139113 SRU Mag Back NEW - Slippery Rock University

Athletics
Arsenault earns second
successive conference MVP honor
R
ock
women’s soccer standout SARAH
ARSENAULT capped off a recordsetting
career this fall by earning
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
“Athlete of the Year” honors for the
second successive season.
Arsenault, who also earned first-team
all-conference honors for a fourth
successive season, was the second leading
scorer in the conference this fall after
being the No. 1 scorer as a junior. She
finished her senior season with 21 goals
and three assists for 45 points and had six
game-winning goals.
She concluded her Rock career with 70
goals, 21 assists and 161 points. Her goals
and points totals are school records, while
she ranks third in career assists.
She finished her career with a 40-goal
and 58-point margin over her nearest
competitor, 1999 third-team All-America
performer SONYA MAHER.
Arsenault also holds the school record
for single-season goals (23) and points
(54), both of which were set a year ago
when she was named to National Soccer
Coaches Association of America first-team
All-America honors.
The recipient of three NSCAA All-
Northeast Region first-team and one
second-team honor, Arsenault began her
collection of awards in 2001 when she
received the PSAC “Rookie of the Year” in
2001.
Since Arsenault joined the program in
2001, The Rock has compiled a 53-15-5
record, competed in three PSAC playoffs,
earned two NCAA postseason berths, won
two PSAC regular-season championships
and one conference playoff title.
Arsenault was one of four women’s
players that headlined a group of six Rock
fall sports athletes who were named to
first-team All-PSAC-West honors by the
conference’s coaches. SRU also had 10 fall
student-athletes named to second-team
All-PSAC honors. (See chart on page 45)
Sarah Arsenault, The Rock’s all-time leading scorer and
a 2003 first-team All-America selection, earned her
second successive PSAC women’s soccer “Athlete of the
Year” honor this fall
Arsenault and teammate JAIMI WILSON,
a freshman midfielder, were named to
second-team All-Northeast Region honors
this fall by the National Soccer Coaches
Association of America (NSCAA).
Kirsch named to first-team
all-region honors
S
ARA KIRSCH, a sophomore setter on
The Rock women’s volleyball team,
was named to first-team All-Atlantic
Region honors by the American
Volleyball Coaches Association.
SRU junior outside hitter LAYNA
HEILMAN-HOUSER (Dayton/Shannock
Valley H.S.) was named to second-team
honors by the same organization.
Kirsch, a native of Indiana, Pa., and
graduate of Northern Cambria High
School, played in 118 of a possible 120
games this fall and averaged a team-high
11.03 assists per game. Her season total of
1,302 is the fifth-best total in school
history. She also recorded 55 service aces,
the second-best single-season mark in Rock
history, and averaged 1.78 kills per game.
In two seasons of collegiate
competition, Kirsch has accumulated
2,021 assists, which is the third highest
total in Rock history.
Michaux, Green earn regional,
national tennis rankings
R
ock women’s tennis standouts
ASHLEY MICHAUX and ASHLEY
GREENE earned regional and
national preseason rankings from the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association this fall.
Michaux, a junior from Trafford,
(Penn-Trafford H.S.), is ranked third in
the region and 50th nationally in singles.
She and Greene (soph., Cranberry
Township/Seneca Valley H.S.) are ranked
third in the region in doubles.
Michaux advanced to the semifinals of
the ITA East Regional tournament this
fall in singles competition; she and
Greene also reached the final four in
doubles action.
A year ago, Michaux and her former
doubles partner, JESSICA BUNGO, were the
first Rock women’s players in the
program’s 31-year history to receive ITA
All-America status.
40 The Rock Winter 2005