Pa. / Downingtown East Good had seven saves over the course of the week and has a save percentage of 0.759. He continued to add to his successful record this week with being 7-1-1 on the season. Good paced the Golden Rams with a pair of shutouts. MEN'S SOCCER WESTERN DIVISION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Abdallah Bangura Slippery Rock (So. / F) Freetown, Sierra Leone / Susquehannock Bangura led SRU to a 1-0-0 record last week with a 2-0 victory on the road against California. The sophomore finished the week with two points on one goal while recording three total shots in 90 minutes played. Bangura has a team-high six goals and 13 points this season, ranking first in the PSAC in game-winning goals (3), tied for first in goals, tied for second in points, second in total shots (25) and shots on goal (17). MEN'S SOCCER WESTERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Matt Hunsberger Slippery Rock (Sr. / GK) Moon Township, Pa. / Moon Hunsberger led SRU to a 1-0-0 record last week with a 2-0 win on the road against California (Pa.). The win marked the third solo-shutout of the season for Hunsberger, finishing with one save in 90 clean minutes for The Rock against the Vulcans. On the season, Hunsberger has a .765 save percentage, 1.05 goals against average and 26 saves. The senior ranks tied for second in the PSAC in shutouts (3), third in save percentage and tied for third in goals allowed (8). FOOTBALL EASTERN DIVISION OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Ja'Den McKenzie West Chester (Fr. / RB) Morton, Pa. / Springfield-DELCO McKenzie rushed 16 times for 125 yards and two TDs to help West Chester to a 29-21 road win at Shippensburg. McKenzie scored the final two TDs of the game to erase a 21-16 deficit in the second half and spark the Golden Rams to victory. His 30-yard TD run with under two minutes left in the game extended the visitor's lead to eight points. His 18-yard run at the end of the third quarter put West Chester in the lead for good. FOOTBALL EASTERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Tig Spinelli Shippensburg (R-Sr. / LB) Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Cumberland Valley Spinelli finished with a game high and career-high 13 tackles (eight solo), a sack among his two tackles-for-loss (TFLs), and blocked an extra point. It is the seventh time in Spinelli's career he has finished with 10 or more tackles in a game. FOOTBALL EASTERN DIVISION SPECIAL TEAMS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Sean Judge Shippensburg (So. / RB) Kingston, Pa. / Wyoming Valley West In Shippensburg's 29-21 loss to WCU, redshirt-sophomore Sean Judge finished with 236 all-purpose yards – the most by a Red Raider since Cole Chiappialle (251) in the final game of the 2016 season. That total includes 161 kickoff-return yards, the most in a single game by a Red Raider since Andrew Smith (209) on Sept. 27, 2014 at Bloomsburg. Included in Judge's total was a 56-yard return in the first quarter and a 32-yard return to start the second half. He did muff a punt in the fourth quarter as well -- the fumble was recovered by Shippensburg. Offensively, one week after being held without any yards of total offense, Judge also delivered 19 rushing yards and a team-high 61 receiving yards in Saturday's game. FOOTBALL WESTERN DIVISION OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Duane Brown IUP (So. / WR) Spring Church, Pa. / Apollo-Ridge Brown caught 4 passes for 126 yards and accounted for both IUP touchdowns in the 19th-ranked Crimson Hawks' 17-6 win over rival Cal U in the 11th annual Coal Bowl. Three of Brown's four receptions went for 20-plus yards, including touchdown catches of 60 and 34 yards. Both of his touchdowns came on 3rd and long - he burned a double-team for his 60-yarder for the first touchdown of the game in the third quarter and his 34-yard touchdown came on 3rd and 11 with just under four minutes to play to make it a two score game. It was the second straight 100-yard receiving game for Brown becoming the first IUP receiver since Walt Pegues in 2016. Brown now has five straight games with at least one touchdown catch. FOOTBALL WESTERN DIVISION DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Brandon Anderson Edinboro (Sr. / S) Willingboro, N.J. / Holy Cross Anderson led an Edinboro defense which limited Gannon to 305 total yards, finishing with 10 tackles, including 1.5 TFL and a sack. Had one pass breakup and forced a fumble which led to a field goal. The 305 yards allowed is a season-low for the Edinboro defense. Anderson now has 306 career tackles. The redshirt senior strong safety is approaching the top ten among career tackles. Michael Willis stands 10th with 329 tackles. He has led Edinboro in tackles the last two years and has a team-leading 53 stops after five games. FOOTBALL WESTERN DIVISION SPECIAL TEAMS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK Vicente Arriagada Edinboro (Fr. / PK) Bliss, N.Y. / Letchworth Central Arriagada drilled a 35-yard field goal as time expired to provide Edinboro its first win of the season. The redshirt freshmen made three field goals in all, the others covering 46 and 25 yards. He made good on three-of-four field goal attempts in all. The 46-yarder was the longest by an Edinboro kicker since Austin Reese made a 47-yarder against Mercyhurst in 2016. In addition, he is the first kicker to make three field goals in a game since T.J. Hardy made three against Seton Hill in 2013. He also contributed to the opening score of the game, a safety on the opening kickoff. His kickoff sailed far of the head of Gannon's return man and rolled to the one. The returner picked it up, was hit and fumbled. The return man recovered in end zone for a safety.