2015-16 Winter Sports A to Z

A – Alexis Machuga (Women’s Hockey): Machuga (Rochester Hills, Mich.) led the Falcons in assists last year as a junior with 19 and was second on the team in points with 23. Machuga will serve as this year’s team captain as voted on by her teammates.

B – Brunner-Jones, Stacey (Women’s Basketball Coach): Brunner-Jones enters her 12th season at the helm of the Concordia University Wisconsin’s Women's Basketball program in 2015-16. She is the winningest head coach in program history with a record of 203-97. She recorded her 200th win last February in a 62-54 victory over Lakeland.

C – Cassidy, Shawn (Men’s Basketball Coach): Cassidy enters his eighth season as the head coach of Concordia University Wisconsin's Men's Basketball program. He is the program's second winningest coach and enters the 2015-16 campaign with a 134-80 overall record. Cassidy coached the Falcons to the programs first ever NACC tournament championship last year and earned the right to appear in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

D – Defending conference champs (Men’s Basketball & Wrestling): The CUW Men’s Basketball team won the programs first ever NACC Tournament championship defeating the number two seed Benedictine in the semi-finals and then defeating the number one seed Aurora 73-71 taking the NACC crown. The CUW Wrestling team dominated the Northern Wrestling Association Tournament last year and won the team title convincingly, while six Falcons won their respective weight bracket. The title was the third-consecutive for the Falcons.

E – Eric Kittel (Men’s Basketball): Kittel (Brillion, Wis.), the man who runs the Falcons offense, is coming off a very impressive sophomore campaign. He led the team in scoring last season averaging 12.1 points per game and received First Team All-NACC accolades a year ago. Kittel currently ranks first all-time in NACC history with a 2.31 assist-to-turnover ratio. Look for the junior point guard to put together another impressive season on the hard court and help his team defend their NACC title.

F – Falconsoar: Falconsoar is a very common hashtag used on the CUW athletic social media outlets, but this winter, just before Christmas, the Falcons will literally be soaring as both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams will be flying down to San Juan, Puerto Rico to compete in the San Juan Shootout. The total distance of the trip is 4,262 miles from CUW to San Juan and back.

G – GAMEDAY (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook): Be sure to check out the CUW social media sites for Gameday promotions featuring fun and silly photos of your favorite Falcon winter athletes.

H – Hebda, Buster (Men’s Hockey): Hebda (Firestone, Colo.) is entering his fourth season as team captain, being the only player in CUW Hockey program history to be named captain all four years of their collegiate career. Hebda has appeared in 77 games over the past three years; he has scored 10 goals and recorded 12 assists.

I – Indoor Track and Field: Last year both the Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field teams finished in the top three at the NACC meet. Both the men and women teams lost some very talented athletes to graduation but return very experienced athletes that performed well in the 2014-15 season, led by long and triple jumper Tyler White (Milwaukee, Wis.) and thrower Karli Tatum (Milwaukee, Wis.). White was Co-Field Athlete of the Meet at last year’s NACC Indoor Championships and Tatum brought home an individual title in the shot put at the 2015 NACC Indoor Championships.

J – Jasen Wise (Men’s Hockey Coach): Wise enters his fourth season at the helm of the CUW Men’s Hockey program. In his first two seasons Wise led the Falcons to record breaking wins in program history. He has led the Falcons to the NCHA playoffs in each of his first three seasons as head coach and he is also currently the winningest coach in program history.

K – Keith Kahlfeldt (Men’s Basketball): Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, Wis.) earned All-NACC Honorable Mention last season after averaging 11.8 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game. Kahlfeldt played a big role in helping lead the Falcons to the programs first ever NACC Tournament Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Kahlfeldt has scored 845 points over the past three years and has appeared in 82 total games.

L – Landgraf, Madelyn (Women’s Basketball): Landgraf (Elkhart Lake, Wis.) had a career year last season scoring an incredible 395 points (15.2 per game) while shooting 37.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, and dishing out a team best 80 assists (3.09 per game) in route to receiving First Team All-NACC honors in 2014-15. Her 395 points and 3-point field goals made (54) were the third-most in a single season in program history.

M – Mason Mergener (Wrestling): Mergener (Crivitz, Wis.) had an outstanding sophomore season as he put together an impressive 21-12 overall record and qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament. He was 9-1 in dual meets and put together a six match win streak midway through last season. Mergener was the only CUW wrestler to qualify for the NCAA Championship in 2014-15.

N – Never say die attitude (Women’s Hockey): The 2014-15 Women’s Hockey season was one to remember, winning 12 games which is second most in program history and qualified for the NCHA Slaats Cup, which was the first appearance in program history. During that remarkable season the Falcons had some very close and intense games, but they had a never say die attitude as five of their victories the Falcons had to battle back from behind or a tie to capture the W.

