WOMEN’S SOCCER
WEST CHESTER — Junior Carlee Freeberg (Clearfield) was one of four Clarion defenders who drew praise from coach Sean Esterhuizen after the Golden Eagles kept nationally-ranked and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion West Chester in check at Rockwell Field Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Rams, ranked No. 3 and the only remaining unbeaten and untied NCAA Division II team at 16-0, had to settle for their third 1-0 victory as the Golden Eagles held them under their averages for goals and shots on goal, allowing only six shots on net.
Freeberg played all 90 minutes while teaming with Alissa Spencer, Marina Kelly and Anna Sheen on the backline, with Esterhuizen hailing their effort..
“In the first half, we played behind the ball with a four-person defense as we expected West Chester to be very fast and skilled,” Esterhuizen was quoted on the Clarion women’s soccer website. “We had some absolutely valiant defending and last minute tackles.”
In the second half, the tough defense by Clarion (2-13-2, 2-13-1) was matched by West Chester, which did not allow a shot.
Freeberg has made most of her 17 starts as a midfielder with one assist and one shot, which was on goal.
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ERIE — Junior midfielder McKenna Aleksivich (Clearfield) and sophomore midfielder Tessa Munshower (Clearfield) played in both of Penn State Behrend’s one-sided wins last week that clinched the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular-season title as well as a first-round bye for the championship playoffs that get under way Saturday.
Aleksivich got off one shot that was on goal in the Lions’ 5-0 victory over Pitt-Bradford last Wednesday, while Munshower registered three shots, two on goal, in the 8-1 rout of La Roche at Pittsburgh Saturday.
Aleksivich has found the net on three of her five shots, four on goal, in six appearances.
Munshower has one assist and eight shots, two on goal, in 10 games.
Penn State Behrend is unbeaten in nine AMCC outings and 13-4 with nine wins in a row.
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MIDDLETOWN — Freshman forward Raquel Grice (Clearfield) and the rest of Penn State Harrisburg found it rough going in Capital Athletic Conference losses at Frostburg (Md.) State 3-0 last Wednesday and at home to regular season champion and No. 15-ranked Christopher Newport (Va.) 1-0 Saturday.
Grice managed one of only three shots on goal against Frostburg.
The Lions slipped to 3-5 in the conference and 6-11 for the season.
Despite missing nine games because of an injury, Grice is tied for second in goals with two and third in points with six. Seven of her 11 shots have been on goal.
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FOOTBALL
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Junior starting strong safety Austin Jacobson (Curwensville) recorded two solo tackles and broke up one pass for Geneva in a tough 16-14 loss to undefeated Case Western Reserve at DiSanto Field Saturday night.
A crowd of 1,124 turned out for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference game that resulted in the hosts improving to 7-0 and the Golden Tornadoes falling to 2-5 with a 1-4 PAC record.
Jacobson is fifth among Geneva defenders in tackles with 31, including 18 solo and two for losses of two yards. He is third in passes broken up with three.
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ALLENTOWN — Junior offensive lineman Jon Janocko (Clearfield) made his sixth start at left guard for Juniata Saturday afternoon when the Eagles jumped out to a 10-0 lead before once-beaten Muhlenberg roared back and rolled to a 56-17 win in front of 1,277 fans at Scotty Wood Stadium.
Juniata (4-3) dipped to 3-3 in the Centennial Conference.
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WILLIAMSPORT — Junior center Brad Stubbs (Curwensville) and his Lycoming teammates celebrated a thrilling 27-24 Middle Atlantic Conference victory over visiting Lebanon Valley with a crowd of 1,876 at David Person Field Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors had seen a 21-0 lead after 21 minutes disappear before getting a touchdown pass with 1:25 remaining to bump their record to 2-4 in the MAC and 3-4 overall.
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MEN’S SWIMMING
NEW WILMINGTON — Sophomore freestyle/butterfly specialist Michael Spencer (Clearfield) had a key role in a trio of second place finishes as Westminster opened the season with a runner-up effort in the four-team Westminster Relays in the Westminster Natatorium Friday.
His 55.58-second leadoff split springboarded the Titans to a 2:46.85 time in the 3×100 butterfly relay.
He had the fastest closing split, 53.44 seconds, to anchor the 500 free relay quartet’s 4:27.17 effort.
And he clocked the best opening leg, 22.18 seconds, in the 200 free relay as the Titans went on to record a 1:29.23.
Spencer registered 14 firsts in individual events and was a member of 12 winning relay teams for the 2015-16 Presidents’ Athletic Conference champion Titans.
He punctuated his rookie season at the PAC Championships by winning the 50 free title in 21.17 seconds and placing fifth in the 100 free with a 48.16 effort after posting a 47.90 in the preliminaries and fifth in the 100 fly by toughing in 52.31. All were personal bests.
In addition, Spencer contributed to two Westminster relay titles, the 200 medley and 400 free.
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ATHENS, Ohio — Freshman Claire Mikesell (Clearfield) debuted for Ohio by anchoring the Bobcat ‘B’ 400-meter medley relay foursome to a second-place finish in their season-opening 158-79 win over Youngstown State at the Ohio Aquatics Center Saturday.
She placed sixth in the 50 freestyle in 25.17 seconds and sixth in the 100 free in 55 seconds.