Spartans Sweep Big Ten Weekly Honors
9/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 28, 2009
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Following a weekend which saw it defeat No. 18 Northwestern and Maine, the Michigan State field hockey team saw three players garner Player of the Week accolades as announced by the Big Ten Conference today. Senior Floor Rijpma (Bunnik, Netherlands) was named Offensive Player of the Week, senior Elissa Unger (Reading, Pa.) took home Defensive Player of the Week honors while freshman Manouk Vernij (Bleiswijk, Netherlands) rounded out the group by being named Co-Freshman of the Week. With its three honorees, Michigan State became the first ever school to have three players take home Big Ten Weekly Honors in the same week.
"We're very excited to have not one but three players honored by the Big Ten Conference," said head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof. "The kids all worked hard and helped us have a great weekend."
Rijpma, who was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in her career (9/28/09, 9/7/09, 10/6/08) and second time this season, recorded a second half hat trick in the Spartans' 5-2 victory over Northwestern on Friday. She followed that impressive performance by scoring the game-winning goal off a corner with less than two minutes remaining against Maine on Sunday.
Unger, who takes home Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career (9/28/09, 9/15/08), recorded a season-high 10 saves against the high powered Northwestern offense. Several of Unger's saves came when the match was either tied or still in question. Some of Ungers highlights included: a diving save on a Northwestern (Kaylee Pohlmayer) penalty stroke when the game was scoreless and a sprawling save against Big Ten goal scoring leader Chelsea Armstrong when the Spartans were up 2-0. Unger followed up her strong performance against the Wildcats by making five key saves for the Spartans in their narrow 2-1 victory over Maine.
Vernij, who becomes the first player to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on three separate occasions (9/28, 9/14, 8/31), recorded a Michigan State school record, tallying four assists in the Spartan victory over Northwestern. Against Maine, Vernij got the Spartan offense going when she scored off of a penalty corner early in the second half. Vernij kept up her strong play for the remainder of the game and recorded an assist on Rijpma's game-winner.
Rijpma, Unger, Vernij and the rest of the Spartans return to action this weekend when they travel to Louisville, Kentucky for matchups with Rutgers and No. 15 Louisville.
