Wednesday, November 12, 2014

INW Best XI - Week 11: Idaho State's Ellsworth, Rocky Mountain's Clancy post big playoff performances in Montana

Ultimately, Amanda Ellsworth and Idaho State came up just shy as the fifth seed of winning the Big Sky Conference tournament, but the star striker scored three huge goals in leading the Bengals to a pair of upset victories, including a semifinal win against the conference unbeaten and host University of Montana in Missoula. Further east in Billings, Rocky Mountain College was playing host to the NAIA Unaffiliated Group tournament which both sides reached the final of. Leading the men to the championship was midfielder Jack Clancy, who led them to an overtime win in the first round, a one-goal victory in the semifinals and tallied the lone goal in the championship game against rival Great Falls, who swept them during an unbeaten conference campaign.

For games November 3-9

BEST OF THE INLAND NORTHWEST XI - WOMEN

D - Martha Heaps (Spokane, WA) - Concordia University :: Scored the opening goal in the team's 3-1 victory over Corban in the Cascade Conference semifinals.

D - Allison Jordan (Spokane, WA) - New Mexico Highlands University :: Helped lead New Mexico Highlands to a shutout win, guiding them to a 1-0 victory over Fort Lewis, a program they had not beaten since 2001, in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament Wednesday. They then traveled to face ninth-ranked Colorado School of Mines in the RMAC Semifinals, but came up short in a narrow 1-0 loss to the eventual champions, who won the title for the fourth consecutive year.

D - Malia Maack (Spokane, WA) - New Mexico Highlands University :: Helped lead New Mexico Highlands to a shutout win, guiding them to a 1-0 victory over Fort Lewis, a program they had not beaten since 2001, in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament Wednesday. They then traveled to face ninth-ranked Colorado School of Mines in the RMAC Semifinals, but came up short in a narrow 1-0 loss, who won the title for the fourth consecutive year.

D - Tiara Pajimola (Spokane, WA) - Whitworth University :: The striker-turned-defender played in the back yet again and helped keep the game scoreless before driving forward with the ball in the final minutes to score the game-winner.

D - Serena Robertson (Richland, WA) - CC Spokane :: Helped lead the Sasquatch in a shutout performance against the NWAC's best offensive team in earning a 1-0 quarterfinal victory against Highline College.

M - Summer Norquist (Boise, ID) - University of Redlands :: Helped guide the team to a 1-0 win over top-seeded team int eh SCIAC tournament and then headed in the equalizer en route to winning the title in a shootout against second-seeded Cal Lutheran.

M/F - Savannah Laursen (Boise, ID) - University of Redlands :: Helped guide the team to a 1-0 win over top-seeded team int eh SCIAC tournament and then set up the equalizer en route to winning the title in a shootout against second-seeded Cal Lutheran.

F - Ashley Ames (Spokane, WA) - Concordia University :: Scored the second goal of the game and then helped set up the third in a 3-1 victory over Corban in the Cascade Conference semifinals.

INW WOMEN'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK :: F - Amanda Ellsworth - Idaho State University :: Broke the career goal and point records with the opening goal and then provided the 2-1 game-winner with a header on a corner in overtime for the win against Northern Colorado in the First Round of the Big Sky playoffs. She then guided the Bengals in a comeback win over the unbeaten host Grizzlies, netting her third of the tournament to even the score en route to a 2-1 victory. She was also a threat in the championship game, but Northern Arizona prevailed to move onto the NCAA tournament. (Roseville, CA)

F - Julia Moravec (Spokane, WA) - Seattle University :: Led the team in a pair of stunning tournament wins, tallying a goal and assist in a 7-0 drubbing of New Mexico State in the semifinals and scored the opening two goals against second-seeded UM-Kansas City in a 5-0 stunner after the two played to a 1-1 draw two weeks ago.

F - Alexa Pyette (Great Falls, MT) - Carroll College :: Set up the opening goal and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the first 20 minutes of the match en route to a 3-1 victory over Presentation College in the first round of the NAIA Unaffiliated Group tournament.

BEST OF THE INLAND NORTHWEST XI - MEN

G - Ryan Foo - Northwest Nazarene University :: The back-up made four saves in his first start, second appearance, of the season to collect the clean sheet against their rivals to close out the season with a 3-0 win against MSU-Billings.  (San Jose, CA)

G - Mitchell Markovetz (Boise, ID) - North Idaho College :: Made five saves, including several key stops in the late stages of the game, to send the Cardinals to the NWAC Final Four with a 2-0 victory over Peninsula College, winners of the league three of the last four years.

D - Brady Ulen (Post Falls, ID) - North Idaho College :: Dominant aerial presence helped hand two-time reigning champion Peninsula just their second shutout of the season and served the ball that created the opening goal in the 2-0 NWAC quarterfinal victory.

INW MEN'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK :: M - Jack Clancy - Rocky Mountain College :: Had a great NAIA Unaffiliated Group tournament performance, starting with the second go-ahead goal and the overtime game-winner in a 3-2 decision against Carroll College in the first round. After advancing past Jamestown in the semifinals he scored the game-winning strike to down top-seeded Great Falls, who were unbeaten in the conference, for the NAIA Unaffiliated Group championship. (Westmeath, Ireland)

M - Alec Johnson (Coeur d'Alene, ID) - North Idaho College :: Created both goals in leading the Cardinals to a 2-0 NWAC quarterfinal victory over reigning two-time champion Peninsula College, handing them just their second shutout of the season.

M - Tanner Wolff (Billings, MT) - Rocky Mountain College :: Trailing by two at halftime, he scored three consecutive goals to put the fourth-seeded hosts on top in the first 20 minutes of the second half en route to a 4-3 victory over second-seeded Jamestown in the NAIA Unaffiliated Group tournament.

F - Joseph Bolin (Payette, ID) - College of Idaho :: Set up the opening goal before scoring three himself in a 7-2 trouncing of playoff-bound Corban.

F - Danny Delgadillo - University of Great Falls :: Tallied a hat-trick in the first half as the Argos cruised to a 5-0 semifinal win over Presentation College in the NAIA Unaffiliated Group tournament. (Long Beach, CA)

F - Mike Ramos (Spokane, WA) - Whitworth University :: Set up the opening two goals as Whitworth blanked Whitman 3-0 to clinch the Northwest Conference title.

F - Fredy Razo - Northwest Nazarene University :: With a number of starters resting in advance of the postseason, he led the Crusaders to a 3-0 win with a dominant performance, scoring all three goals. (Irvine, CA)

F - Arturo Valle - Carroll College :: Scored twice to pull the Saints, winless in conference play, even with the eventual tournament champions in a narrow 3-2 overtime loss against Rocky Mountain College. (Porta Vallarta, Mexico)

««« Action Photos: Gerald Barnhart »»»

###