University of Richmond Athletics
Cluskey and Alexander Each Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week
Oct. 1, 2001
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Jeannette Cluskey and Shawn Alexander were each honored by the Atlantic 10 as the Player of the Week in their respective sports for the second time this year. Cluskey, a sophomore tennis player from Minneapolis, Minn. (Edina), garnered the honor for the second week in a row as she had another outstanding weekend. Alexander, a senior goalkeeper from Southfield, Mich. (Univ. of Detroit Jesuit), was brilliant as he led the Spiders to a road win at George Washington.
Cluskey posted a record of 3-1 this past weekend at the Cissie Leary Invitational in Philadelphia, Pa. She notched victories over players from Ohio State (33rd nationally), Old Dominion (35th nationally), and Brown. Her win over Old Dominion came in a three set victory versus Ana Radeljevic (6-3, 1-6, 6-3), the 87th ranked player in the nation.
Two weekends ago, Cluskey won the second flight of the William & Mary Invitational in Williamsburg, Va. She now has a record of 7-1 in singles play this fall.
Alexander was stellar in goal for the Spiders this past weekend as he led the team to a 2-1 road victory over George Washington in Richmond's first-ever Atlantic 10 men's soccer match. With the score tied at one in the second half, Alexander made his most brilliant save of the day as he lunged to his right to deny the Colonials of scoring on a penalty kick. As play continued after this crucial save, the Spiders quickly countered and sophomore forward Ben Corfield (Zelienople, Pa./Seneca Valley) scored to give Richmond a 2-1 lead. Alexander would make the lead stand as he ended the game with a season-high and career-best 10 saves on the afternoon, the majority of which were of the spectacular variety.
Despite playing seven of the first eight matches away from home, three of which were against teams in the NSCAA/adidas Top 25, Alexander has recorded three shutouts on the season and has yielded one goal or less in five of the eight matches. He has 15 shutouts thus far in his career (47 matches).
The men's soccer team (4-3-1) returns to action this weekend as the Spiders travel to Ohio to play both Dayton (Oct. 5) and Xavier (Oct. 7). The women's tennis team is also back in action this weekend as it travels to Norfolk, Va. for the ODU Invitational (Oct. 5-7).