Bowling Green State University Athletics
Conover, Mentrup, Wechsler Garner MVP Awards
February 26, 2001 | Women's Soccer
Feb. 26, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Sophomore Jill Conover, senior Janice Mentrup and junior Beth Wechsler earned most valuable player awards as the Bowling Green State University women's soccer team held its annual banquet Saturday evening (Feb. 24). Head coach Andy Richards and assistant coach Ashlee Orr guided the 2000 version of the Falcons to the championship match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament in November.
Conover (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) was named the team's Most Valuable Player on offense. She led the Falcons in scoring for the second-straight season, with 21 points. Conover had a team-high six goals and nine assists, with the latter total breaking her own seasonal record. She played in 20 matches, starting 19, and had four-point matches (goal and two assists) against both Central Michigan and UW-Green Bay. She had a goal and an assist in the MAC Tournament quarterfinal win at Eastern Michigan. Conover broke her leg in the closing seconds of the MAC tourney's semifinal win over Western Michigan, and missed the championship match. She earned Third-Team All-Ohio honors this season.
Mentrup (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills), a team tri-captain, was named the team's MVP at midfield. She was one of three Falcons to start all 21 matches, and is the only player to have started every match in the history of the program (78). In 2000, she tied for third on the team with 11 points. Her two goals included the match winner at Central Michigan, and she had seven assists to rank second on the team. One of those assists came in the MAC Tournament semifinal win over WMU. She assisted on the match-winning goal three times this season, and is the school's career assist leader, with 23.
Wechsler (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton), an All-Ohio First-Team pick, was named the MVP on defense. Wechsler also was named to the All-MAC Second Team and the league's all-tournament team this past fall. She played in 20 of BGSU's 21 matches, starting them all, and had six points on the year. Wechsler scored goals against both Toledo and Northern Illinois, and added assists vs. Detroit and Marshall, with the latter coming on the match-winning score. She has earned All-Ohio honors in every year of her Falcon career, having garnered third-team laurels in 1999 after being named to the second team in 1998.
Freshman Lindsay Enser (Toledo, Ohio/Sylvania Northview) was named the team's Most Improved Player. Enser, a defender, did not play in the first two matches of the year, then came off the bench in the season's third contest. From that point on, she was a fixture in the starting lineup, with the lone exception of BGSU's "Senior Day." Enser started all 11 MAC regular-season contests, as well as each league tournament match.
Junior Leslie Hepfinger (Mason, Ohio/Mason) earned the team's Hustle Award, given to the player who has shown a consistent enthusiasm for the game, as well as a tremendous work ethic in both practices and matches. Hepfinger, one of three Falcons to start every match, had six points on the season. Both of her goals proved to be match winners, against St. Bonaventure and Ball State. Hepfinger also had an assist in that BSU contest, while her other assist came against Miami.
Senior Ashley Enser (Toledo, Ohio/Sylvania Northview) earned the "Fighting Falcon" Award. The award, in the words of the coaches, is given to the player "whose behavior most accurately reflects our program's philosophy: `Today I gave all that I have, for everything I left behind is gone forever.'" Enser, a team tri-captain, was an All-MAC Second-Team and All-Ohio Second-Team selection. She started each of the season's first 19 matches before missing the final two contests of the season due to a concussion suffered in the league tourney quarterfinal win at EMU. Enser, who had started every match in the history of the program (76) to that point, tied for third on the team with 11 points in 2000. Her five assists ranked her third on the team in that department.
The Falcons posted an overall record of 10-10-1 in 2000, and had a MAC mark of 5-5-1. BGSU, seeded seventh for the MAC Tournament, advanced all the way to the championship match before dropping a 1-0 double-overtime decision to Miami University.
BGSU WOMEN'S SOCCER - 2000 AWARDS
