W-League Feature
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
TAMPA, Fla. – Toronto Lady Lynx and Vancouver Whitecaps alum Jonelle Filigno earned Big East Offensive Player of the Week honors after totaling nine points in a 2-0-0 week for Rutgers, leading the list of W-League talent honored for their NCAA Division I performances this past week.
The redshirt-junior had five points (two goals and an assist) in a 3-0 win against Louisville and four points (two goals) in a 5-0 win against Cincinnati. Filigno also was recognized at halftime of the Rutgers-Syracuse football game for her efforts in helping Team Canada win a bronze medal in the London Olympics.Long Island Rough Riders veteran Kim DeCesare nabbed her second ACC Player of the Week nod this season after the Duke junior registered a goal and two assists as the No. 5 Blue Devils netted a 3-0 road victory at N.C. State and battled 12th-ranked Wake Forest to a 1-1 draw. Against Wake Forest, DeCesare notched the game-tying goal in the 74th minute after the Blue Devils had fallen behind the Demon Deacons on a penalty kick. In the win at N.C. State, DeCesare tallied assists on Duke’s first two goals.
DeCesare now has 11 goals, six assists and 28 points this season. Her 11 goals rank ninth on Duke’s all-time single-season charts.
Krystyna Freda led the Central SC Cobras with five goals and an assist in the team’s inaugural season in 2012, and her scoring touch has continued with Winthrop as she was named Big South Attacking Player of the Week. Freda, a sophomore, notched three goals and an assist to lead the Eagles to a 1-0-1 record last week, scoring twice and adding an assist against VMI as Winthrop picked up the 6-1 win. Two days later she put in the lone goal as Winthrop battled Radford to the 1-1 draw.
Middle Tennessee’s Paige Goeglein was named Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after registering a hat trick in MT’s 3-1 victory against Troy. Goeglein, a former member of the Fort Wayne Fever, added an assist on the equalizer against South Alabama as the Blue Raiders rallied for their eighth consecutive win, tying a school record. The midfielder remains tops in the nation with eight game-winning goals.
Rice freshman Lauren Hughes, who played in three games for the W-League champion Ottawa Fury in 2012, was named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week after she had a pair of goals in the Owls’ 2-0-0 weekend. Hughes played 155 minutes and took a team-best nine shots in the two matches, including seven on goal. She scored the game-winning goal in Thursday’s nationally-televised game against Memphis, and followed that up with a goal in the fourth minute on the road at UAB on Sunday.
2012 Rochester Raven Brianna Smith was named MAAC Offensive Player of the Week after the Canisius junior scored a pair of game-winning goals for the Golden Griffins. In Sunday’s 2-1 win against Manhattan she headed home the game-winner in the 75th minute off a corner kick by sophomore back Jenny Piaggione. Smith also rallied the Griffs to a 3-2 comeback win in double overtime against Saint Peter’s on Friday evening with her first career hat trick. She has accounted for six of the Griffs’ past seven goals since opening conference play against Iona on Oct. 5.
Florida Gator Jo Dragotta, a three-year member of the Tampa Bay Hellenic, was selected as SEC Offensive Player of the Week after she provided Florida with game-winning goals in both of its matches. To start things off she hit a bouncing ball off an Adriana Leon corner kick in the 85th minute to give UF the final 2-1 margin against No. 14 Missouri. She followed that up with her first two-goal match, scoring in the 71st and 80th minutes against Mississippi State. She has scored all five of her career goals in UF’s past seven matches.