O – Offensive Opportunities (Men’s & Women’s Basketball): Coaches always stress the importance of taking care of the ball and not turning it over. Both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams were among the best overall among the teams in the conference at taking care of the ball last year and making the most of their offensive opportunities. The men were ranked first with the fewest average of turnovers committed in the NACC and the women were tied for second with the fewest average of turnovers committed in the NACC.

P – Prinsen, Brad (Men’s Basketball): Prinsen (Oostburg, Wis.) had an impressive junior season as he was one of the key factors that helped lead the Falcons to a NACC Tournament Title and an appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament a year ago. He stepped up big in the Falcons impressive conference tournament run, leading the Falcons in scoring three out of their last four contests. Prinsen scored in double-digits 20-of-29 games and posted a season high 23 points in the season finale at UW-Stevens Point.

Q – Queen of the Rookies: Brianna Wagner (Fond du Lac, Wis.) had an impressive rookie campaign for the CUW Women’s Basketball team as she averaged 10.5 points per game, which was second best on the team and led the team in rebounds with 196 (7.8 per game). Wagner’s impressive season earned her NACC Freshman of the Year honors and she also received All-NACC Honorable Mention and All-NACC Freshman Team accolades.

R – Regan, Chelsea (Women’s Hockey): Regan (Oakdale, Minn.), one of six seniors on this year’s squad, is one of the anchors on Falcons defensive backline. Regan only tallied eight points a year ago but was a member of the team’s blueline group that set a program record with fewest goals allowed in a season (64).

S – Steve Fabiilli (Women’s Hockey Coach): In his first season as the CUW Women’s Hockey coach a year ago, Fabiilli led the Falcons to the programs first ever appearance in the NCHA Slaat’s Cup. Under Fabiilli CUW won 12 games, second most in program history, and posted an above .500 record for just the second time.

T – Tanner Bull (Men’s Hockey): Bull (Brooklin, Ontario) was one of only two players to reach double-digit goals last season finishing with 10 goals scored. Overall he tallied 17 points (10 G, 7 A) and was credited with two game winning goals in his sophomore season. After that impressive season, Bull was voted the team MVP and will serve as one of three assistant captains for this season.

U – Upperclassmen (Wrestling): Having a veteran core can provide a huge boost for your team in terms of leadership and experience. Despite losing All-American Sean Ambrocio and NWA Outstanding Wrestler Casey Kenealy, the Falcons return a lot of veterans led by senior Pierce Holtfreter (Las Vegas, Nev.) and juniors Mason Mergener and Mason Baumgartner (Slinger, Wis.). Those three combined for a 53-29 overall record in 2014-15.

V – VanGroll, Corey (Wrestling Coach): VanGroll enters his fourth season as the Falcons head coach and during his time as the Falcon leader he has taken at least one wrestler to the NCAA Division III Tournament. VanGroll has led the program to three-consecutive Northern Wrestling Association titles has also been named the NWA Coach of the Year each of the past three years.

W – White, Tyler (Men’s Indoor Track and Field): White (Milwaukee, Wis.) was the Co-Field Athlete of the Meet at the NACC Indoor Championships (Feb. 28) after posting a pair of first-place finishes. He recorded a PR of 13.92 in the triple jump in finishing first place, while also placing first in the long jump with a leap of 6.82 meters.

X – X’s and O’s: Coaches stress the importance of X’s and O’s, teamwork and winning, but they also stress the important of academics.  The members of the CUW athletic teams are students first and athletes second and these student-athletes really stuck out last year in the classroom as 56 Winter student-athletes were recognized as a Scholar-Athlete by the NACC and NCHA in the 2014-15 academic year.

Y – You before me: Before the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams kick off their season they both have taken time to volunteer and give back to the community. The men’s team takes part in the Mel’s Pig Roast 5k run, prior to the season and will also host the Special Olympics of Ozaukee County basketball team for a scrimmage following their game on Saturday January 23, when they take on Rockford. Following the scrimmage the men’s team will spend time and eat pizza with the players taking part in the scrimmage. The women’s team, prior to the season, partook in the JDRF Walk (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) where they worked with Tammy Ferry, who is the President of the Foundation, and greeted the walkers and those battling with type one diabetes. JDRF is a research foundation that is researching ways to treat and hopefully one day prevents and cures T1D.

Z – Zobel, Hannah (Women’s Hockey): Like Regan, Zobel (Reedsburg, Wis.) was a key part of a blueline group that helped the Falcons set a new school record for fewest goals allowed in a season. She scored a career-high six points, including a career-best five assists and added one goal scored. Zobel recorded her first career two-point effort with one goal and one assist in a matchup at St. Scholastica (Jan. 23).