Merkle Named Women's Soccer Rookie of the Week
November 2, 1999 | Women's Soccer
BOSTON - (Nov. 2) Terrier freshman midfielder Allison Merkle (Baltimore, MD), whose two goals and assist helped lead the women's soccer team to a weekend sweep of Hofstra and Drexel, has been named the America East Rookie of the Week.
This is the second time this year that Merkle has won the weekly award. Earlier in the season, she scored two goals to help lead the Terriers to a 7-4 win over the University of Rhode Island.
Merkle opened this past weekend on Friday night with an assist in the Terriers' 3-1 victory over Hofstra. The win assured the Terriers a second-place finish in the final league standings and earned them a home-field advantage in the first round of the post-season tournament.
Ironically, the Terriers will host that same Hofstra team at 7:00 p.m. this Wednesday (November 3rd) in the tournament's first round.
Then, in the team's regular-season finale on Sunday, Merkle scored two goals, including the game-winner, in a 7-0 blanking of Drexel.
With the two goals, she brought her season total to six goals along with three assists for 15 points. She ranks third on the team in total scoring behind junior Deidre Enos (Milton, Mass), who has 16-436, and sophomore Nicole Soules (Springfield, VA), who has 6-416.
In addition, Merkle ranks 13th in scoring in America East with an average of 0.39 points a game.
I knew that Allison would be an excellent player for us, and she certainly hasn't disappointed us, said Terrier head coach Nancy Feldman, whose team finished the regular season with a 12-7-0 record overall and an 8-1-0 mark in the league. And, with her being a freshman, she is just going to get better.
Before her collegiate career is over, she will be a dominant player, continued the coach. Right now, she is an awesome player in the air. In fact, both her goals against Drexel were headers.
She also has great leadership qualities, and that's unusual for a freshman, said Feldman. She has been a terrific leader for us both on and off the field.
Allison has the special qualities on and off the field that you can build a team around, concluded the coach.
An All-State selection at Baltimore's Catholic High School, Merkle played both goalkeeper and center midfielder during her senior year. She was also a four-time All-Catholic League selection and a three-time All-City/County and All-Metro.
In addition to soccer, she played three years of varsity basketball and four years of softball.
