Acosta provides winning message for Hoffman Estates softball
The Illinois softball website includes video blogs of all of this year's seniors.
Hoffman Estates senior Sam Acosta is one of them and in her two-minute blog session she thanks her parents for all their support over the years.
She also mentions how much she will miss her days as an Illini.
"Being around a group of 25-plus sisters is something I'll truly miss," she said. "Being a part of this program has blessed me with so many experiences and opportunities that I wouldn't change for the world."
This Saturday, will be another fun experience for Acosta.
Her high school coach, Lindsey Hamma, is bringing the current Hawks to watch the former Hoffman standout play against Maryland at 1 p.m.
"I'm really excited to have our girls see someone who starred on our Hoffman field four years ago and is now standing in the field as a Division I third baseman," Hamma said.
Acosta set foot in Champaign as a regular student four years ago. Her passion for the sport drove her to try out for the team in the first few weeks on campus and she made the roster.
"I'm so proud of Sam," said Hamma, who was a standout Illini shortstop in the early 2000s as a member of the program's first recruiting class. "It's pretty cool to see a girl I coached now playing on the same side of the infield where I played. I know how much hard work she put into this. She kind of bided her time and as a senior is a huge contributor. A lot of us have been able to follow her and we are looking forward to being at the game on Saturday."
And in quite a tribute to local talent, lining up on the same side of the infield with Acosta is shortstop Leigh Farina, who starred for hall of fame coach Jim Weaver at Fremd High School.
"As a fan of the Illini, it's a pretty cool thing to see both of them out there," Hamm said. " Not only two girls from the Mid-Suburban League, but specifically the West division. It's really neat to see that they were able to move on and be successful at the next level."
Acosta is the third leading hitter for the Illini with her .374 batting average. She is tied for the team lead with 7 stolen bases.
Farina leads the Illini (21-10, 2-1 in the Big Ten) with 6 homers while batting .338.
• Illinois Wesleyan junior third baseman Julie Josten (Fremd) was selected as a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Softball Players of the Week.
Josten batted .714 (5-for-7) with 4 runs, 1 double, 1 home run and a 1.286 slugging percentage in a doubleheader sweep of Monmouth (IL). She was 2-for-3 with 1 run in a 4-0 shutout in Game 1 and 3-for-4 with 3 runs, 1 double, 1 home run and 1 RBI in a 15-1 win in Game 2.
Josten, a nursing major is a three-year starter at third base.
As a freshman, the Titans advanced to the national tourney and took seventh place in Division III.
As as sophomore, Josten and the Titans finished fifth in the national postseason event.
They are currently ranked 14th in the nation this spring.
BG coaches corner
With Tom Mendoza becoming the head women's volleyball coach at South Carolina in January, there at now at least three Buffalo Grove graduates serving as Division I head coaches.
The others are women's basketball coach Allison Guth (Yale) and Valparaiso softball coach Kate Stake.
Mendoza became the 13th head coach in Gamecock volleyball's 45-year history on Jan. 3.
Mendoza came to Columbia after two seasons as head coach at High Point University, where he led the Panthers to 47 wins and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.
Mendoza's High Point team won 24 matches in 2017, the second-most in the program's Division I era. The team earned its first volleyball at-large bid in Big South Conference history.
In the postseason, Mendoza was named Big South Coach of the Year and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Southeast Region Coach of the Year for his efforts.
• Stake is in her fourth season as the Valparaiso softball coach. She led Valpo to the Horizon League Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in her second year in 2016.
In 2017, Stake guided the Crusaders to 28 victories and a third-place finish in the Horizon League standings. • • Guth took over at Yale as its 10th head coach in the 43-year history of the program.
In 2016-17, Guth led the Bulldogs to the team's best win total (15) since 2011-12.
This season, facing the No. 2 defense in the nation and a raucous home crowd at the Farris Center, Yale won the Women's Basketball Invitational championship game 54-50 win over Central Arkansas.
The Bulldogs became the first Ivy League team to win a national postseason women's basketball tournament
Yale (19-13, 8-6 Ivy League) heads into the offseason full of confidence under Guth, who helped Buffalo Grove to the IHSA Class AA girls basketball championship in 2000.
Men's basketball
North Texas sophomore Roosevelt Smart (St. Viator) scored a game-high 25 points as the Mean Green defeated San Fransisco 88-77 to clinch the CBI tournament championship in front of a season-high crowd of 6,291 at the Super Pit.
"I think, as a program, we relied upon Roosevelt all year long," UNT coach Grant McCasland said on the school's website. "He's a gunner, at times. He's competitive and tough, though. For him to finish the game like he did, even though he wasn't scoring like we want him to (from the field), he was getting to the free throw line."
Smart's 25 points gave him 742 for the season and put him past Kenneth Lyons' old mark of 728 for the program's all-time single-season high.
