Deetjen helps collegiate lacrosse expand in Minnesota
When she was at Schaumburg High School, Taylor Deetjen played lacrosse and volleyball.
"She was an awesome athlete," recalls Saxons girls volleyball coach Jeanette Pancratz. "She was a great leader, very enthusiastic and she exemplified everything our program stood for."
Deetjen now gets the chance to put her leadership skills to use on the collegiate level.
Two months after the University of Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.) announced the addition of women's lacrosse as a varsity sport, the school named Deetjen the program's first head coach.
"I know Taylor will be an outstanding leader in that program," Pancratz said. "She will develop into an outstanding college coach."
Deetjen was most recently the head coach of the Woodbury (Minn.) High School varsity girls program.
Before assuming that role in 2013, Deetjen was an assistant varsity coach and head junior varsity coach at Mounds View High School for three years while also playing for the Bethel University club team.
As a captain for Bethel, Deetjen was responsible for scheduling games and representing her team at North Central Women's Lacrosse League meetings.
At the same time, she led the Royals squad in scoring.
Deetjen was one of 17 players in the 24-team conference, which included Iowa State, North Dakota State and Minnesota-Duluth, who scored at least 20 goals in 2012.
In addition to her coaching position at Woodbury, Deetjen also worked as a full-time physical education teacher for the Anoka-Hennepin School District.
Deetjen was a lacrosse coach and instructor for players ranging from the beginner level to college-bound while she was in Schaumburg.
"To be able to use my experience, both as a coach and a player, at the collegiate level is an incredible opportunity," Deetjen said on the University of Northwestern website. "The most exciting part of this position is that I get to use my faith in preparing collegiate student-athletes not only on the field, but the game of life.
"I know that building a program begins with passion, hard work, and motivation. I'm proud to have seen the teams that I've been a part of improve tremendously and am excited to get started in my new role at Northwestern."
Deetjen officially began her duties on Aug. 1.
She is busy recruiting the university's first team, which will play its inaugural season in the spring of 2016.
Women's lacrosse will be the 19th varsity sport that the University of Northwestern offers.
The Eagles program will be only the second varsity-level team for a postsecondary institution in the state of Minnesota.
UNW will practice and play in the revamped Reynolds Field complex, an $11 million project that includes new artificially turfed fields with lights and locker rooms in addition to new spaces for an athletic training room, restroom facilities and a concessions stand.
Football
Carthage sophmore quarterback Nicholas Anzelmo (Schaumburg) completed 25-of-40 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown to help lead the Red Men to their first victory of the year, 21-14, over Lakeland.
Women's soccer
DePaul freshman Alexa Ben (Schaumburg) and senior teammate Sarah Gorden (Elk Grove) played the setup role to perfection, with Ben assisting on 2 goals and Gorden assisting the team's final score for a 3-1 victory against Cincinnati at Wish Field. The Blue Demons' 8-0-1 start marks a record for the longest undefeated streak in the program's history.
Ben leads DePaul with 6 assists in her 9 games this season. Gorden's assist was the first of her collegiate career.
• Augustana sophomore midfielder Jessa Rizzo (Fremd) was the offensive "Player of the Week" in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Rizzo hit the game winner in victories over Dubuque and Principia. She beat the clock when she lofted a goal over the outstretched arms of the Dubuque goalkeeper with just 8 seconds left in the second overtime for the 1-0 victory.
She scored the first goal of the game in the 3-0 win at Principia and added an assist and another goal. Rizzo finished the week with 3 goals and an assist and she has a team-leading 6 goals with 2 assists for 14 total points. She also leads the Vikings in shots attempted with 33, of which 14 were on goal.
Augustana is currently 5-1.
Men's soccer
Butler freshman starting midfielder Eric Leonard (Fremd) scored the first goal of his collegiate career in Butler's 2-1 overtime victory over visiting Evansville.
Leonard's goal came at the 26-minute mark on a fast break from 10 yards out. Leonard has started and played every minute of the last five games for the Bulldogs (4-2-3).
Women's cross county
Illinois senior Colette Falsey (Schaumburg) finished third in the 5,000 meters in a personal best time of 17:37 in the Illinis State Invite. Illinois senior Britten Petrey (Schaumburg) finished 12th in a personal best 18:02 and Illinois sophomore Hanna Winter (St. Viator) was 14th in a personal-best 18:08 helping lead the Illini to first place.
• Notre Dame senior Karen Lesiewicz (Schaumburg) finished fourth in the 5,000 meters with a personal best time of 17:45 to help the Irish win the National Catholic Invite in South Bend.
• North Central senior Nora Ferguson (Schaumburg) finished fourth in the 5,000 meters with a personal best time of 18:36 at Olivet Nazarene.
• Augustana senior Becca Sund (Palatine) finished 16th as the Vikings placed fifth in the 35-team Brissman-Lundeen Cross Country Invitational at Saukie Golf Course. Sund covered Saukie's six kilometers in 22:48.6.
Men's cross country
Augustana junior Ethan Koch (Prospect) finished sixth in the 8,000 meters with a personal best time of 25:34 at Olivet Nazarene.
Basketball
The Rolling Meadows Boys and Girls Feeder Programs will be holding tryouts on Sunday, Oct. 12 and Sunday, Oct 19.
On each date, seventh and eighth grade girls tryouts will be 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., fifth and sixth graders from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. sixth-grade boys from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and seventh to eighth grade boys from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Rolling Meadows High School.
Contact Greg King at (847) 590-9285 for the girls program and Pat Nolan at (312) 636-3238 for the boys program with any questions.
• The Prospect Junior Knights Boy's Feeder will hold tryouts on Sunday, Oct. 19 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Boys currently enrolled in sixth, seventh or eighth grade are eligible to participate. For further information you can visit their website at www.JuniorKnights.com.
Rugby
The Arlington Stallions completed a turnaround against an accomplished opponent with a solid 51-25 defeat of the Side Irish Academy at the Dan Ryan Woods Forest Preserve.
"This was a different team that came down here two weeks ago," said new assistant coach Nick Tojaga.
On that day, the Stallions narrowly lost to the Irish 12-10.
"Co-Man-of-the-Match Alex Gountanis (Prospect) got our back line moving with his speed and consistent breaking of the first tackle," Tojaga said. "After that, our ballhandling and speed took over."
Overall, the Stallions scored nine tries, three each by Co-Man-of-the-Match Dave Woloch (Prospect) and Christos Analitis, two by speedy flanker Colin Farmer (Notre Dame High School) and one by Nate Campbell (Hersey), who scored his first try as a high-school player.
Eric Washer (Buffalo Grove) added three conversions to complete the Stallions biggest scoring day of the fall season.
"All of our players are putting in great effort in our training sessions and it's clear that it's paying off," said head coach Paul Bergman. "We challenge them to improve as individuals each week, and that carries over to the team performance."
The Stallions have taken player and team development to a different level with the establishment this summer of the Stallions Leadership Academy.
The academy consists of meetings taking place every six weeks to foster growth beyond the physical tools necessary to play the game.
So far, the meetings have been led by former Stallions captains and current US National Team Manager Tristan Lewis. The coaching staff is excited by the availability of former U.S. National Team captain Mark Sawicki to present at the Oct. 22 Academy meeting.
• The current Rugby World Champion New Zealand All Blacks will be in Chicago on Nov. 1 to play the USA Men's National Rugby team at Soldier Field.
• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.