Sports update Sept. 17: Men’s soccer picks up two shutouts

The No. 18 men’s soccer team improved to 4-0-1 on the season by earning a pair of shutout wins last week.

The Bears scored a pair of second-half goals by freshman Connor Roach and junior Michael Flowers to earn a 2-0 win at Central College on Tuesday. WUSTL then scored three goals in a 3-0 win at Rhodes College on Saturday. Sophomore Jon Geremia, freshman David Alemany and Flowers accounted for the Bears’ three goals in the win.

WUSTL has allowed just one goal in five matches this season, and has held its opponents scoreless for the last 337 minutes of play.

The Bears finish a three-match roadtrip with a 7 p.m. contest at Greenville College on Tuesday, Sept. 18, before hosting No. 15 Wheaton College (Ill.) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21.

Volleyball finishes 3-1 at Wittenberg Fall Classic
The No. 1-ranked volleyball team earned wins over No. 2 Wittenberg University, No. 3 Calvin College and No. 21 Heidelberg University, but suffered its first loss of the season in a five-set setback against No. 7 Hope College over the weekend at the Wittenberg Fall Classic.

The Bears battled to a pair of five-set wins over the 2011 NCAA Division III National Champion, Wittenberg (24-26, 25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 16-14), and the 2010 NCAA Division III National Champion, Calvin (22-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 18-16), Friday night. Midway through the third set in the win over Wittenberg, senior libero Kelly Pang became the Washington University all-time career digs leader. She finished the weekend with 100 digs, to bring her career total to 2,126, surpassing Colleen Winter’s previous career record of 2,044.

On Saturday, the Bears rallied from 10 points down in the second set to sweep Heidelberg (25-20, 26-24, 25-17). In its final match of the tournament, WUSTL took a 2-1 lead against Hope, but the Flying Dutch won the fourth and fifth sets to hand the Bears their first loss of the season (24-26, 25-18, 27-25, 20-25, 15-17). Pang was named to the all-tournament team for the Bears, and senior Drew Hargrave led WUSTL with 76 kills in the tournament, bringing her to 980 in her career.

WUSTL (13-1) has a week off before traveling to Chicago for the first University Athletic Association (UAA) round robin on Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 29-30.

Women’s soccer picks up two road wins
The No. 9 women’s soccer team posted a 2-1 record a week ago, playing all three contests on the road.

The Bears had three freshman score in a 5-0 victory on Sept. 12 at Fontbonne University. Senior Clara Jaques (45 minutes), senior Caitlin Heim (26 minutes), senior Hilary Stepansky (16 minutes, two saves) and freshman Amy French (three minutes) combined for the shutout in goal for the Bears.

After having its unbeaten streak snapped with a 4-0 loss at No. 3 Wheaton College (Ill.) on Sept. 15, WUSTL rebounded with a 4-0 win at DePauw University on Sept. 16. Sophomore Anna Zambricki and freshman Liz Collins scored in the first half as WUSTL built a 2-0 halftime lead. The Bears outshot DePauw 17-2 in the first half.

Sophomore Lillie Toaspern scored her team-leading third goal of the year to make it 3-0, and then senior Allie Betley added a goal in the 69th minute to round out the scoring for the Bears. Freshman Olivia Lillegraven picked up a pair of assists in the win for WUSTL to up her team-leading total to three.

WUSTL (5-1) plays its fourth-straight road game on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Illinois Wesleyan University. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Bloomington, Ill.

Cross country teams compete at SIUE Challenge
Sophomores Ryan Senci and Margaret Flatley led the men’s and women’s cross country teams at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cross Country Challenge on Friday evening.

The meet was scored using a dual-meet format. The WUSTL men won three of their four matchups, while the women won two of three duals.

Senci led two WUSTL men in the top-10 with a fifth-place individual finish. Sophomore Drew Padgett placed seventh overall to also finish in the top 10.

On the women’s side, WUSTL had four runners finish in the top-10 individually – Flatley (fifth), freshman Bri Tiffany (sixth), sophomore Beatrice Gantzer (ninth), and freshman Ellen Toennies (10th).

The WUSTL cross country teams have two weeks off before traveling to Louisville, Ky., to compete in the Greater Louisville Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 29.

