Alexa Skal and Sarah Guipe highlighted five players from the Mount Vernon Nazarene University women’s soccer team to receive All-Crossroads League honors, the league said on Monday, April 19.
Both Skal and Guipe were named to the league’s first team.
Skal scored 20 goals this season on 69 shots — 75.4% of which were on goal. She finished her MVNU career with 51 goals, good for fifth all-time.
Guipe was a key piece for the Cougars on defense this season. MVNU allowed 23 goals and had nine shutouts over 19 games.
Brookelynn Semmelroth, Adison Preston and Lilly Jakuzewski were each named honorable mention. Semmelroth made an impact on defense and offense, assisting on three goals; Preston had six assists; and Jakuszewski had 71 saves and a 75.5 save percentage for the Cougars, who finished 10-7-2 and qualified with an at-large bid to the NAIA national tournament this spring.
MEN’S SOCCER
Joshua Orecchio and Moses Magens capped MVNU’s season with All-Crossroads League honors.
Orecchio was named to the first team and also tabbed All-Crossroads League Defender of the Year. He was part of a defense that had four shutouts in 13 games this season. He also added a little bit of offense to his game, scoring three goals on the year.
Magens was named to the second team. The freshman scored 10 goals and added three assists for the Cougars, who finished 9-4 overall and 4-2 in league play.
SOFTBALL
Kaycee Ollis and Macee Marcum had three hits apiece to lead MVNU, which came back to beat host Huntington 4-3 and salvage a split of a Crossroads League doubleheader on Monday, April 19.
Sheridan Sullivan struck out seven and got the victory in a complete-game effort.
The Foresters (22-20, 11-13) scored five runs in the fourth inning to run away with 10-4 victory in Monday’s opener.
Callie Kline scored what turned out to be the game-winning run to cap a six-run sixth inning and lift MVNU to a 6-5 win at Bethel in the first game of a Crossroads League doubleheader on Saturday, April 17, in Mishawaka, Indiana.
The Cougars rallied again in Game 2. Mackenzie Hancock hit two home runs and Cline added a third deep fly to jump-start a five-run rally in the seventh inning to tie the game. But the host Pilots (12-31, 5-19) won, 10-9, on a walk-off single by Quinn Slattman.
Hancock had three hits, four RBIs and two runs; and Maddison Ruhl added three hits and a pair of RBIs to pace the Cougars (16-7, 14-8) in Game 2.
Sullivan went the distance for the win in Game 1 but suffered the loss in relief in Game 2.
Leah Potter and Matern each drove in runs during a two-run sixth-inning rally to lift the Cougars to a 2-1 win in the first game of a Crossroads League doubleheader at Goshen on Friday, April 16.
A six-run third inning helped MVNU complete the sweep with a 10-2 victory over the Maple Leafs (14-25, 4-19) in six innings in Game 2.
Sullivan struck out 11 batters in a complete-game victory in the opener.
BASEBALL
Jake Glover struck out six batters in a complete game shutout in a 10-0 win for MVNU, which took three out of four games against Saint Francis in Crossroads League action over the weekend.
Glover allowed five hits and one walk over eight innings to open play on Saturday, April 17, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Aaron Saal hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to cap the scoring for the Cougars (25-15, 14-14).
MVNU scored five runs over the course of the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the score at 7. But a David Miller home run in the bottom of the fifth ended up being the difference for Saint Francis (28-16, 18-10) in a 7-5 victory in seven innings in Game 2.
MVNU rallied for four runs in the third inning to tie the score at 4-4 before Cameron Miller drove in the game-winner with a double in the sixth, lifting the Cougars to a 5-4 win to open play on Friday, April 16.
Trailing by two runs, the Cougars scored four in the fifth inning to notch a 7-3 victory in seven innings in Friday’s second game.
Josh Pettit allowed three earned runs over five innings to get the win, and Glover had three hits and drove in a run to lead MVNU.
TRACK AND FIELD
Justis Paul finished third in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 15 minutes, 50.95 seconds to lead MVNU at the Tiffin Classic on Saturday, April 17.
The meet, featuring mostly NCAA Division II schools, was unscored as a team event.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Luke Couchman, Colin Gaines, Liam Near and Clayton Slemmons (3:24.87) placed fifth for the Cougars’ men’s team, as did Kyler Dickey in the shot put (16.8 meters).
For the MVNU women’s team, Kasey Keith earned a fifth-place finish in the discus with a toss of 40.38 meters.
