FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-50-05-06
Thursday, November 3, 2005

Four Elizabethtown College Field Hockey Players Named to All-Conference Teams; Mel Slessinger Named Co-Player of the Year; Sharon Sweger Named Coach of the Year 

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Four members of the Elizabethtown College field hockey team have been named to the All-Commonwealth Conference teams for the 2005 season, with one player on the First Team and three on the Second Team. Additionally, Etown senior forward Mel Slessinger (Westminster, MD/North Carroll) has been named the Commonwealth Conference’s 2005 Co-Player of the Year, and Blue Jay head coach Sharon Sweger has been named the 2005 Commonwealth Conference Coach of the Year.

Slessinger is the lone Blue Jay on the All-Commonwealth Conference First Team, and making the All-Commonwealth Conference Second Team for Etown are three juniors: midfielder Brandy Spriggle (Beaver Springs, PA/West Snyder), midfielder Laura Rinck (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove) and goaltender Kristen Callaghan (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy). This year marks the first time on the all-conference teams for all four players.

Slessinger has enjoyed a breakthrough year for the Blue Jays in 2005 as she leads the team in goals with 19 and in points with 44, and as she is second on the team in assists with six. She also has eight game-winning goals this season. Her 19 goals this season are the most by an Etown player since 1996, and the total ranks in a tie for seventh all-time at Elizabethtown. Her 44 points in one season rank ninth all-time in Etown history. In her career, Slessinger has tallied 30 goals, six assists and 66 points.

Spriggle emerged as a dangerous presence on both the offensive and defensive ends of the field for Etown this year. She is tied for second on the team in goals with four, and she ranks third on the team in assists with four and third in points with 12. She also ranks second on the team this year in defensive saves with three. Two of her goals in 2005 have been game-winners. In three seasons, Spriggle has compiled five goals, seven assists, 17 points and four defensive saves.

Rinck became the Blue Jays’ key playmaker in 2005, and she leads the team in assists with 10. That is the sixth-highest individual single season assist total all-time at Elizabethtown, as well as the most assists by a Blue Jay player since 2000. She also has three goals, two of which are game-winners, for a total of 16 points, and she has one defensive save this year. In her career, Rinck has totaled eight goals, 15 assists, 31 points, and one defensive save.

Callaghan has played every second of every game in the net for Etown in 2005, and the result has been just 29 goals allowed in 18 games and nearly 1,267 minutes for a goals against average of 1.60. It is the fewest goals allowed by Elizabethtown since the 2001 season. She has made 92 saves this year for a .760 save percentage. In her career, she has made 151 saves and allowed 46 goals for a career goals against average of 1.68 and a career save percentage of .766.

The Elizabethtown College field hockey team is ranked 17th in the nation and has a 13-5 overall record. The Blue Jays most recently fell to nationally third-ranked Messiah College 3-0 in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs yesterday, and Etown must now wait to see whether or not it receives one of the eight available at-large berths in the NCAA Division III tournament, the field of which will be announced by the NCAA by Monday, November 7.