For the second time in her career, Duke goalie EJ Proctor earned the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week award.
Proctor earned her most recent honor Oct. 11 after leading the Blue Devils to a 1-0 shutout of Wake Forest and a 3-1 win against No. 24-ranked N.C. State. The win against N.C. State included Proctor stopping a penalty kick.
“She is really rounding into form … as we go down the stretch of the ACC,” Duke coach Robbie Church said of Proctor in The Chronicle.
Proctor, who came out publicly earlier this season, continued her strong play Sunday by recording her seventh shutout of the season in No. 4-ranked Duke’s 1-0 win against No. 7 Virginia.
Duke (11-2-2, 6-0-1 ACC) has won five straight games. The Blue Devils possess a one-game lead over Notre Dame (5-1-1 ACC) for first place in the conference standings with three games remaining.
Proctor, a junior, owns 18 career shutouts, which ranks fourth in Duke history.
When Proctor was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week last week, she shared the honor with Syracuse’s Courtney Brosnan. Last year on Sept. 1, Proctor earned the award outright on her way to leading Duke to the national championship game.
“[With] the ACC tournament coming up and the NCAA tournament coming up, this is when you want your [team] playing at its peak,” Church said. “We still have some growth in us. I don’t think overall we’ve peaked, and it’s exciting. This is a great time of year.”
Names in bold are people that have announced publicly they identify as LGBT.
Division I
Kendall Covington (junior, Penn women’s volleyball) contributed seven kills to the Quakers’ (8-11, 3-4 Ivy) win Saturday against Brown. Penn went 1-3 the last two weeks.
Tim Cox (senior, Yale men’s cross country) finished sixth on the team and 169th overall in the New England Championships on Oct. 8 in 27:30.8 for 8 kilometers. He was not listed in the results from the Oct. 15 race.
Mason Darrow (senior, Princeton football) helped the Tigers (4-1) to wins against Georgetown and Brown the last two weeks. He started at center against Georgetown, but he did not play against Brown. Darrow declined to comment on why he did not play against Brown.
Hannah Griffiths Boston (junior, Portland women’s soccer) started, attempted two shots, and had an assist in the Pilots’ 2-1 win against Gonzaga on Oct. 8. Griffiths Boston, the team’s leading scorer, came off the bench in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to BYU.
Liam Huffman (senior, George Washington men’s swimming) finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle (4:51.54) in a dual meet with Rider on Oct. 8. He also took sixth in the 1,000 freestyle (10:17.16).
Nick Jessee (senior, St. Louis men’s swimming) helped the 400-yard freestyle relay take sixth and the 200 freestyle relay finish seventh at the Show-Me Showdown on Oct. 7, when his best individual finish was 18th in the 200 freestyle (1:44.38).
Sonia Johnson (junior, DePaul women’s soccer) saw the Blue Demons’ (8-5-2, 5-1 Big East) seven-game win streak end Saturday with a 1-0 loss to St. John’s. They reached the school-record seven-game win streak with wins over Butler and Villanova. Johnson did not play the last two weeks.
Alex Obendorf (junior, West Virginia men’s diving) won the 3-meter springboard and took second on 1-meter springboard at the season-opening West Virginia State Games on Oct. 7-8. He was ineligible to compete Saturday.
G Ryan (junior, Michigan women’s swimming) took second in the 800-yard freestyle (7:49.40), second in the 1,000 freestyle (10:05.13), fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:49.39), fifth in the 200 butterfly (2:02.49), and helped the 400 freestyle relay take third in a dual meet with Louisville on Oct. 7-8. Ryan did not compete at the SMU Classic on Friday and Saturday because teams were limited to entering eight swimmers.
Cavender Salvadori (redshirt junior, William & Mary men’s cross country) finished 107th overall and ninth on his team in 26:48 at the 5.2-mile Penn State Open on Friday, and the Tribe finished seventh of 16 teams.
Jack Thorne (redshirt freshman, Northwestern men’s swimming) opened his season Friday with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (52.04 seconds) in a dual meet with Eastern Michigan.
