Archives for November 2021

Three Women’s Soccer Members Named All-CCIW

November 30, 2021 by Tara S

Liesl Whitener, Molly Fank First Team and Kayla Garcia Second Team were named CCIW All-Conference on Tuesday

APERVILLE, Ill. — Liesl Whitener, Molly Fank, and Kayla Garcia of Augustana Vikings women’s soccer were named to the CCIW’s all-conference teams on Tuesday, with Whitener and Fank earning First Team honors and Garcia earning Second Team.

Whitener led a balanced Vikings offensive attack in goals this season with four that included one game-winner. She was the team leader in assists with four and was the top points-getter with 12. The sophomore started all 16 games played this season and was second on the team in both shots and shots on goal. In league play, she ranked in the top ten in four different categories, including second in assists and seventh in shots.

Joining her on First Team, Fank played a pivotal role on the defense side that helped the team ranked third in goals allowed this season. The junior anchored a defense that posted five shutouts this season and held opponents to just 1.13 goals per contest. She had one goal on 11 shots this year.

Garcia joins her teammates on the All-CCIW selection list on Second Team after finishing second on the team with three goals during the regular season. The junior from Rock Island started all 16 games played this year and led the team in shots (47) and shots on goal (24). She ranked third in the conference in 2021 with two game-winning goals.

This year’s selections makes it three straight seasons the Vikings have placed three members on the all-conference list. No CCIW selections were made in 2020 due to COVID-19. Senior Anna Bross was also named a recipient of the CCIW’s RESPECT Award.

Allyson Felix, Naomi Osaka Earn Women’s Sports Awards

November 19, 2021 by Tara S

by: AP News

NEW YORK (AP) — Olympians Allyson Felix and Jordan Larson were honored as Sportswomen of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Felix won two medals at the Tokyo Games — giving her 11 in her career — to surpass Carl Lewis as the most decorated American in Olympic track and field history. Larson led the U.S. women’s volleyball team to victory against Brazil for its first Olympic gold medal.

Naomi Osaka earned the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award for bringing awareness to social justice and mental health issues at the Annual Salute to Women in Sports on Wednesday night.

“I got the courage just to speak out growing up and seeing all of the people around me doing amazing things,” Osaka said, “and not having any fear and standing up for what they believe in.”

Kim Ng of the Miami Marlins, the first female general manager in baseball, received the Billie Jean King Leadership Award. Larry Scott, the former commissioner of the Pac 12 and former CEO of the WTA Tour, accepted the Champion for Equality Award.ADVERTISEMENThttps://65bceafc6476064c638f4381ef648bbd.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

A reception with King was held at the New-York Historical Society ahead of the virtual awards show. Also featured on the virtual program were former baseball manager Joe Torre, Olympic hockey star Meghan Duggan, two-time World Cup champion Julie Foudy, Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer and Women’s Sports Foundation President Phaidra Knight.

BIG TEN TABS MEGAN KAHN AS VICE PRESIDENT OF WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

November 19, 2021 by Tara S

By: EMMA HRUBY | just women’s sports

Megan Kahn has been named Vice President of Women’s Basketball for the Big Ten, the conference announced Thursday.

The creation of the position was announced in October at the conference’s combined Basketball Media Days in Indianapolis. It’s the first senior-level position in the conference dedicated specifically to growing women’s basketball.

“Megan has been a leader and innovator in women’s college basketball for many years,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren in a release. “She has an extraordinary amount of experience in various roles and has developed a wide network of strong relationships in the women’s basketball community. Her ability to work collaboratively, while also thinking creatively and strategically, will be a tremendous asset to the Big Ten Conference and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Big Ten family.”

Primarily, Khan will be tabbed with “developing cohesive strategy to strengthen, enhance and expand the Big Ten women’s basketball operations, brand and strategic initiatives.”

As part of her new role, Khan will serve as the liaison to head coaches and campus administrators as well as Big Ten Network and other national television partners. Additionally, she will assist in the development of conference scheduling and in coordinating all day-to-day women’s basketball operations.

“I am excited and energized to take on this new role as the Big Ten’s first Vice President of Women’s Basketball,” Kahn said. “Big Ten women’s basketball is trending in an extremely positive direction, making this an ideal time to join our student-athletes, coaches, fans and the whole Big Ten community in taking our sport to new heights. We are at a critical inflection point nationally, not only in women’s basketball, but when it comes to gender equity as a whole and I believe the Big Ten is uniquely positioned to make impactful change in this area in the future.”

Khan most recently worked at WeCOACH, a non-profit committed to the educational and professional development of women’s coaches across all sports and levels. There, she served as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to WeCOACH, Khan served as both an assistant and associate commissioner at the Atlantic 10 Conference from 2008-12 where she supervised all of the conference’s women’s basketball operations.

2021 USAFLUA Umpire Accreditation Awards

November 18, 2021 by Tara S

Every year the USAFL looks forward to the National Championships where teams are crowned as champions of their respective divisions and the Best and Fairest and the Most Consistent medals are awarded. The USAFLUA is no exception as we look forward to see all the umpires from across the country and beyond trying to show they have improved and are worthy of their accreditations.

With the borders to Australia being closed and limited access to Canada, the crew was severely short staffed both at the umpire level and at the coaching level, but in true UA spirit and commitment to excellence, everything got done and got done well! Field coaches did 34 observations over the weekend and you see below how many awards were earned at both field and goals.

We look forward to everyone having a wonderful off-season and suiting up for 2022. Until then, Play On!

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