Four Spartans Earn All-Big Ten Accolades
11/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 6, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Four Spartans earned All-Big Ten Accolades at the Big Ten Field Hockey Banquet in Bloomington, Ind., on Thursday night. Junior Jeamie Deacon (Wexford, Ireland), classmate Floor Rijpma (Bunnik, Netherlands), sophomore Jantine Steinmetz (Amstelveen, Netherlands) and freshman Chantae Miller (East Amherst, N.Y.) earned All-Big Ten honors, while sophomore Angela Pagura (Columbus, Ohio) was the Sportsmanship Award winner.
Deacon was a unanimous first team All-Big Ten honoree. It was the second-straight season she received the award, and was the third time a Spartan was a unanimous selection: Deacon earned the honor in 2007, and Michelle Huynh-Ba was voted unanimously in 2005. Deacon finished the regular season second on the team with 32 points. (11 goals, 10 assists). Deacon is third in the Big Ten in points, and is tied for seventh in goals and assists. Linda Haussener from Ohio State and Allison Scola of Penn State were voted Big Ten Co-Offensive Players of the Year, and Jen Long of Penn State was named Defensive Player of the Year, joining Deacon as the only four unanimous decisions.
Rijpma earned first team All-Big Ten honors after receiving second team accolades last season. She leads the team with 16 goals and 35 points, and has surpassed her goal and points totals from last season. She has 34 career goals, good for seventh on MSU's career list. Rijpma is second in the Conference in points, second in goals, and third in points per game.
Steinmetz and Miller earned second team All-Big Ten honors. Steinmetz, the 2007 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, has six goals and six assists for 18 points. She earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors on Monday after recording four points last weekend. Steinmetz led the Spartans to a 2-1 win over Penn State last Friday, scoring the game-winning goal with 26 seconds remaining in regulation. Miller is one of three players to post 30 or more points this season. She finished the regular season second on the team with 31 points and is tied for second with 11 goals. She leads the team and the Big Ten with four game-winning goals this season. Miller is also the top-scoring freshman in the conference.
The Sportsmanship Award is given to individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. The student-athlete must be in good academic standing and demonstrate good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Pagura finished the regular-season with four goals, three of which were game-winning tallies, and four assists for 12 points.
Seniors Gwen Riley (Louisville, Ky.), Michelle Ciliberti (Louisville, Ky.) and Geraldine Raynor (Marondera, Zimbabwe) were also honored at the banquet.
Michigan State defeated Northwestern, 4-2, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. The Spartans will face Iowa in the second round on Friday at 12:15 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
