Exeter graduate Faust finding her role with Mercer College
Danielle Faust was a key role player with the Mercer College women’s volleyball team as a sophomore. This season, the 5-foot-11 junior is starting at outside hitter for the Bears who are off to a 4-4 start under first year coach Derek Schroeder.
Faust, from Reading (Exeter Township), has played in all 32 sets and eight matches and is third on the team with 48 kills. She also has 55 digs, 10 total blocks and eight service aces. After seeing limited action as a freshman, she recorded 102 kills, 39 digs and 12 total blocks last season.
“Danielle is smart, passionate – and quirky – and we love her for that,” Schroeder said. “When I came in, I was looking for a player to ‘buy in’ and she was the first athlete I really felt was on board with the new way of doing things. She has led to way to a new culture.”
Mercer, which finished sixth in the Southern Conference standings last season, opens league play on Friday, Sept. 22 with a home match against Wofford.
LAUREN HALEY (BOYERTOWN) »
The freshman scored her first collegiate goal and it came at the 92:32 mark to give her Moravian women’s soccer team a 1-0 overtime victory over Muhlenberg last Wednesday in Bethlehem. The 5-foot-8 forward has played in four games with one start and the goal came on her first shot and only shot thus far.
COURTNEY BLACK (BOYERTOWN) »
The senior scored the final goal at the 67:09 mark of the game for the Clarkson women’s soccer team in a 2-2 overtime tie with SUNY-Potsdam on Sept. 13 in Potsdam, N.Y. It was the first goal of the season for the standout defender who entered this season having played 51 games with 48 starts for the Golden Knights including all 17 games as a junior and all 17 games as a sophomore. The goal was the 10th of her career. Clarkson stands 2-1-2.
BECKHAM SIBISKI (KUTZTOWN) »
The freshman tallied the game-winning goal for the Lock Haven men’s soccer team in a 5-3 victory over Shepherd on Sept. 4. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound midfielder has started all five games for the Bald Eagles who are 3-1-1 after a 2-1 victory over Bloomsburg on Sept. 13. Sibiski picked up the assist on the winning goal. Sophomore Kyle Hartman (Kutztown) has played in all five games with three starts for Lock Haven.
LUKE MYERS (GOVERNOR MIFFLIN) »
The sophomore kicked off his season with the Colgate men’s cross country team by finishing 15th in the 20th Harry Lang Invitational on Sept. 2 over the home course in Hamilton, N.Y. Myers posted a personal best time of 22:11.5 over the 6.4k course. He was the third best finisher for the Raiders who finished behind Syracuse and Buffalo in the team standings. Myers will give hometown fans a chance to see him run when he and the Raiders compete in Lehigh’s annual Paul Short Run on Sept. 29 in Bethlehem.
KAYLEIGH KARDOS (DANIEL BOONE) »
The redshirt freshman has played in all nine games off the bench for the Liberty women’s soccer team the Flames 2-5-2 after a 1-0 loss against LSU on Sept. 10 in Baton Rouge, LA. Kardos collected her first college goal and it was a game-winner coming in a 2-1 victory over MarylandBaltimore County before the home crowd on Sept. 7 in Lynchburg, Va. The goal came at the 85:10 mark in the game when she hit the back of the net with a shot from eight yards out.
SIENNA ZITTLE (GOVERNOR MIFFLIN) »
The sophomore has played in all six games with one start for the unbeaten Dickinson women’s soccer team. She picked up an assist on the first goal in a 2-1 victory over Alvernia on Sept. 1. Zittle scored her first goal of the season in a 7-1 victory over Mount St. Vincent on Sept. 9. The Red Devils went to 6-0 on the season with a 4-0 victory over Shenandoah in a home game on Sept. 13. She also has 13 career goals. The River Hawks are 3-2 on the season after a 3-1 victory over McDaniel on Sept. 13 in Westminster, Md.
OLIVIA BLANKENBILLER (BERKS CATHOLIC) »
The 5-foot-6 freshman setter is one of just two players on the Cabrini women’s volleyball team to play in all 29 sets and all eight matches. She has a team-high 282 assists along with 82 digs, 13 kills, seven total blocks and four service aces. The Cavaliers are 5-3 after going 3-1 in the Muhlenberg Buttermaker Tournament on Sept. 8-9 in Allentown. Blankenbiller had 33 assists in a 3-0 victory over Muhlenberg and 47 assists in a 3-1 triumph over SUNY-Cortland on the final day of the tourney.
SOPHIE GOAD (SCHUYLKILL VALLEY) »
The sophomore, playing in her first season with the DeSales women’s soccer team, scored her first collegiate goal and picked up an assist in her first game with the Bulldogs, a 7-0 victory over Lancaster Bible on Sept. 1. Goad was a member of the college’s cross country team as a freshman. DeSales won their first three games but stands 3-2 after a 1-0 loss to Utica on Sept. 9 in Utica, N.Y. and a 3-0 loss to Messiah on Sept. 13 in Center Valley.
EMMA CLARK (HAMBURG) »
The sophomore has been solid in goal to start the season with the Roanoke field hockey team. She and the Maroons are 4-0 after a 2-0 victory over McDaniel on Sept. 9 in Roanoke, Va.