WQAQ Athlete of the Week – Brandon Wong

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week award goes to Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) of the men’s ice hockey team.

Quinnipiac Bobcats' senior forward Brandon Wong

Wong, a senior assistant captain, scored the game tying and game winning goals to lead Quinnipiac to a 5-4 overtime home victory over No. 10 Massachusetts. Wong also had two goals in the Bobcats’ 7-4 loss at Yale on Friday night. Wong has been receiving recognition for his solid start and was a guest on “ECAC Hockey Weekly” on 91.5 FM WRPI.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week: Mike Atkinson

By Tom Butto

Senior Mike Atkinson

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week award goes to Mike Atkinson (Sparta, N.J.) of the men’s ice hockey team. Atkinson, a senior assistant captain, scored three goals, two of which were short handed, in a 4-2 win against ECAC foe Clarkson University.

With Atkinson’s hat trick, Quinnipiac improved to 5-1-0 overall with a 2-0-0 mark in the conference. The last time Quinnipiac won five of their first six games was in the 2000-2001 season.

Atkinson’s two shorthanded goals came in the second and third periods. He added his third to complete the hat trick on an empty netter late in the third period.

The Bobcats return to action this weekend, with home games against Harvard and Dartmouth.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week: Heather Hughes

By Tom Butto

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week honor goes to Quinnipiac University women’s ice hockey freshman Heather Hughes (Stoufville, Ontario).

Quinnipiac women's ice hockey freshman Heather Hughes

Hughes had a career game on Saturday night with her first collegiate hat trick on her way to four points against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  She scored Quinnipiac’s second, third, and fifth goals of the game as well as assisting on the fourth as the Bobcats defeated RPI 6-1.  With her performance, Hughes now leads the team in goals and points.

The Bobcats women’s hockey team had a banner weekend in its own right by defeating Union 3-0 in addition to Saturday’s victory.  They will now head on a four game road trip beginning this weekend with Harvard and Dartmouth.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week: Rachel Cantor

By Tom Butto

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week honor goes to Quinnipiac University women’s tennis freshman Rachel Cantor (Short Hills, N.J.)

Cantor has continued her impressive freshman campaign by earning Northeast Conference Women’s Tennis

Freshman Women's Tennis Player Rachel Cantor

Rookie of the Week for the fourth time in seven weeks. This week marks the second straight week she has won the award.

In her last tournament, the ITA Northeast Regional Championships, she advanced to the Round of 64 before falling to

Brown University’s Bianca Aboubakare, the fourth seeded player in the tournament.

For the fall, Cantor finished with a 12-5 record, including a 7-2 singles mark.

Athlete of the Week: Freddy Hall

 By Tom Butto 

This week’s unanimous pick for WQAQ Athlete of the Week is Freddy Hall (St. George’s, Bermuda) of the Quinnipiac men’s soccer team.

Quinnipiac senior goalkeeper Freddy Hall

Hall continued to do what he does best; put up shut outs. He helped the Bobcats stay undefeated with six saves in a double overtime tie in the NEC opening game against Robert Morris. Hall came back two days later with his second consecutive shutout, and fifth of the year, in a 3-0 win against St. Francis (Pa.). Hall stopped all 11 shots on goal, including a penalty kick with six seconds left in regulation.  The Bobcats are now 1-0-1 in the conference and 4-0-5 overall.

Hall, a senior, is an early candidate for Athlete of the Semester and Athlete of the Year. He is third in NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer with a .930 save percentage, and has played more games and logged more minutes than the two keepers ahead of him.

Athlete of the Week: Bryn Doyle

By Tyler Chaput

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week, and final Athlete of the Week for the Spring 2009 semester is Manchester, N.H.’s Bryn Doyle of the Quinnipiac baseball team.

In a 13-10 loss to Boston College on Tuesday, Doyle managed to extend his season-high and team-high hitting streak to 12 games.

Doyle scored three runs while driving in two more in the loss.

In his senior year, Doyle has played in 37 of the 39 games while starting in all 37. Despite the Bobcats’ 13-26 overall record, Doyle has been a consistent leader for Quinnipiac, as he leads the team in hits with 44.

Athlete of the Week: Katie Allendorfer

By Tyler Chaput

For the second time this semester and second time in less than a month, the WQAQ Athlete of the Week is softball catcher Katie Allendorfer.

The junior captain went 4-12 at the plate this past weekend.  She belted two home runs and drove in 10 RBI.

Behind her solid offensive play, the Bobcats split their four games this weekend, going 2-2.  Quinnipiac is now 14-26, but has a remarkable 13-1 Northeast Conference Record.

Allendorfer, who bats clean-up for the Bobcats, leads the team in homeruns (six) and RBI (26). Her play behind the plate has been strong as well, as she has committed only two errors in 40 games.

Athlete of the Week: Chris Gloor

Photo Credit: QuinnipiacBobcats.com

By Tyler Chaput

Quinnipiac senior pitcher, Chris Gloor, has been selected as this week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week after sporting a dominating performance last Friday.

Gloor fanned 10 batters through eight strong innings against the Binghamton University Bearcats.  

Despite allowing seven hits, he only allowed one run and did not walk a single batter in the Bobcats’ victory.

The 6-foot-6-inch, 255 pound lefty from Bay Shore, N.Y., improved his personal season record to 2-3 while the Bobcats’ bettered their overall record to 4-12.

WQAQ Athlete of the Week: Katie Allendorfer

By Tyler Chaput

This week’s WQAQ Athlete of the Week is Katie Allendorfer, junior co-captain of the Quinnipiac softball team.  With the help of two home runs, Allendorfer drove in a team-high five RBIs in a 7-3 victory over Holy Cross in the Stony Brook Invitational last weekend.

Her first RBI came in the first inning on a single down the left field line.  In her second at-bat, Allendorfer put one over the fence to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead.

Allendorfer came to the plate once more in the fifth.  She would also send this one out of the yard, except this time with two runners on giving her RBIs three, four and five on the day.

The catcher’s presence was also felt on the field when she snapped a throw down to third, picking off Mandy Correale to end the game.

Athletes of the Week: Kerner, Pennewell, Rooney

By Tyler Chaput

Not one, not two, but three Quinnipiac women’s basketball players have been selected as WQAQ Co-Athletes of the Week.  Brianna Rooney, Erin Kerner and Mandy Pennewell are the honorees after each contributed to a solid season.

Kerner (17.9 points per game), Pennewell (12.8 points per game), and Rooney (7.9 points per game) were the top three scorers for the Bobcats this year.  They were the top 3-point scorers on the team as well with Pennewell leading the squad with 68.

The Northeast Conference honored Rooney and Kerner for their on-court performance.  Rooney was selected as the NEC’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row.  She is the only Quinnipiac player ever to win the award.  She led the NEC in steals with 70, steals per game with 2.59, and holds Quinnipiac’s Division I career record with 259.

In her final season, Kerner was named to the All-NEC First Team for the second straight year.  She was honored all four years, being named to the All-NEC Second Team her freshman and sophomore seasons.  Kerner finished third in the NEC with 17.5 points per game.  She also moved into second for the Quinnipiac Division I career scoring record with 1,700 points.

All three players contributed to the Bobcats’ 18-10 (11-7 NEC) regular season.