Justine Bernier became just the second player in University of Alabama women's soccer his- tory to be named an All-South Region first-team all star. The junior goalkeeper for the Crimson Tide had five shutouts and made 77 saves, breaking the school's career records in both categories, with 14 and 338 respectively. The Loyola grad posted a career-best 1.09 goals-against average and an .828 save per- centage, going 6-6-2 in 14 starts for Alabama. Wheeler named ECAC player of the week Kate Wheeler was named the East Coast Athletic Conference women's hockey player of the week for the third time this season. The junior forward for Quinnipiac University earned MVP honours at the Nutmeg Classic Tournament as the Bobcats won the champi- onship. Wheeler had a goal and three assists in a 9-1 rout of the Sacred Heart Pioneers. In the champi- onship game against Yale, Wheeler opened the scoring with just five seconds to play in the first period and Quinnipiac went on to claim the title with a 2-1 victory. The former Oakville Trafalgar High School athlete of the year is tied for fourth in the conference in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists in 20 games and leads the ECAC with a plus-22 mark. Oakville's Brianne Jenner sits second in the ECAC in both goals (11) and points (20). Jenner, a freshman with the Cornell Big Red, was named the conference's rookie of the week in the first week of November after piling up two goals and four assists in two games. Cornell is 13-1-0 this season, including a perfect 8-0-0 in confer- ence play, and has won nine straight games to lead the ECAC. Serratore signs letter of intent to join Syracuse Nicolette Serratore is one of four players to sign a national let- ter of intent with the Syracuse Orange volleyball team. The 5-foot- 10 outside hitter, who attends Ste- Famille High School, helped her club team, Defensa, win the provincial championship in 2009 and earn a fifth-place finish at nationals. w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , D ec em be r 9 , 2 01 0 2 6 My team smothered me. It was a small price to pay for the victory, which pulled Abbey Park into a tie for third place with Loyola at 2-2. It was a solid win for us, Smith said. It was a couple of hard losses last week, but we focused on the things we needed to and it showed in our game Friday (a 5-3 win over Iroquois Ridge). Coach Larry Rinaldo said the reason for the turnaround was quite simple. I dont think they like losing and they got mad, he said. They were so focused today and it was the second and third effort that helped them today. Abbey Park is not going to settle for the tier two title this year. With 11 returning players and the addi- tion of a pair of defencemen, Braden Wallace and Parker McKibbon, from AAA, the Eagles are not only hoping to win tier one, but advance beyond as well. Weve got great goals set for this year, Haick said. We want to go to OFSAA. Weve set them nice and high. Even before their win over their rivals, the Eagles had not let their slow start shake their confidence. The day before the Loyola game, Rinaldo sent a message to his cap- tain, Charlie Barrons, asking if there was anything he could do to help them prepare for the game. The response came back: The team is ready and confident. Get a good night sleep. Eagle eyes on OFSAA ppearance Triathlete wins series title in first full season By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Ten years ago, Troy Stenback watched Simon Whitfield earn the first-ever Olympic triathlon gold medal awarded. Recently, it was Whitfield pre- senting Stenback with a gold of his own. Stenback, 37, won the mens 35- 39 age group championship in this years MultiSport Canada triathlon series. Medals for the series champi- onship were handed out by Whitfield, the Canadian triathlete star who was brought in by a spon- sor of the series final event in Mississauga. Ironically, Stenback admits that he wasnt Whitfields biggest follow- er a decade ago. I wasnt a big fan of the sport at the time, Stenback said, but I happened to watch that one, and its certainly something that you remember. Stenback wasnt even a big fan of triathlon as recently as two years ago. He only began competing in the sport last fall after he had fully rehabilitated a knee injury and was looking for something to keep him active. After a year of training and everything else, I decided Ive got nothing better to do, Stenback said. His first competition was a sprint triathlon, where he finished third in his age group. He compet- ed in one more event last year, plac- ing fourth. Those results were enough to encourage him to compete in the MultiSport series in 2010. This season, Stenback finished seventh in his age group at the series-opening meet. But he fol- lowed that up with three first-place finishes and a second-place show- ing over the next six events to win the series championship. I kept improving throughout the year, and towards the end of the year the (series title) was in sight. I kind of surprised myself that I got there, Stenback said. I didnt think Id get there that fast, but I certainly tried to. Stenback, a father of four who gets up at 5 a.m. each day to train, now has his sights set on bigger things than the MultiSport series. Theres a chance I can make the world championships next year, he said. And maybe Stenback might see Whitfield out there one day as well. Troy Stenback emerges from the water during a triathlon race earlier this sea- son.The 37-year-old local resident won the MultiSport Canada triathlon series mens 35-39 age group championship in his first full year in the sport. PHOTO COURTESY MIKE CHELIAK / MYSPORTSSHOOTER.COM Continued from page 24 Bernier recognized for stellar year with Crimson Tide SPORTSBRIEFS