Football drops 20-14 decision to Coe for third-straight loss
The football team totaled 350 yards of offense but was hampered by five turnovers in a in a 20-14 loss to Coe College Sept. 15 in St. Louis.

Junior QB Eric Daginella was 9-of-19 for a career-high 142 yards and a TD while playing most of the second half for WUSTL.

Coe had the upper had in total offense (383-350) and controlled the clock with a 36:20-23:40 advantage in time of possession.

Sophomore defensive back Ryan Bednar had 10 tackles, two pass break-ups and 1.5 tackles for loss to lead the defensive unit for WUSTL. Junior linebacker Peter Lowery added nine tackles (eight solo) and freshman linebacker Matt Goad chipped in with a career-high seven stops. The defense limited Coe to 158 yards in the second half and forced three punts and two turnovers.

WUSTL (0-3) completes a two-game homestand against Kenyon College on Saturday, Sept. 22. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Francis Field. A pre-game barbeque will take place prior to kickoff from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.as part of Fall Festival. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will introduce current student-athletes as well as former letterwinners at halftime celebrating the 2011-12 season.

Men’s tennis captures all six flights at Lynn Imergoot Invite
Junior Max Franklin and sophomore Kevin Chu each picked up a pair of titles to highlight the men’s tennis team at the Third Annual Lynn Imergoot Invitational held Friday-Sunday, Sept. 14-16, at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park.

Teams participating in the three-day tournament included Lindenwood University-Belleville, Principia College, University of Missouri-St. Louis and WUSTL.

Chu and Franklin won the A Doubles Flight championship with an 8-5 victory over WUSTL senior Adam Putterman and sophomore Ross Putterman.

In singles, Chu won the C Singles flight with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over freshman Josh Cogan, while Franklin captured the D Singles flight with a 6-2, 7-5 win over senior Bryan Haywood.

WUSTL captured the B Doubles Championship as junior Tim Noack and senior Seth Sankary defeated WUSTL junior Naveen Chadalavada and sophomore Eric Zishka, 8-5.

WUSTL also captured the singles championship in the other two flights. Adam Putterman defeated UMSL’s Nils Mueggenburg, 6-2, 6-2, in the A Flight, while Noack won by default over freshman Tyler Kratky in the B Flight.

WUSTL competes at the 2012 USTA/ITA Central Regional on Friday-Monday, Sept. 21-24, in Indianapolis, Ind. The tournament play will be held at North Central High School and Park Tudor High School.

Women’s tennis opens season with strong showing at Lynn Imergoot Invitational
The women’s tennis team won five of six flights at the 2012 Lynn Imergoot Invitational held Friday-Sunday, Sept. 14-16.

Junior Aarthi Kasilingam led the Bears with a 5-0 record while capturing titles in the singles D-flight, (5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) over freshman Erin Wong. She also teamed with sophomore Hanna Newstadt to win the doubles B-flight over Wong and senior Paige Madara, 9-7.

Senior Kate Klein won the singles A-flight title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over McKendree University’s Adriana Gonzalez. Junior Betsy Edershile claimed the singles B-flight with a 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 1-0 (10-4) victory over Renee Verboven of University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Freshmen Jamie Silverberg and Aly Coran squared off in the final of the singles C-flight, with Silverberg earning a 6-3, 6-1 win for the title.

WUSTL returns to action when it hosts the ITA Central Regional on Friday, Sept. 28-Monday, Oct. 1.

Elizabeth Phillips selected as NCAA Woman of the Year finalist
WUSTL 2012 graduate Elizabeth Phillips is among the top-nine student-athletes selected as finalists for the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

The winner of the award will be announced on Oct. 14 during a ceremony in Indianapolis.

Phillips is the third NCAA Woman of the Year finalist in WUSTL school history, joining Amy Albers (1994) and Julia Burdick (1992).

Phillips, who graduated in May with a degree in biomedical engineering and a 4.0 GPA, completed her career as one of the most decorated student-athletes in school history. She became the first three-time NCAA Elite 88/89 Award winner in any NCAA division.

In 2012, Phillips was named the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America of the Year Division III award winner for women’s track & field/cross country, making her the first track & field/cross country Academic All-America of the Year winner in WUSTL history. She also earned first-team Academic All-America honors in 2011 and 2012.