The College of Staten Island fall sports seasons are in full swing, and as teams eye the playoff push, a total of five Dolphins this week were awarded weekly honors for performances a week ago. On the soccer pitch, the Dolphins swept Defender of the Week awards with Nicole Mignone on the women’s side and Ruben Diaz on the men’s side. Rookie of the Week honors were also awarded to CSI’s Stephanie LaPointe. On the cross-country circuit, Luke Jackson took home top honors on the men’s side with Runner of the Week, and wrapping things up, fellow newcomer Diana Sanchez scored a Rookie of the Week honor in women’s tennis.
The CSI men’s soccer team had a busy week, going 2-1 last week, and Diaz was a force on the back line that posted back-to-back shutouts against Hunter College and Bard College. The Dolphins kept chances at a premium and the defending CUNYAC Defender of the Year was a big reason why, logging 256 minutes on the back end. Diaz has played in all 15 games for the Dolphins amassing a goal on three shots.
Fellow defender Nicole Mignone is having a stellar freshman year for the Dolphins. The Dolphins went 1-1-1 on the week, but Mignone logged every minute in-between the pipes and posted another two shutouts to run her solo total to seven going into this week’s competition (she added her eighth on Tuesday). The run includes only having allowed two goals on their home field this season in almost 750 minutes of play. For the season, Mignone is 7-3-2 overall with a 0.83 goals against average and a save percentage of .737.
Fellow frosh Stephanie LaPointe had a big week punctuated by a heavy statistical line on Saturday vs. Medgar Evers. LaPointe scored her fourth goal of the season in the win, but it was her unselfish play, that included four assists that told the major story. The four assists were tied for the third-highest in CSI single season history. For the year she now has the four goals and five assists on 20 shots, and is third on the team in scoring overall with 13 total points.
Luke Jackson was a late addition to the CSI cross-country team, but he has literally hit the ground running. Jackson saved his best for CSI’s very own 8k meet this weekend at Staten Island’s Clove Lakes Park, where he clocked in with a time of 28:47.5, tops in the entire field, earning him the gold medal performance and helping CSI record a third-place finish, their highest of the season so far. It was the 2nd-fastest 8k time for CSI this season and the 14th-best 8k race time by a CSI runner in school history.
Another late addition to her respective team is Diana Sanchez with women’s tennis, but she helped CSI to a 1-1 record a week ago, winning both of her singles matches to boot. The biggest win came as the match clincher against John Jay College, when she recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 8-1, winner over JJC’s Dominique Dawkins to give her team the 5-4 win overall. To date, Sanchez is 3-1 in Singles this season, including a 3-0 mark against CUNYAC competition.