Smart's 3-pointer with 5:04 left first half tied the record, and it was also the team's 300th 3-pointer of the season. With 1:34 left in the first half, Smart's free throw broke the mark.
He also moved into third all-time in the CBI tournament for points scored with 138, as he averaged 23 points per game in the six-game run.
Smart also extended his program record for made 3-pointers and ended the season with 133 after his 3-for-6 performance.
Women's soccer
Illinis State senior Kelli Zickert (Buffalo Grove) has become the first American player to sign with the Swedish soccer team Domsjö IF.
"I couldn't be more excited to continue playing overseas!" Zickert said. "The process happened very quickly and I appreciate Brad and the coaching staff for working with me and helping me reach out and make connections."
Domsjö IF is a professional soccer club located in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, a small town with roughly 29,000 inhabitants and centrally located on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Zickert will start the season with the team on April 22.
"This is such a wonderful and well-deserved opportunity for Kelli and her family," said ISU head coach Brad Silvey. "She has always been extremely dedicated to the sport and will be an excellent professional and ambassador in Sweden. We look forward to cheering her on as she takes on this new chapter of her soccer career."
In her four-year career at ISU, Zickert played in every single contest of her career and scored 17 goals and tallied 17 assists for the Redbirds. She earned MVC Freshman of the Year in 2014, was an All-Conference First Team selection in 2016 and 2017 and was an MVC All-Tournament selection in 2016 and 2017. She has always wanted to continue her career and Domsjö IF has given her that opportunity.
"I am thankful to Redbird Soccer for preparing me to take the next step in my career and I am extremely excited to continue playing," said Zickert.
Women's lacrosse
North Central sophomore midfielder Christina Truver (Fremd) was selected as a women's lacrosse player of the week in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Truver, an English major, totaled 23 draw controls, 10 ground balls and 7 caused turnovers for the Cardinals who went 2-1 for the week. She finished with 6 ground balls, 3 draw controls and 2 caused turnovers in a 15-10 win over Hamline.
Truver totaled a school-record 13 draw controls at Colorado College with 7 draw controls, 4 ground balls and 4 caused turnovers in a 14-11 win over Albion. She also had 9 goals and 2 assists for the week.
Women's swimming
Wisconsin-Whitewater freshman Jessica Lenhart (Stevenson), a native of Buffalo Grove, earned a spot on the All-America podium with a school record-setting performance in the 200-yard butterfly at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.
After placing 12th in the preliminaries in a time of 2:04.55, Lenhart placed 11th in the finals with a mark of 2:03.82 to break the school record in the event and capture honorable mention All-America honors, becoming the program's seventh all-American in the last four years and ninth since 2013.
She also competed in the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle during the week. She placed 21st in the 100 fly in 56.57 seconds and 37th in the 500 free in a time of 5:16.34.
Men's volleyball
Three-time Midwest Conference defensive player of the week Matt Schiferl (Wheeling) leads the Vikings with 272 digs.
Women's tennis
Millikin's Madeline Delano (Buffalo Grove) teamed with Morgan Bettner to win 9-7 in No. 2 doubles as the Big Blue (11-8) defeated the University of Dubuque 7-2 in Decatur.
Harper alumni event
The Harper College Athletics Department is holding a special alumni coed soccer game on Saturday, April 14. The game will take place on Community Day, an all-day, family-friendly event celebrating Harper's 50th anniversary.
Free T-shirts will be distributed to the first 60 alumni who register online and check in at the soccer stadium. Check-in and T-shirt pickup begins at 12:30 p.m. The game will begin at 1 p.m. and there will be a free kids' soccer clinic following the game at approximately 2 p.m.
Information will be posted online if the game and kids' soccer clinic are canceled due to inclement weather.
Harper's new men's soccer coach Andre Watson will attend the event.
Any questions can be directed to dspiwak@harpercollege.edu
The All-Class Alumni Reunion will follow the game allowing fellow alumni, staff and faculty to experience the exciting changes at Harper.
Oakton Spring 5K
The Oakton Community College's Spring 5K Run/Walk will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, at the Lee Center Pavilion.
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is available at www.oakton.edu/5k, which also includes an online training program.
A training regimen can also be picked up in person at the Fitness Center at Oakton's Des Plaines campus. The event is sponsored by Oakton's Wellness Committee and generously funded by the Oakton Educational Foundation.
In 2017, approximately 200 people participated in the 5K and this will be the fourth year the college has hosted the event.
"We welcome all levels of athletes from the novice to the more advanced runners," Wellness Committee Co-Chair Lisa Bolinder said. "Our goal is to encourage the community to be more physically active. Engaging in an event like this can carry over for participants as they are more likely to continue with some type of physical fitness routine."
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