Jacobs grad Melick makes Big Ten all-freshman team

Noah Melick racked up a host of accolades on the soccer pitch for Jacobs High School, earning two Daily Herald all-area captain honors, plus being named the Illinois High School Soccer Association's player of the year last year.

Melick hasn't slowed down one bit at the college level, logging a fantastic freshman season at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Melick was one of three Badger newcomers to be named to the all-Big Ten Conference freshman team.

The Algonquin native finished the season with a team-best 6 goals to go with 2 assists for 14 total points, which ranked second on the squad. Melick took 27 shots with 16 being on-goal. He also led the Badgers with 4 game-winning goals.

Melick had a season-high 5 points against Rutgers in October with 2 goals and an assist, which earned him Big Ten player of the week honors.

Earlier in the season, the Wisconsin athletics website dubbed Melick "Magical Melick" after he scored the golden goal in double overtime to give Wisconsin a 2-1 conference win against Northwestern in a game that went on for 102 minutes. Here is an excerpt of the game-winner from the website's game summary.

"It was all magical Melick from there," the website noted. "The freshman received a fantastic ball from sophomore Zach Klancnik and hammered it home to the upper-ninety for the Wisconsin winner. It is Melick's third game-winner of the season."

Wisconsin finished the season with a 10-6-2 mark and advanced to the Big Ten tournament semifinals where it dropped a 1-0 game to Michigan.

Frazier at Wheaton: Batavia alum Hannah Frazier, now a junior forward on the Wheaton College women's basketball team, recently earned College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin player of the week accolades.

Frazier won the honor for a second period in a row, having previously won it on Dec. 17. She now is a five-time recipient of the player of the week award, also earning the recognition on Jan. 8, Jan. 15 and Feb. 2 of 2018.

Frazier averaged 25.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for Wheaton during the most recent award period, helping lead the Thunder to a pair of wins. Frazier shot 64.3 percent from the field (18 of 28), including 66.7 percent from the 3-point line (4-for-6). She was named the tournament MVP at the Bluffton University McDonald's Holiday Tournament, leading Wheaton to wins against Wilmington and Bluffton.

Frazier scored a career-high 36 points in Wheaton's 67-47 win against Bluffton in the championship game. Her scoring output against the Beavers is tied for the 22nd-highest point total in NCAA Division III this season and the highest single-game scoring total by a CCIW player this year.

She shot 81.3 percent (13-for-16) from the field against the Beavers, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range. She added 6 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. Frazier scored 16 of Wheaton's 18 points in the third quarter and scored 15 points against Wilmington in the tournament's opening game, adding 4 blocked shots and 3 steals.

Krutwig at Loyola: Keeping on the Jacobs alumni train, former Golden Eagles basketball standout Cameron Krutwig is now a sophomore center on the Loyola-Chicago men's basketball team. Krutwig played a key role in Loyola's run to the NCAA national semifinals last season.

Through early week, Krutwig was second on the team in scoring at 13.5 points per contest and was leading the team in rebounding at 7.5 boards a game.

Krutwig, averaging 27 minutes of playing time, was shooting a fabulous .679 from the field (74-for-109). He also had 10 steals.

Krutwig, the Missouri Valley Conference freshman of the year last season, scored a team-high 17 points and had 6 rebounds in the NCAA semifinals against Michigan in San Antonio.

Loyola was 7-6 through its first 13 games.

Cooper at LSU: Elgin High School graduate Courtese Cooper went from helping lead Triton College to a junior-college national title last season to being signed by Division I LSU.

Cooper is a redshirt sophomore this season for the Tigers, however, he is a fully involved member of the team as LSU Senior Associate Sports Communications Director C. Kent Lowe tells Off at College.

"Courtese is definitely redshirting this year, but has been involved in all practices and is working out with our assistant coaches," he said. "It look like he can do a lot of things. He's been very good helping with scout teams and such, and travels to all the games."

The 6-8 Cooper helped Triton to the NJCAA Division II national crown last season where he averaged 10.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while blocking 103 shots. Cooper shot 55 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.

Cooper is an interdisciplinary studies major at LSU and will have 3 years of eligibility remaining.

Off at College wants your help: Send information and/or statistics on Fox Valley-area athletes playing collegiately to Mike Miazga at mjm890@gmail.com.