
2018-19 Athletics year in review
Playing at home – Of the 530 events during the 2018-19 athletics year, 173 were played at home. The overall record for CUW on its home playing surface was 116-54-3 or a .671 winning percentage. No program took advantage of home games better than Men's Lacrosse who was a perfect 9-0 at Fitting Field. Of the 17 sports we used to measure this statistic, 14 finished with a .500 winning percentage at home games or better during the past athletic year.
Conference record – The Falcons were once again excellent in conference play, posting a 159-81-5 record in the 18 sports that were a member of a conference this past year. CUW takes part in the NACC, MLC, MWLC, CCIW and ACHA conferences. Men's Lacrosse was the only squad to go undefeated in league play, while 14 of the 17 had records above .500.
All-Americans – CUW had one student-athlete honored as All-American during the 2018-19 season, as Garrett Wohlford earned USILA All-America Honorable Mention honors. The Men's Lacrosse goalkeeper led the country in save percentage and was second in goals-against average.
Players of the Year – In all, there were eight student-athletes were recognized by their respective conference for superb play on the field or court, while two coaches were honored for the leadership abilities. The following is a list of those individuals: Wesley Schiek (Men's Cross Country - NACC Runner and Freshman of the Year), Garrett Wohlford (Men's Lacrosse - MLC Defensive Player of the Year), Stephen Gregory (Men's Lacrosse - MLC Co-Offensive Player of the Year), Megan McPike (Field Hockey - SAA Newcomer of the Year), Lauren Paquin (Women's Lacrosse - MWLC Midfielder of the Year), Mackenzie Dorth (Women's Cross Country - NACC Freshman of the Year), Gina Followell (Softball - NACC Freshman of the Year), Ricki Budewitz (Women's Tennis - NACC Freshman of the Year), Michael Fahey (Men's Lacrosse - MLC Coach of the Year), Steve Crook (Softball - NACC Coach of the Year).
All-Conference accolades – CUW was once again well-represented on All-Conference lists throughout all sports. The Falcons had a total of 84 student-athletes receive All-Conference honors. Any player who was listed on a first or second team, honorable mention or all-freshman team was listed in the 91 student-athletes.
Advancing to the national stage – The Falcons had one team secure a conference tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament in their respective sport during the 2018-19 athletics year. In the spring Men's Lacrosse secured an MLC Tournament title for the first time in program history.
National rankings – Only one student-athlete can be crowned an NCAA Division III statistical champion per year and the Falcons were fortunate to have Garrett Wohlford crowned a statistical champion after he led all divisions of Men's Lacrosse with a.671 save percentage. As well, the Falcons had numerous who were close to winning, however, a top-10 finish will always be respected. In all, six student-athletes ranked in the top-10 in their respective statistical categories and three teams. Below is a list of student-athletes and teams who achieved a top-10 ranking nationally in a statistical category:
Andrew Fratzke (Men's Basketball) – sixth in field goal percentage (.665)
Nick Guerra (Men's Hockey) – 10th in power-play goals (7)
Garrett Wohlford (Men's Lacrosse) - first in save percentage (.671)
Garrett Wohlford (Men's Lacrosse) - second in goals-against average (6.37)
Natasha Wanless (Women's Hockey) - sixth in power-play goals (8)
Ellie Woodman (Women's Lacrosse) - seventh in caused turnovers per game (3.43)
Maddie Zazas (Softball) - sixth in sacrifice flies (5)
Men's Lacrosse - second in scoring defense (6.47)
Women's Basketball - sixth in 3-point field goal percentage (38.3)
Women's Lacrosse - eighth in caused turnovers per game (15.76)
Social Media – The Department of Athletic Communications strives to connect with its fans via its various social media accounts and this past year strived to provide a better experience with game day photos and videos. In addition, there were 284 new followers being added to bring the total Twitter followers count to 3,852. As well, CUW spent countless hours improving it's content on it's Instagram, posting nearly 180 photos or videos and raising the followers count to over 2,300.
Those behind the scenes – Steven Schauer, Jeremy Crawford, Jordan Benson and Brian Schipferling (now at Edgewood) would like to thank all those who helped the Department of Athletic Communications throughout the 2018-19 athletic year, especially the staff of 25-plus student workers who tirelessly helped the behind the scenes efforts. Those student workers assisted in updating CUWFalcons.com in a variety of capacities, oversaw multi-camera live video streams, took official statistics, ran scoreboards, announced and played music, took photos, captured highlights and produced content for social media; and did other tasks as needed to run the games the fans watch with ease. As well, our broadcasters deserve credit for their work in calling dozens of Falcon games.
Athletic Communications working overtime – Those who work in the Department of Athletic Communications had to work a little extra during the 2018-19 athletic year, as they were challenged with the task of hosting a multitude of tournaments (regular season and postseason) and various other athletic events.