Dunn and O’Connell claim the Female Career Achievement Award
MEQUON, Wis. - The Concordia Wisconsin Athletic Department has announced that Sam Dunn of the field hockey and women's lacrosse programs and Molly O'Connell of the softball program have been named the co-2019-20 Female Career Achievement Award winners.
The CUW Athletic Department released its top stories of the year over the past few weeks and this week will announce its four major award winners from the 2019-20 season. Throughout the next week, the announcements of the Male Career Achievement Award winner (Thursday), Female Athlete of the Year (Tuesday) and Male Athlete of the Year (Thursday) will be published.
Sam Dunn, a senior from Hartland, Wisconsin, was a member of the first-ever recruiting class for the CUW field hockey program and helped build the foundation of what the program is today. Dunn has her name scattered across the CUW record book and leaves the program as the all-time leader in assists with 17, shots with 160 and penalty strokes made with four.
During her freshman season, Dunn tallied four goals and a team-high five assists.
In 2017, Dunn became the program's first-ever all-region selection with a LongStreth/NFHCA NCAA Division III Second Team All-Great Lakes honor. That year she was also named to the All-Southern Athletic Association First Team. She finished the year with three goals and three assists.
The Wisconsin native kept receiving honors in her junior year with a LongStreth/NFHCA NCAA Division III First Team All-Great Lakes Region selection. She also picked up multiple SAA honors with an All-SAA First Team selection and was also named to the SAA All-Tournament Team after Dunn and the Falcons won their first-ever SAA Tournament match against the host team Hendrix. Dunn recorded six goals and a team-high four assists on the year. On Sept. 1, she recorded her first-ever hat trick against Ferrum with three goals and one assist.
Dunn posted another solid season during her senior year and had a hat trick in the opening weekend again Earlham. She closed the year with six goals five assists and two defensive saves. Dunn once again earned a LongStreth/NFHCA NCAA Division III Second Team All-Great Lakes honor and was also named to the All-SAA Second Team as a midfielder.
In the spring of 2020, Dunn joined the CUW women's lacrosse program to close her collegiate career. Dunn started all three games of the shortened season and collected eight ground balls and caused five turnovers
Molly O'Connell, a senior from New London, Wisconsin, leaves the CUW softball program as one of the most decorated players in program history. O'Connell is claiming her second Concordia Wisconsin award with this honor after being named the CUW Female Athlete of the Year in 2019. She is in the top-10 of 32 statistical categories in the CUW record book.
O'Connell started her CUW career with a bang in 2017 with a team-leading 60 hits, the second-most in a single season in program history. The CUW freshman earned All-Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference First Team honors and was also named to the NACC All-Freshman Team. She appeared in all 43 games and finished with 60 hits, seven doubles, five triples, one home run, 30 runs, 19 runs batted in and stole six bases. In the circle, she threw three complete games, with an earned-run average of 2.70 and 20 strikeouts.
The honors continued to flood in during her sophomore season with an NFCA First Team All-Region selection and an All-NACC First Team honor. She led CUW with a .414 batting average, scored 39 runs, had 24 runs batted in, hit 12 doubles, two triples and four home runs. As a pitcher, she made 23 appearances and 17 starts and finished with 29 strikeouts.
During her junior season, O'Connell once again collected multiple honors, claiming the CUW Female Athlete of the Year title, an NFCA All-Region Second Team honor and an All-NACC First Team selection. In 2019, she led CUW with 31 runs, 45 hits and 11 doubles, while also recording six home runs, 21 RBI, 14 walks and 10 stolen bases. She played a key role in securing the first-ever NACC Regular Season title in program history and scored a run in a nine-inning victory over Rockford to win the title.
The Wisconsin native had a strong outing in the shortened-2020 season. She started all four games at the Finlandia Dome Classic, where she was named to the All-Tournament Team. She led CUW with four doubles and her 1.0 doubles per game led NCAA Division III. She also recorded three runs, five hits, four RBI and two stolen bases.
2019-20 CUW Athletics Awards
Female Career Achievement Award: Sam Dunn & Molly O'Connell
Male Career Achievement Award: announced May 28
Female Athlete of the Year: announced June 2
Male Athlete of the Year: announced June 4
