2022 Alumni Weekend Recap
August 29, 2022 | by Taylor Pill
WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Alumni Weekend at Maranatha is just as much about making new memories as it is about reliving old ones, and this year's edition was a celebration of both.
The annual competitions of Alumni (affectionately dubbed "Crusadercats") against this year's teams was a chance - for the collegians - to impress coaches and showcase their hard work from preseason. For the Alumni, it was just another chance to prove they still have what it takes.
Women's Volleyball (Alumnae 2-2 Sabercats - 25-27, 25-19, 25-21, 23-25)
The Women's Volleyball alumnae had a star-studded cast of six, as recent moves, new children, and other conflicts kept the usual returners from making the trip back to campus this year.
| 2022 Alumnae: WVB | Notes |
| Pam (Borchardt) Fiocchi | NCCAA 2nd-Team All-American |
| Regina (Anderson) Fleer | |
| McKenzie (Janke) Gleason** | 2-time North Region Libero of the Year |
| Claire Hansel* | NCCAA DII National Player of the Year |
| Kelsey (Johnson) Stevens** | NCCAA DII National Player of the Year |
| Jessica Ureke** |
*Member of an NCCAA National Championship team
The women's volleyball scrimmage is typically a four-set scrimmage regardless of scores, as both squads rotate their players throughout the match. A few of this year's Sabercats helped the alumni team, and the scrimmage was a chance for Coach Regina DeLozier to develop some of her younger talent on the 2022 roster.
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Women's Soccer (Alumnae 4-3 Sabercats)
The women's soccer scrimmage had four goals combined from Alexis Sponable (hat-trick) and Natascha Wenthold - two players that had 105 goals scored during their college years.
For the Sabercats, Katelyn Morrison, Aubrey Secor, and Myah Hoffmann found the back of the net in the seven-goal thriller, but it wasn't enough to match the barrage from Sponable and Wenthold.
| 2022 Alumnae: WSOC | Notes |
| Julie Allweil | NCCAA 1st-Team All-American |
| Lindsay (Hodgs) Brown | Former assistant coach |
| Hannah (Evans) Kilps* | NCCAA 1st-Team All-American, GP4L Winner |
| Audrey Knoedler | Multiple (link) |
| McKenna Massey* | |
| Alyssa Panlilio | Former assistant coach |
| Nina Riley | |
| Alexis Sponable* | Most goals in program history (60) |
| Angel Steuerwald* | |
| Natascha Wenthold | 3rd-most goals in program history (45) |
| Makayla Willette* |
*Member of 2020 national championship team
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Men's Soccer (Alumni 1-1 Sabercats)
In the final contest of the day, the Men's soccer Alumni squad featured almost 30 members, including six from the 2014 NCCAA National Championship team and 17 former team captains. After the game, the teams met in the center circle for the annual tradition of singing Arise, My Soul, Arise.
Post-game tradition: singing Arise, My Soul, Arise ��
— Maranatha Athletics (@MBUSabercats) August 27, 2022
�� Alumni Day 2022 pic.twitter.com/HX4Cv78YOg
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Brett Cournoyer scored for the alumni with a shot off of a giveaway. Cournoyer fired from 30 yards to an empty net, but Ben Bishop answered for the Sabercats a few minutes later with a breakaway finish.
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For the soccer teams, the 2022 season begins this weekend with home matches against Martin Luther College. To stay current on the teams this year, visit mbusabercats.com/schedule.
