Shippensburg's Beth Long (left), Bloomsburg's Kelly Modes (center) and Mercyhurst's Taylor Hilinski (right)
Lock Haven, Pa. - Shippensburg’s Beth Long and Bloomsburg’s Kelly Modes are this week’s PSAC East Co-Players of the Week while Mercyhurst’s Taylor Hilinski is the PSAC West Player of the Week. The trio led their teams to a combined 6-0-1 record over the past week. For Long, this is her second weekly honor in the last three weeks, while Modes and Hilinski are each their respective schools’ first weekly honorees of the season.
PSAC East Co-Player of the Week
Beth Long, Shippensburg
Graduate Student, Goalkeeper
Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga
Long earns her second PSAC East Player of the Week award this year and the second in the last three weeks, sharing the honor this week with Bloomsburg’s Kelly Modes. Long’s play between the pipes helped the Lady Raiders to a 3-0 record last week, during which she allowed just one goal in 270 minutes of play for a 0.33 goals against average while making 19 saves. She started the week by making five saves in a 3-0 shutout of Mansfield last Tuesday and then made two saves in another shutout of Seton Hill, this one by a 6-0 score on Thursday. With that shutout, she broke the Shippensburg school record for most shutouts in a career with 23.5. She saved her best for last, however, as on Saturday, she made 12 saves, including 10 in the first half, and allowed just one goal as the Lady Raiders upset PSAC West leader and the Atlantic Region’s top-ranked team in California by a 2-1 score. Long is now just 52 saves short of breaking the school record for career saves.
PSAC East Co-Player of the Week
Kelly Modes, Bloomsburg
Senior, Midfielder
Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy
Modes accounted for all of Bloomsburg’s scoring in a 1-0-1 week for the Huskies, scoring four goals on the week. She scored both goals in the Huskies’ 2-1 win over East Stroudsburg last Tuesday, scoring goals on her only two shots of the game. She netted her first tally in just the seventh minute of the game and then put home the game winner in the 75th minute when her corner kick went directly into the goal. Against Edinboro on Saturday, she scored two more goals, this time on four shots, in a 2-2 tie with the Fighting Scots.
PSAC West Player of the Week
Taylor Hilinski, Mercyhurst
Senior, Forward
Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek
Hilinski scored two goals, including one game-winner, to help lead Mercyhurst to a 2-0 week with a PSAC West win over Slippery Rock and a non-conference win over West Virginia Wesleyan. In a 2-1 win over Slippery Rock last Wednesday, Hilinski headed in the rebound of Heather Donovan’s shot in the 83rd minute for the game-winner, which improved the Lakers to 5-1-1 in the PSAC West with sole possession of second place halfway through conference play. She also knocked in the first goal of the game off a crossing pass from Molly Marsh in the Lakers’ 2-1 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday. With that goal, she moving into seventh place in school history with 35 goals.