Kenzie Tillitt (senior, Colorado women’s soccer) played as a reserve in all three games as the Buffaloes (12-3, 6-0 Pac-12) went 3-0 the last two weeks. She played about 23 minutes total in the three games. No. 23-ranked Colorado has won 10 straight and sits alone in first place in the Pac-12
Jennifer Azzi (head coach, San Francisco women’s basketball) and Blair Hardiek (assistant coach, San Francisco women’s basketball) both resigned Sept. 15. Hardiek is pregnant with the couple’s son, which is due in February. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Though Azzi’s decision to come out caused some blowback in the Catholic community, Azzi had the support of USF President Paul Fitzgerald and athletic director Scott Sidwell. She said they have been supportive of this week’s decision as well.”
James Finley (head coach, Seattle women’s volleyball) guided the Redhawks (10-10, 3-4 WAC) to a 1-2 record the last two weeks.
Jessica Smith (assistant coach, Kansas State women’s soccer) saw her team lose 2-0 at Texas in a nonconference game Oct. 7. The Wildcats (4-7-3 overall) are playing their inaugural season and will begin Big 12 play in 2017.
Division II
Austin Olivares (senior, Lindenwood men’s swimming) missed the season-opening Show-Me Showdown after surgery for a kidney stone.
Noah Ratliff (sophomore, Mercyhurst men’s water polo) helped the Lakers go 2-1 the last two weeks. On Saturday, he scored two goals — once in a 14-13 overtime loss to Connecticut College and once in a 16-11 win against Penn State-Behrend.
Javier Ruisanchez (Gannon men’s swimming) said he left Gannon, and he is now training with his club swimming team.
Division III
Chloe Anderson (junior, UC Santa Cruz women’s volleyball) played in three of four matches the last two weeks as the Banana Slugs (8-12 overall) went 2-2. Anderson provided a kill in an Oct. 7 loss to La Verne.
Alec Donovan (redshirt freshman, Centenary men’s cross country) finished in 34:47 for fourth on his team and 215th overall of 251 runners during the 8-kilometer DeSales Invitational on Oct. 8.
Michael Drougas (junior, Oberlin men’s tennis) did not compete throughout the three fall tournaments. Oberlin coach Eric Ishida said in an email, “Michael is still on the team, he elected to pursue other interests this fall and not compete in the individual season. We look for Michael to be back on the courts with the team starting in February.”
Jason Hadley (sophomore, Mount Union men’s cross country) did not compete at the Oberlin Rumble on Oct. 15. Josh Thorne (sophomore, Mount Union men’s cross country) finished 84th at the Oberlin Rumble in 26:31 for 8 kilometers.
Sam Johnson (freshman, Whittier men’s soccer) came off the bench to play in all four games for the Poets (3-10-1 overall) as they went 0-3-1 the last two weeks. Johnson attempted a shot in the Oct. 12 game Whittier tied with Pomona-Pitzer, and he received a yellow card in the Oct. 5 loss to Redlands.
Michael Martin (sophomore, Wilson men’s soccer) started all four games in goal the last two weeks for the Phoenix (5-8-2 overall). He made 15 saves and allowed 12 goals as the team went 1-3.
Taylor Reifert (sophomore, Lawrence men’s soccer) started all four games the last two weeks while contributing two goals and two assists, and the Vikings (5-8-1 overall) went 2-1-1 in that span. Reifert played his best game Saturday against Cornell. It ended in a 2-2 draw, and he provided a goal and an assist.
The Mary Washington men’s swimming team was forced to forfeit Friday’s season-opening meet against Washington and Lee by UMW athletics director Ken Tyler after a hazing incident, according to The Blue and Gray. There are two members of the Mary Washington men’s swimming team that are openly gay, but there is no indication they were directly involved in the hazing incident so their names are not being used in this story.
NAIA
David Gilbert (senior, Lewis-Clark cross country) finished 73rd in 27:59 during the 8-kilometer Inland Empire Championships on Saturday.
Upcoming televised competitions involving LGBT college athletes and coaches. (All times are Eastern.)
Thursday, Oct. 20
Kenzie Tillitt, Colorado women's soccer at Stanford; Stanford, Calif., 9 p.m. (Pac-12 Network)
Erik Hall can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @HallErik or on Facebook. If you are an out LGBT athlete or coach and want your accomplishments recognized, please email Erik.
