Minnesota’s women’s hockey forward Krissy Wendell was named the WCHA and U.S. College Hockey Online’s offensive player of the week for her performance last weekend against St. Cloud State.
The sophomore from Brooklyn Park, Minn., scored six goals and tallied two assists in leading the Gophers to a series sweep over the Huskies.
A top-10 Patty Kazmaier finalist, Wendell finished the regular season with 64 points, ranking her third in the nation.
Wendell is the third Gopher to receive the national recognition.
Junior goaltender Jody Horak was named the U.S College Hockey Online’s defensive player of the week after
picking up two wins and recording 39 saves in a series sweep against Minnesota-Duluth on Feb. 28-29.
Sophomore forward Natalie Darwitz was honored the week of Oct. 28 after tallying two goals and three assists in a sweep over Wisconsin on Oct. 25-26.
Center of attention
Minnesota football center Greg Eslinger is one of 54 players to be selected to the 2004 Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. The award is given to the top lineman in college football.
Last season as a sophomore, Eslinger was the first Minnesota All-American since center Ben Hamilton and punter Preston Gruening were honored following the 2000 season.
The 54 preliminary candidates were selected for the initial watch list by earning All-American honors or by being named to their respective all-conference team as selected by the conference’s head coaches.
Steidl honored
Minnesota baseball senior centerfielder Sam Steidl was named Tuesday. It marked the second time in his career that Steidl has claimed conference player of the week honors.
Steidl claimed MVP of the 2004 Dairy Queen Classic, leading Minnesota to its first undefeated record in the tournament since 1994.
The Gophers defeated West Virginia, No. 14 Nebraska and No. 22 Florida State. He also won the Easton Silver Stick Award, for the highest tournament batting average, going 7-for-11 (.636) with four runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases.
He saved his best performance for the championship game against No. 22 Florida State on Sunday. In that game, Steidl went 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBI and a stolen base. Steidl broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the second with a single that brought home two runs to make the score 3-1. He stole second and came around to score the fifth run for Minnesota to put them up 5-1 en route to the 6-1 victory over the Seminoles.
Women’s golf second
Minnesota’s women’s golf team finished seventh at the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational in Winter Springs, Fla. The Gophers shot rounds of 327-321-324=972, 62 shots behind tournament champion Miami.
Individually, the Gophers were led by sophomore Sarah Butler, who tied for 17th. Junior Terra Petsinger tied for 16th after carding an 82 Tuesday. Freshman Sophie Stubbs moved up to tie for 47th at 249 (85-84-80). Senior Katie Jacobson tied for 54th after rounds of 82-84-84=250. Sophomore Jessica Thomas tied for 57th at 251 (88-79-84).
