Five MWC student-athletes named all-region
The recent National Soccer Coaches Association
of American (NSCAA) All-Central Region selections for 2003 included
five Midwest Conference performers: Grinnell senior Megan Pluskis,
St. Norbert junior Sara Gross, Lake Forest junior Mei-Yun Gibson and
Jamie Lawrence and Julia Bell, both from Carroll.
The top vote getters in the group were
Pluskis, Lawrence and Gross who all received second team honors. Pluskis,
one of only eight defenders on the all-region teams, helped anchor
a defense that allowed only four goals in nine league games and recorded
six shutouts, propelling Grinnell to an undefeated conference record
(8-0-1) and Midwest Conference Championship.
Lawrence, a second team selection herself,
led the Lady Pioneer's in scoring in 2003 with 24 points on nine goals
and six assists. The sophomore finished 9th in the conference in scoring
tallying 17 points on six goals and five assists in nine league games.
The Green Knights' Gross was the league's
Player of the Year after finishing first in points per game, goals
and goals per game overall on the season among all MWC players. A
junior forward, Gross was picked to join Pluskis and Lawrence on the
second team.
Bell, a third team pick, finished 4th
on the team in scoring with 18 points on seven goals and four assists.
More importantly, Bell tallied a team-high four game-winning goals
during the season.
Lake Forest's Gibson, a junior defender,
scored eight points on the season and aided her team in 14 shutouts
in 19 contests on the season.
Grinnell's Rachel Moskowitz Receives
Academic Honor
Rachel Moskowitz (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster
High School), a sophomore forward from Grinnell , has been voted to
the 2003 Academic All-District VII College Division Second Team. She
was one of only five sophomores among 22 honorees within the District
to receive the honor. Academically, she has a 3.92 cumulative grade
point average and has not yet declared a major. She was second on
the Pioneer team in points in 2003 with 33, based on her 11 goals
and 11 assists. Her efforts helped propel the Pioneers to an undefeated
league season and their first Midwest Conference Championship since
1999. The award is voted upon annually by the College Sports Information
Directors of America.
Grinnell Men's and Women's Soccer
Teams Win
National Academic Award
The National Soccer Coaches Association
(NSCAA) recently announced that the Grinnell College men's and women's
soccer teams were winners of the Association's annual Team Academic
Award for the 2002-03 school year. Award-winning teams must post a
cumulative team grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher. The NSCAA
awarded a total of 336 intercollegiate soccer programs across Divisions
I, II and III this year (71 men's teams, 265 women's teams). Grinnell's
men were fourth overall with a team GPA of 3.38. Grinnell's women
were 109th overall with a team GPA of 3.31. By having both programs
honored, Grinnell was among only 48 institutions to have men's and
women's teams recognized. (Submitteed by Grinnell Sports Info)
Lake Forest's Stevenson named Second Team
Academic All-District
Lake Forest's Melissa Stevenson, a sophomore
forward from Littleton, Colo., was recently selected to the 2003 Academic
All-District 5 Women's Soccer second team by the College Sports Information
Directors of America (CoSIDA). Stevenson is biology (pre-med) major
with a 3.92 GPA. Click
here for a complete listing of the All-District Teams.
2003 All-MWC Team
Selected
First
Round
of
NCAA
Tournament
Webster
University
1,
Lake
Forest
0
Click
here for more on the Div. III Bracket
Lake Forest headed to NCAA Tournament
Foresters win 2003 MWC Tournament
Four shots; that's all Lake Forest took
during the tournament final against host Grinnell, and that's all
they needed to secure the 1-0 win over
the 2003 MWC Champions and earn the league's ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
League goal, assist and point leader Melissa Stevenson came up big
at 15:51 when she knocked in a Carrin Rasak pass for the only score
of the game. All four Forester shots came in the first half as the
Grinnell defense shutout Lake Forest in the second half while the
Pioneer offense fired off 18 shots in the period and 25 in the game.
Kristyne Operzedek of Lake Forest was in goal all 90 minutes and recorded
four saves for the victory.
Lake Forest will represent the MWC in
the NCAA Tournament with the win and selections will be announced
on Sunday, November 9. Check back to this website or the NCAA
Women's Soccer Site to find out who the Foresters will meet in
the first round.
In the semifinal games it was the Lake
Forest over St. Norbert 2-0 and Grinnell
downing Carroll 3-2. The Foresters' Stevenson
was on the giving end in the semifinal game, assisting on both goals
by Aviva Landin and Allie Kabat in the defeat of St. Norbert. Stephanie
Fink also added an assist on Landin's goal at 9:49 and Carrin Rasak
was a part of the double-assist to Kabat just three minutes into the
second half. Operzedek tallied a game-high eight saves for Lake Forest
as they were outshot by the Green Knights 21-18.
Grinnell sprinted to a 3-0 halftime lead
in the second semifinal game but Carroll pressed offensively in the
second half to pull within one goal with five minutes remaining. Kelsey
Alford-Jones scored twice in the first 21 minutes, first on an assist
by Kate Diedrick and the second unassisted. Sarah Evans appeared to
put the game out of reach for the tourney hosts when she snuck one
in from a Rachel Moskowitz pass with only 20 seconds to go in the
first half. Carroll responded at 53:51 with their first goal by Kristin
Beyer on a penalty kick and then made things interesting when Tracy
Tetting found the back of the net on her own with five minutes to
go in the contest.
2003 MWC Champion - Grinnell College
The Grinnell Pioneers claimed their
first league championship since 1999 and their seventh overall for
the most by any school in conference history. The women's soccer
title is determined during the regular season and Grinnell finished
atop the standings with an unbeaten 8-0-1 record, one game ahead
of second place Lake Forest.
2003
Standings
