Mahoney excels on, off the field at Butler

After helping Butler’s women’s soccer team to its winningest season since 2002, sophomore Kelly Mahoney was also winning with off-the-field awards.

The former Buffalo Grove standout was voted second-team academic all-district by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Mahoney is one of 22 players in District 5 to be honored. District 5 covers schools in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan.

It is the third recent honor for the Butler sophomore, who was also named second team all-conference in the Atlantic 10.

Mahoney was part of Butler’s back line that yielded only 15 goals this season.

Butler had a 0.67 goals-against average with 11 shutouts. The sophomore defender was also a threat to score, finding the net four times. She scored key goals to help Butler to victories over Dayton, Xavier and St. Bonaventure this season.

Butler finished 12-5-4 this season and advanced to the semifinal of the A-10 tournament. Butler’s 12 wins were the most since the 2002 team went 15-6. The Bulldogs also set a new mark for fewest losses in program history.

Baseball

Wheeling senior first baseman-designated hitter Ian Gilliam has signed a letter of intent to play for coach Luke Cassis at Trinity International University in Deerfield. Gilliam is coming off a

strong summer where he led the Wildcats in hitting and on-base percentage.

“He is a highly-respected senior student-athlete at Wheeling because of his strong character, leadership qualities and athletic ability,” said Wheeling’s new baseball coach Jason Wieder. “Those are three qualities I know Luke really liked about Ian.”

Men’s soccer

North Central’s Jake Musczcynski (Rolling Meadows) was named to the second team of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin all-conference team.

Despite playing in only five games in conference play, Muszczynski earned All-CCIW recognition for the second consecutive season. He led the Cardinals in every major statistical category including goals (11), assists (4), points (26), and shots (48).

Women’s volleyball

DePauw freshman Lauren Falotico (St. Viator) made quite an impact in her first season, registering 204 kills and 293 digs for the nationally-ranked team from the Great Lakes Division III conference.

Ÿ Augustana sophomore outside hitter Emily Leazer (St. Viator) was named to the 2012 All-CCIW second team Capital One Academic All-District team.

Leazer finished among the nation’s leaders in aces and points per set and helped the Vikings achieve a 20-11 record this season, the program’s best since 2008.

She set a new school record with an average of 0.91 service aces per set this season, bettering the previous standard of 0.63 set by Mandy Murray in 2001.

As of the most recent NCAA Division III statistical release, Leazer was fifth in the nation in that category and 13th nationally in points per set at 4.79. She also tied the school record with nine aces in a match against Alverno on September 14. In addition, she led the Vikings in kills with 397 and solo blocks with 16 and was second with 317 digs. Her 2012 average of 3.61 kills per set is fifth-best in school history.

Football

Millikin senior quarterback Matt Holmes (Wheeling) was 23-of-38 passing for 275 yards and 5 touchdowns in his last game for the Big Blue, which defeated visiting Carthage 55-13 in Decatur.

Holmes also rushed for 87 yards on 15 carries and caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from fellow senior Erik Tobey on a double-reverse pass play.

Holmes’ 5 touchdown passes tied a Millikin record.

Ÿ After 10 games, Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (Rolling Meadows) has completed 287-of-466 passes for 3,374 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Ohio Valley Conference champion. Garoppolo has also rushed for 178 yards.

Ÿ Wisconsin-Whitewater junior linebacker Ryan Cortez (Palatine) was a Walmart “Player of the Week” with his performance during the Warhawks’ 19-10 win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Cortez led both teams with 12 tackles (7 solo, 5 assists). He added 1 tackle for a loss (2 yards), 1 quarterback sack (2 yards) and one pass broken up.

Cortez helped limit the Blugolds to 93 yards rushing on 36 attempts.

Ÿ MIT sophomore running back Justin Wallace (Fremd) led his team in rushing and touchdowns for the second straight year and was voted first team of the New England Football Conference.

Wallace was also named to the Capital One District 1 All Academic Team.

There are eight districts in the country and Wallace is now on the ballot for the Capital One Academic All American team, which will be announced later this month. He is majoring in Aerospace Engineering.

Ÿ Carroll senior linebacker Steve Korrus (Palatine) and sophomore linebacker Michael Sahli (Fremd) started all 10 games for the 8-2 Pioneers, who were also the third-ranked defense in Division 3. Korrus led Carroll in tackles and Sahli was second in tackles.

Girls cross country

Hope junior Sam Pedersen (Prospect) achieved All-MIAA first team honors and her team placed second at conference championships behind rival Calvin.

Ÿ Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com or FAX to (847) 427-1173.