Players Mentioned
Ritter Tabbed BIG EAST Player of the Week
9/30/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 30, 2013
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Scoring goals is nothing new to Seton Hall women's soccer forward Katie Ritter (Hagerstown, Md.) - after all, her 22 career scores rank third-most all-time in program history.
With #25 Butler in town and the Pirates looking for a third-straight win on Sunday, Ritter did what she does best; tallying the first and final goals in a 3-1 SHU win that kept The Hall atop the BIG EAST standings following the first weekend of conference play.
By virtue of her double against the Bulldogs, Ritter was tabbed as the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week the conference announced on Monday, marking the first time in her accomplished career that she has received the honor.
The Hagerstown product is the first Pirate to take home conference Player of the Week honors since former midfielder Taylor Wilson did so in 2011 and the third to be honored by the league in as many weeks after goalkeeper Jennifer Pettigrew (Kearny, N.J.) and freshman Frankie Maier (Oradell, N.J.) landed on consecutive Weekly Honor Rolls.
Earlier in the week, Ritter led all players with five shots as SHU controlled the tempo in their BIG EAST opener against Providence, ultimately prevailing behind a game-winner from freshman Sarah Cortes (Paramus, N.J.) in the 74th minute.
Her first strike on Sunday came just over 22 minutes in when she was stationed perfectly at the back post to tap home a well-played ball from classmate Ashley Clarke (Paramus, N.J.) to break a scoreless deadlock. Butler would pull level in the 67th minute but after Clarke put the Pirates back on top, Ritter put the result out of doubt when she volleyed home a long ball from D'Yonna Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.) to move the score to 3-1 with less than seven minutes to play.
Her two goals gave her six for the season and she stands as Seton Hall's leading scorer with 13 points through 11 matches. With seven games remaining in the regular season, she needs just two more points and one more goal to match her single-season career-highs in each category; both set in 2010.
Though this is the first time she has earned the Player of the Week award, Ritter has twice been named to the Weekly Honor Roll in her career and is one of only two Pirates to be named to the All-BIG EAST Rookie Team (2010) and go on to garner All-BIG EAST honors (Third Team, 2011) later in her career.
Ritter and her teammates will try to keep the momentum going this week when they head to Chicago to face DePaul (10/3) before returning home to take on Creighton on Sunday, October 6 at 1:00 p.m.
BIG EAST Weekly Awards - September 30, 2013
BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week
Katie Ritter, Seton Hall, Sr.- Ritter scored the first and final goals of a 3-1 win against No. 25 Butler. She leads the Pirates with six goals and 13 points. Ritter registered a game-high five shots in a 1-0 victory against Providence.
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week
Georgia Kearney-Perry, St. John's, Jr. - Kearney-Perry led a unit that posted a pair of shutouts in BIG EAST play. The Red Storm defeated Xavier 2-0 and played a scoreless draw against Creighton. Kearney played all 200 combined minutes for the two matches and helped limit the two opponents to a combined 14 shots.
BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week
Amanda Engel, Marquette, So. - Engel posted a pair of shutouts and allowed only one goal in a 3-0 week, all on the road. The Golden Eagles defeated, in order, Miwaukee 5-0, Creighton 2-1 and Villanova 1-0. In the Villanova victory, she saved a penalty kick attempt.
BIG EAST Rookie of the Week
Liz Bartels, Marquette, Fr. - Bartels posted her first collegiate goal and assist in a 5-0 victory at Milwaukee. She scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win at Creighton in front of her hometown crowd.
BIG EAST Honor Roll
Emily Roll, Creighton, D, Fr.
Helped the Bluejay defense allow only two goals in 200 minutes. She scored the only CU goal in a 2-1 loss to Marquette. Creighton played a scoreless draw at St. John's.
Kylie Nordness, DePaul, D, So.
Helped the Blue Demon defense forge a 1-1 tie at No. 10/8 Georgetown. The Blue Demons also lost 1-0 at Providence. She played the entire 200 minutes.
Mary Kroening, Georgetown, D, Sr.
Helped Hoya defense to a 7-1 win over Xavier and a 1-1 tie against DePaul. She also scored a goal in each game.
Rachel Daly, St. John's, F, So.
Scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over Xavier. Red Storm were 1-0-1 for the week. Had five shots on goal in a 0-0 draw against Creighton.
Jami Kranich, Villanova, GK, Sr.
Made 12 saves in a 1-1 week. Had three stops in a 2-0 win against No. 25 Butler and nine saves in a 1-0 loss to Marquette.
