ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced their Athlete of the Week award winners Tuesday in the sports of football, volleyball, and men's and women's soccer. The awards are nominated by UMAC coaches and athletics communications staff and selected each week by the latter group.
FOOTBALL OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Max Lynch, Freshman, Greenville Panthers
Pana, Ill. / Pana
- Lynch completed 75% of his passes for 310 yards and 5 Passing Touchdowns. He was also Greenville's second leading rusher with 26 yards rushing.
FOOTBALL DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Jayden Goodwin, Junior, Northwestern Eagles
New Richmond, Wis. / Saint Croix Central
- Goodwin's strong season continued Saturday when the junior jumped a Martin Luther route and took the interception 35 yards to the house for a touchdown to put the game out of reach. He also logged 5 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks and 1 QB hurry.
FOOTBALL SPECIAL TEAMS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Luke Malamisuro, Senior, Northwestern Eagles
Cambridge Isanti, Minn. / Cambridge Isanti
- Malamisuro weaved through Martin Luther's punt unit on his way to a 48-yard punt return touchdown that sparked a big third quarter for UNW. It was his second punt return TD of the season and the fourth return TD of his career. The senior also returned two kicks for 38 yards.
VOLLEYBALL OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Britta Josephson, Sophomore, Northland LumberJills
Mellen, Wis. / Mellen
- Josephson was a big part of Northland winning its first match of the season. Offensively, she had her best match of the season against Crown with 19 kills, hitting .222 and three service aces. On the week she totaled 27 kills, 35 digs, four service aces, and one block.
VOLLEYBALL SETTER OF THE WEEK
Grace Brigson, Senior, North Central Rams
West Salem, Wis. / West Salem
- Brigson totaled 41 set assists (10.25 per set), 6 digs, 1 kills, and 1 block assist against BLC.
VOLLEYBALL DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Marley Aune, Junior, Northwestern Eagles
New Brighton, Minn. / Avail Academy
- Aune led the team defensively in the front row to three sweeps against Augsburg, Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran, totaling 16 blocks and averaging 1.77 blocks per set. Against Martin Luther, Aune had 7 blocks and 7 kills, hitting .462 with 2 digs and 1 ace. On the week, along with her 16 blocks, Aune hit .410 with 20 kills, 4 digs, and 1 ace. She leads the UMAC in blocks (110) and blocks per set (1.39) by a wide margin, and is third in all of NCAA Division III in blocks per set.
MEN'S SOCCER OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Jake Kidd, Junior, UW-Superior Yellowjackets
Superior, Wis. / Superior
- Kidd continues to pace the Yellowjackets' offensive efforts. He posted hat tricks in both matches versus Northland and Crown, giving him 20 goals on the season. Individually this mark ranks Kidd in the top ten of all NCAA Division III, while UW-Superior leads the nation in total goals scored in 2024.
MEN'S SOCCER DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Tim DeLoye, Senior, Northwestern Eagles
Wausau, Wis. / Wausau West
- DeLoye controlled the back line for Northwestern, while also finding the back of the net this week in a pair of wins. DeLoye opened the scoring for the Eagles off a corner kick on Senior night against Northland for his second goal of the season. Along with his goal, DeLoye shut down most shot attempts this week allowing only 1 goal and 7 total shots across both games.
WOMEN'S SOCCER OFFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Haley Mersberger, Junior, Northwestern Eagles
Kiel, Wis. / Elkhart Lake Glenbeulah
- Mersberger tallied 5 goals total this week for the Eagles in their two conference wins. In the win against Martin Luther, Mersberger was recognized as the all-time leading scorer in UNW history and then scored 3 goals on 10 shots taken. Friday, Mersberger scored both of her shots on goal against North Central. Mersberger was efficient as she scored all 5 goals in just 123 minutes.
WOMEN'S SOCCER DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Rachel Fuller, Sophomore, Crown Polars
Becker, Minn. / Becker
- Fuller totaled 22 saves across two contests with a save percentage of 0.917.
The UMAC is an NCAA Division III member comprised of eight full-time member schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin: Bethany Lutheran College, Crown College, Martin Luther College, North Central University, Northland College, University of Minnesota Morris, University of Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin-Superior.
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