BlackBerry CIS athletes of the week - TWU’s Wright, McMaster’s Grant honoured

Nikki Wright

WOMEN’S SOCCER (CIS)
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009
CIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BlackBerry CIS athletes of the week
TWU’s Wright, McMaster’s Grant honoured

OTTAWA (CIS) – Soccer players Nikki Wight of Trinity Western and Matthew Grant of McMaster are the BlackBerry Canadian Interuniversity Sport female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Nov. 8, 2009.

Wright, a second-year kinesiology student from Cloverdale, B.C., scored three of her team’s four goals at the Canada West Final Four, including the lone marker of the gold-medal final, to help the No. 2-ranked Spartans capture the conference banner and advance to this week’s CIS championship at the University of Toronto (Nov. 12-15), where they will defend their national title. The sophomore forward, named CIS rookie of the year in 2008, tallied twice in regulation and assisted on the game-winner in overtime in a 3-2 semifinal win over Alberta, before scoring in the 40th minute in the 1-0 gold-medal victory over No. 9 UBC.

Soccer players Sarah Mitchell of St. Francis Xavier, Véronique Maranda of Montreal and Sarah Fiorini of York were also nominated for the women’s award.

Grant, a second-year sociology major from Brampton, Ont., posted back-to-back shutouts and stopped an incredible six of 11 penalty-kick shots at the OUA Final Four to lead the Marauders to their first conference title since 1992 and an appearance at this week’s CIS championship at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. (Nov. 12-15). The sophomore keeper didn’t allow a goal in 220 minutes over two games as McMaster edged No. 10 Carleton and No. 1 Toronto by identical 1-0 scores to extend their magical run to four straight penalty-kick playoff victories.

Cape Breton soccer player Andrew Rigby, Laval soccer player Gabriel Moreau and Thompson Rivers volleyball player Kevin Tillie were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: Sarah Mitchell, soccer, St. Francis Xavier
QSSF: Véronique Maranda, soccer, Montréal
OUA: Sarah Fiorini, soccer, York
Canada West: Nikki Wright, soccer, Trinity Western (recipient)

Male nominees:
AUS: Andrew Rigby, soccer, Cape Breton
QSSF: Gabriel Moreau, soccer, Laval
OUA: Matthew Grant, soccer, McMaster (recipient)
Canada West: Kevin Tillie, volleyball, Thompson Rivers

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.

-CIS-

Last Updated: 2009-11-11
Author: Scott Stewart