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Big Ten Announces 2007 Field Hockey All-Big Ten Teams and Individual Honors
Nov. 1, 2007
The Big Ten Conference announced the 2007 All-Big Ten field hockey teams and individual award winners today. Michigan, the 2007 conference champion, received two individual honors. Lucia Belassi was named Offensive Co-Player of the Year, and head coach Nancy Cox received Coach of the Year honors. The other Offensive Co-Player of the Year was Ohio State's Yesenia Luces, marking the second consecutive year that Luces has received offensive honors. In the remaining individual laurels, Penn State's Jen Long was named Defensive Player of the Year and Michigan State's Jantine Steinmetz received Freshman of the Year honors. Luces' second Offensive Player of the Year award marks the first time an Ohio State player has ever won back-to-back All-Big Ten individual honors. Belassi and Cox earned their first individual conference honors marking the first time since 2004 that a Wolverine has won an individual laurel. Michigan finished the year with a perfect 6-0 record in conference play and is currently ranked No. 5 in the latest STX/NFHCA national rankings. Long is the first Nittany Lion since 2001 to receive the defensive individual honor. The 2007 All-Big Ten first team has three unanimous selections including Belassi, Luces and Michigan State's Jeamie Deacon. Indiana's Haley Exner received her third straight first-team accolade while her teammate Meredith Brown was also named to the squad. Four Iowa players garnered first team honors in Meghan Beamesderfer, Caroline Blaum, Roz Ellis and Lauren Pfeiffer. Michigan's Paige Laytos, Northwestern's Amanda Care, Ohio State's Linda Haussener and Penn State's Long and Kiersten Wood round out the first-team honorees. The conference also named the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award field hockey honorees. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These student-athletes must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for 2007 are Indiana's Margie Stoll, Iowa's Lissa Munley, Michigan's Belassi, Michigan State's Rebecca Manning, Northwestern's Katie Charles, Ohio State's Luces and Penn State's Mallory Weissen. These seven student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the academic year.
2007 All-Big Ten Teams *First Team Meredith Brown, Sr., midfield, IND Haley Exner, Sr., goalkeeper, IND Meghan Beamesderfer, So., defense, IOWA Caroline Blaum, Jr., forward, IOWA Roz Ellis, Jr., defense, IOWA Lauren Pfeiffer, Jr., midfield, IOWA LUCIA BELASSI, Sr., forward, MICH Paige Laytos, So., forward, MICH JEAMIE DEACON, So., midfield, MSU Amanda Care, Sr., defense, NU Linda Haussener, Jr., midfield, OSU YESENIA LUCES, Sr., midfield, OSU Jen Long, Jr., defense, PSU Kiersten Wood, Sr., midfield, PSU #Second Team * Additional honorees due to ties OFFENSIVE CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR: Lucia Belassi, MICH and Yesenia Luces, OSU Sportsmanship Award Honorees |
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