Women's Soccer Player of the Week
BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin-Wallace College freshman forward Whitney Zunic (Canfield) is this week's Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Week. Zunic earned the honor for her efforts in a 3-2 double overtime win at Muskingum College in New Concord last Saturday in B-W's OAC season-opener.
Zunic paced the Yellow Jacket offense and had her first career hat-trick in the win, including scoring the game-winning goal with 12 seconds left in the second overtime. With the win, B-W improved to 9-2-1 overall and 1-0 in the OAC prior to playing in Tiffin and against Heidelberg on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.
At Muskingum, the Yellow Jackets opened the scoring at the 15:38 mark of the first half when Zunic tallied with an assists from junior Kellie Corbett (Silver Lake/ Cuyahoga Falls) and sophomore Ashley Belardo (North Royalton). It gave B-W a 1-0 lead. B-W increased its advantage to 2-0 at the 43:37 mark of the first half when Zunic scored with an assist from sophomore Emily Lawrentz (Mansfield/ Ashland Crestview). That led to Zunic's heroics as she scored the unassisted game-winner in the final seconds.
After 12 games, Zunic currently stands second on the team in scoring with seven goals for 14 points. She is third on the team in total shots with 21 for a .333 shooting percentage, and is fourth on the squad in shots on-goal with 11.
"That is pretty impressive to have a hat-trick as a freshman who is playing in her first-ever conference game," said third-year Head Coach Reid Ayers. "Whitney is getting better and better as the season progresses. It also takes some of the pressure off of Jenny Miller (B-W's leading scorer)."
Zunic's honor marks the second time a B-W player has been tabbed as the OAC Women's Player of the Week and fourth time overall that a B-W soccer player has earned the accolade. Jenny Miller (sophomore All-OAC forward from North Ridgeville) is the other women's player to earn the award, and junior Academi All-OAC men's golaie Nate Christian (North Ridgeville) has already earned the award twice this year and three times during his career. Miller was also an OAC Player of the Week last year.
The B-W women will be back in action on Tuesday, October 5 when they travels to Tiffin, Ohio to play Heidelberg College at 4:00 p.m. The Yellow Jacket men will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Heidelberg at The George Finnie Stadium at 7:00 p.m. Both teams will play Otterbein College this Saturday.
FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact the B-W Sports Information Office by telephone at (440) 826-2327, by FAX at (440) 826-2329 or e-mail SID Kevin Ruple at kruple@bw.edu. To reach Head Soccer Coach Reid Ayers, please call him at (440) 826-3839, FAX him at (440) 826-2192 or e-mail him at rayers@bw.edu.
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