Grace Athletic Notes: Nov. 12
LANCERS WELL REPRESENTED IN ALL-CROSSROADS SOCCER TEAMS
Grace’s tie for the Crossroads League women’s soccer regular season championship and the men’s high standing allowed the Lady Lancers and Lancers several players among the All-League team released this week.
Grace and Spring Arbor finished 8-1 in the Crossroads League regular season, which Grace claimed a share of its first-ever league title. Spring Arbor returned in the conference championship to shut out Grace, 3-0, for the big bragging rights.
Grace goalkeeper Bethany Blackwood was named the Newcomer of the Year, and joined defender Aubrey Feipel, forward Jenni Phillips and midfielders Sacia Hanson and Allison Vroon on the First Team. Forward Corinne Villalobos was named Second Team All-League.
Spring Arbor’s Bethany Balcer was named the Player of the Year, teammate Casandra Besterman was named Midfield Player of the Year and Jason Crist of Spring Arbor was named Coach of the Year. Marian’s Courtney Denney was the Offensive Player of the Year and teammate Amanda Annee was the Defensive Player of the Year.
The Spring Arbor men went wire-to-wire as the conference champions, running 9-0 in the Crossroads. Huntington, however, upset Spring Arbor, 2-1, to win the conference tournament championship. Grace was runner-up at 6-1-2 in the regular season, but the Lancers fell to Indiana Wesleyan in the opening round.
The Lancers had five make the First Team in midfielders Cody Boerema and Colin Cape, defenders Romain Chantrel and Ivan Santagiuliana and goalkeeper Kurt Hamlin. Midfielder Ulisses Miranda was named Second Team All-League.
Spring Arbor dominated the Player of the Year awards, with Jacob Krull the League Player of the Year, Morris Kamara was the Offensive Player of the Year, Alex Sokalski was the Defensive Player of the Year and Nathan Miller was the Coach of the Year. IWU’s Sammy Conti was named the Midfield Player of the Year.
DJORDJEVIC EARNS NCCAA HONOR
After playing the part of hero on Saturday, Nikola Djordjevic was honored on Monday.
Djordjevic was named the NCCAA National Offensive Player of the Week for Grace’s men’s soccer team. He scored the game-winning goal in the final minute on Saturday, beating Lancaster Bible 3-2 in the NCCAA regional championship.
He also scored the game-tying goal in the first half for the Lancers, producing his first two goals of the season.
The Lancers will find out their seed and bracket placement for NCCAA Nationals in the coming days. The championships are held in Kissimmee, Fla., starting Nov. 26.