The Seawanhaka Sports Rundown is a weekly roundup of five stories that examine developments in sports news at the local, state, national, and international levels.
By: MADISON MCCARTHY / SPORTS CO-EDITOR
MAAC 2022 Women’s Water Polo Award Winners
The Metro Atlanta Athletic Conference; home of LIU’s Women’s Water Polo team, announced the All-MAAC, All-Academic Team, and major conference awards this week. Sophomore Elena Camarena was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-MAAC First Team. Sophomore stand-out Paola Dominquez earned herself a spot on the All-MAAC Second team in her second season as a Shark. LIU led the conference in All-Academic team members with 13 Sharks eligible for the team. MAAC All-Academic team members must complete two semesters at their institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a 4.0 scale. This year's All-academic team is as follows: Jenna Anderson, Rebecca Ansell, Elena Camarena, Jessica Dean, Kate Fischer, Jeannet Garcia, Kate Hinrichs, Rachel Loomis, Xonhane Medina, Faith Ocheskey, Diba Peiravani, Taylor Thurlow and Julia Zebak.
New LIU Women’s Soccer Coach
Former professional goalkeeper and LIU assistant coach, Lucy Gillett has been announced as LIU’s newest Head Coach. After leading the team through spring workouts, the “interim” in front of Coach Gillett’s title is no longer necessary. Before joining the sharks as an assistant coach in 2021 Gillett served as the assistant coach at St John’s University and became a professional goalkeeper with Brighton & Hove Albion as well as Crystal Palace in England. According to LIUathletics.com, “Gillett played a combined four collegiate seasons at Hofstra University and Springfield College. She went a combined 21-8 with 12 shutouts and 0.79 goals against average during the final two seasons with Springfield, in 2013 and '14, while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament both seasons.”
Juan Soto Hits 500 Career Hits
23- year- old outfielder Juan Soto picked up his 500th career hit during Friday’s game against the San Francisco Giants. Soto became the 2nd-youngest player in Nationals franchise history to reach the milestone, with only Bryce Harper achieving the feat earlier. In 2019, he was part of the team to deliver the franchise's first World Series. Earlier this month, Soto became the youngest National ever to reach 100 home runs in his career.
White Sox’s Tim Anderson Suspended
Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson was suspended one game and fined by MLB after giving fans the middle finger during Wednesday’s game in Cleveland. While Anderson is appealing the suspension he is continuing to play in this week’s series. According to espn.com Anderson had the following to say about his actions: "I have to apologize for my actions," Anderson said Friday. "There are a lot of people who really look up to me. I take full accountability of what I did. But it's something that I have to learn from and grow from." However, this is not the first time Anderson has been suspended this season. He served a two-game ban on opening weekend for making contact with umpire Tim Timmons during the ninth inning of a game on September 27. Anderson successfully appealed that suspension down from three games.
An NFL Christmas
Christmas day just got a little bit sweeter for football fans as the NFL announced there will be three games this Christmas. The NFL will capitalize on Christmas day falling on a Sunday and continuing to play on Dec. 25th for the third year in a row. The league will have three games on Dec. 25 for the first time: two in the afternoon on CBS and Fox, followed by a prime-time contest on NBC. For Week 16, the league will have its regular Thursday night game on Dec. 22. Eleven games will be on Dec. 24, including a night game on NFL Network. After the Christmas triple-header, the week will close with a Monday night contest on Dec. 26. The three NFL games will be in direct competition with the NBA, which used to own the monopoly on Christmas Day play. The NBA has played five games each Dec. 25 for the past 14 seasons.