Wheaton Sweeps Soccer Player of the Week Honors

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Wheaton’s Strider Elass and Sara Richardson took home College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Men’s and Women’s Soccer Players of the Week honors Tuesday for their peformances over the weekend.

Elass, a sophomore forward from Wheaton, scored four goals over the weekend to help the No. 23-ranked Thunder to a pair of victories at Wheaton’s Bob Baptista Invitational. On Friday Wheaton defeated Judson College of the National Association of Intercollegiate Atheltics (NAIA) 3-0, a team ranked seventh in the NAIA’s Preseason poll. Elass scored a pair of goals in that game, including the game-winner.

On Saturday the standout sophomore netted two more goals in a 3-0 Thunder victory against Illinois-Springfield.

Richardson, a sophomore forward from Marshall, Mich., helped lead the top-ranked Thunder to a pair of victories this weekend at Wheaton’s Bob Baptista Invitational. Richardson scored two goals in Wheaton’s 3-2 overtime victory against Willamette on Friday. Richardson scored a goal in the 81st minute to tie the match at 2-2. She scored the game-winner 3:43 into the second overtime period to give the Thunder the win.

Richardson was again a key factor on Saturday when the Thunder topped 11th-ranked Washington University (Mo.) 2-0. Richardson dished out assists on both Thunder goals in the victory against the Bears.

Wheaton’s win Saturday against Washington (Mo.) was the 27th consecutive victory for the Thunder, dating back to a 9/3/04 loss (0-1) to Wash. U. Wheaton’s win streak is now the third longest in the history of Division III women’s soccer, passing the 26-match win streak put together by Heidelberg in the 1990-91 seasons. The longest win streak by a Division III women’s soccer team is 60 by Ohio Wesleyan (Sept. 5, 2001 to Oct. 22, 2003) and the second-longest streak is the 34 consecutive victories put together by College of New Jersey (Sept. 29, 2000 to Nov. 4, 2001).

Women’s Soccer Player of the Week (9/6/05)
Sarah Richardson- Wheaton

Men’s Soccer Player of the Week (9/6/05)
Strider Elass- Wheaton