The University of Montana women’s soccer team claimed a surprising Big Sky Conference women’s soccer championship Sunday, and a pair of Snohomish County natives were right in the thick of it.
Snohomish High School graduate Ellie Otteson, a senior for the Grizzlies, and Edmonds-Woodway High School grad Ali Monroe, a freshman, played their parts in Montana defeating three higher-seeded teams, including a 1-0 victory over Northern Colorado in the conference tournament championship game Sunday in Ogden, Utah.
Montana came into the tournament as the No. 5 seed, but defeated fourth-seeded Northern Arizona 1-0 last Wednesday and top-seeded Weber State on Friday before beating the third-seeded Bears for the title.
Otteson and Monroe both started all three games in midfield, with Otteson compiling five shots over the three games and Monroe totalling two.
Montana (7-8-6) qualified for the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship and will play Washington State in the first round on Friday in Pullman.
Nielsen leads Minnesota women’s soccer to NCAAs
King’s High School graduate Maddie Nielsen, now a sophomore on the University of Minnesota women’s soccer team, was named the Defensive Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament as the Gophers claimed a spot in the NCAA Championship.
Minnesota was the No. 7 seed in the tournament, but the Golden Gophers beat second-seeded Rutgers 1-0 in the quarterfinals and sixth-seeded Nebraska 2-0 in the semifinals. Then in Sunday’s title game in Westfield, Indiana, Minnesota bested top-seeded Penn State in a shootout following a scoreless game. Nielsen made 10 saves in the three games, then stopped the deciding penalty kick in the championship game shootout.
Minnesota (11-8-2) hits the road to face Auburn in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship on Friday.
EvCC sweeps cross country regionals
The Everett Community College women’s and men’s cross country teams both claimed team titles and medalist honors at the Northwest Athletic Conference North-West Region Championships held Oct. 27 at Willis Tucker Park in Everett.
On the women’s side Danielle Bauder, a freshman from Ballard High School in Seattle, claimed the individual title by completing the 5-kilometer course in a time of 19 minutes, 16.24 seconds. The Trojans had the top four finishers as they ran away with the team title, and Bauder was named the NWAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week for the second time this year.
On the men’s side Everett’s Tim Mandzyuk, a freshman from Glacier Peak High School, won the race in a time of 17:00.22. He led a 1-2-3 Trojans sweep of the top spots as Everett edged Green River 29-32 for the team title.
The NWAC Championships are Nov. 10 in Lacey.
Rutledge honored again by NWC
Everett High School graduate Murdock Rutledge, now a sophomore on the University of Puget Sound football team, was named the Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week for Oct. 22-28, the second time this season he earned the award. Rutledge, the Loggers’ starting quarterback, was 32-for-60 for 478 yards and four touchdowns in Puget Sound’s 42-28 victory at Willamette on Oct. 27.
If you have an item for the community sports roundup, email Nick Patterson at npatterson@heraldnet.com.
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