College notebook: White has record-breaking season for Wooster
Erica White
MATT DILYARD
MATT DILYARD
Erica White
Mario Mastrangelo
Brenna McGuire
Dunn
Erica White is proof that sometimes you don’t need your high school to field a team in your favorite sport to excel at it in college.
White, a senior forward for the College of Wooster women’s soccer team, is a Fort Cherry graduate. The Rangers do not field a girls soccer program but that didn’t stop White from developing as a soccer player. White was recently named the North Coast Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year.
She helped the Scots to a 13-4-2 record this fall, a runner-up finish in the NCAC during the regular season, the conference tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
White, who was a member of the Rangers’ highly successful track and field program, had a historic senior campaign for Wooster, scoring 41 points with 18 goals and five assists. Her point and goal totals each led the NCAC and set the Wooster record for points and goals in a single season. She broke records that had stood since 1987.
White also went 2-for-2 on penalty kicks and had eight game-winning goals.
In the NCAC tournament championship game against Wittenberg, White scored a goal nine minutes into the match that sparked the Wooster to a 4-0 victory. In the semifinals, White scored two goals, including the game-winner with 1:21 remaining, in Wooster’s 2-1 victory over Kenyon. She was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
At Wooster, White has 24 goals and eight assists in 53 career games. She played one season at West Liberty, where she scored four goals in 18 games before transferring to Wooster.
In football
Denison senior offensive lineman George Carson, a Canonsburg native and Canon-McMillan graduate, was named first team All-North Coast Athletic Conference and helped the Big Red win the school’s first conference championship since 1986 and earn its second NCAA Division III playoff appearance since 1985.
Carson anchored Denison’s offensive line and paved the way for the Big Red’s attack that averaged 40 points per game, amassed 5,000 yards total offense and averaged 242 rushing yards per game.
Denison finished the season with an 8-3 record including an 8-1 mark in the NCAC.
- Waynesburg junior left tackle Alex Paulina, a Canon-McMillan graduate, was named first team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
Paulina anchored the Yellow Jackets’ offensive line that showed marked improvement this season and paved the way for a running game that netted 979 yards and helped running back Chad Walker receive second team all-conference honors. Paulina, a Pitt transfer, was the only Waynesburg player named to the first team offense. He was credited with 35 knockdown blocks and didn’t allow a sack.
- Luke Lloyd, an Avella graduate, had a good season as a quarterback for Geneva.
A junior, Lloyd directed the Golden Tornadoes’ option offense and played in all 10 games. Lloyd completed 40 percent of his passes and threw for three touchdowns. His best passing game was against Washington & Jefferson, when he was 7-for-9 for 144 yards with two touchdowns. He had 45 rushing yards against Bethany.
In basketball
Senior forward Kaitlyn Slagus was named Bucknell University’s Bison Athlete of the Week on Nov. 12 after recording back-to-back double-doubles while leading the Patriot League team to a 2-0 start to the season.
A Belle Vernon graduate, Slagus led Bucknell to wins over Monmouth (70-32) and Quinnipiac (75-58), the latter the home opener.
Slagus won a hard-fought battle under the baskets against Quinnipiac, totaling 15 points and 14 rebounds. She made three of six three-point attempts, giving her multiple three-pointers in each of the first two games of the season. Against Monmouth, Slagus had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Through four games, Slagus averages 10.5 points and 9.4 rebounds. She has scored 1,088 career points.
- Cheyenne Trest has picked up where she left off last season for Seton Hill.
Trest, a Canon-McMillan graduate, was the PSAC West Freshman of the Year last season and is currently the Griffins’ leading scorer as a sophomore. Trest is averaging a team-leading 15.0 points per game to go with 5.0 rebounds per game and a team-best 12 assists as Seton Hill has won two of its first three games.
Trest scored a game-high 19 points in Seton Hill’s 84-71 victory over Fairmont State in the PSAC/Mountain East Challenge and had a team-high 15 points in the Griffins’ 64-53 win over Malone.
- Youngstown State’s women’s basketball team is off to a 4-1 start and Mary Dunn, a junior forward from Washington and a Trinity graduate, has been a major contributor for the Penguins.
Dunn is averaging 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and has a team-leading five blocked shots. Dunn scored a season-high 12 points in YSU’s 74-63 victory over Loyola of Chicago. She had nine points on 4-for-7 shooting and four rebounds in the Penguins’ 64-55 victory at Pitt.
In soccer
Mario Mastrangelo, a senior forward for St. Francis (Pa.), was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year. The Venetia native and Peters Township graduate is the first St. Francis player to win the award.
Mastrangelo, the league’s top scorer with nine goals, lands an NEC honor for the third time in his career. A two-time NEC Player of the Week and prime performer this season, Mastrangelo scored goals in seven of 16 games and had two multi-goal performances. He led the conference in points (24), points per game (1.60), and goals per game (0.60) and tied for second with six assists.
- Penn State Behrend freshman forward Brenna McGuire of McDonald and a South Fayette graduate won two major league awards when she was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Player and Newcomer of the Year.
McGuire led the conference in goals (13), points (29) and points per game (3.22). She finished the regular season ranked sixth with three assists in nine conference games. She had three game-winning goals and six multiple-goal games. McGuire led the AMCC with 18 goals and five assists for 41 points. She was named the ECAC Rookie of the Month for her standout play in the month of October.
In the AMCC tournament championship game, McGuire scored the only goal as Behrend won 1-0 to advance to the NCAA Division III tournament. Behrend finished the season with a 13-7 record.
McGuire was one of six local players on the Lions’ roster, joining former Canon-McMillan players Ashlyn Whipple and Madison Whipple, Nicole Kittelberger of Peters Township, Rylee Bove of Ringgold and Autumn Heineman of South Fayette. Ashlyn Whipple, a junior midfielder, scored three goals and had three assists. She had a three-point game in an 8-0 win over Hilbert.
- West Virginia Wesleyan’s Marissa Zetty, a junior, was named the Mountain East Conference Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 15-21.
Zetty, who played her high school soccer at Belle Vernon, helped the Bobcats to a pair of wins with two goals out of the midfield position. She scored the final goal in a 4-1 win over Concord, and provided the insurance goal in a 2-0 victory over Urbana.
Zetty was the fourth-leading scorer for WVW with four goals and one assist for nine points. She started all 21 games for the Bobcats, who finished the season with a 13-2-6 record, won the Mountain east Conference tournament and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division II tournament.
In volleyball
Cleveland State’s Hannah Greene, a junior middle hitter from McDonald and a Fort Cherry graduate, was named for the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week for Oct. 29-Nov. 4.
Greene helped the Vikings stay at the top of the league standings, going 1-1 against IUPUI and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In the two matches, Greene averaged 2.11 blocks per set, combining for 19 total blocks. Greene had seven blocks at IUPUI and followed that with a career-high 12 blocks against Milwaukee.
Greene’s 12-block performance marked her second double-digit block match of the season, and the third of her career. Over the last 15 seasons, Greene is one of three Vikings to record a 12-block match, and the first since 2007.
Greene’s strong season enabled her to receive honorable mention on the All-Horizon League team. She led the conference and ranked second nationally with 170 blocks. Greene had three or more blocks in all but one match. She also had 181 kills, averaging 1.63 kills per set on a .234 hitting percentage.
Cleveland State finished the season with a 17-12 season.
Compiled by Chris Dugan