University of Saint Francis forward Jason Walcutt has been selected NAIA national men’s soccer Player of the Week after helping lead the Cougars to their first conference championship since 2003.
Walcutt (Fort Wayne, IN / Carroll H.S.) is the first USF men’s soccer team member ever chosen for the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Offensive Player of the Week Award. Walcutt was named Crossroads League Player of the Week on Monday.
Walcutt scored three goals last week in USF win’s at Grace (2-1) and over Huntington (2-1) on Saturday. He scored both game-winners in the second half and scored both USF goals in the win over HU, which clinched a share of the 2013 regular season Crossroads League title.
USF finished 7-2 in CL play in 2013 after finishing 1-8 in 2012. The Cougars won 7 of their last 8 matches of the season to tie Indiana Wesleyan University for the CL title with 21 points apiece. USF finished 13-4-1 overall under Head Coach Mitch Ellisen, who is in his 15th season as the USF head coach. The win on Saturday over HU was his 300th match at USF and he is now 242-241-15 as head coach of the Cougars, all marks records in the 50th season of the USF soccer program and USF athletics. USF won its third conference title on Saturday, its third overall and second under Ellisen’s guidance.
His 2-goal effort against the Foresters on Saturday was his fifth multi-goal match this season and helped him clinch the CL regular-season goal scoring crown with 17, five in CL-only play.
The 6-foot-2 junior has 37 career goals and now is No. 6 on the USF list of top10 goal-scorers. Walcutt has 10 multi-goal matches to his credit.
USF enters the CL Tournament opening round at Bishop D’Arcy Stadium against No. 7 seed Taylor at 7:30 p.m. TU handed the Cougars one of their two CL setbacks.
Walcutt’s NAIA Rankings after play Oct. 14-19:
Ranks Number 2 in Division I in Total Game Winning Goals (6)
Ranks Number 4 in Division I in Total Goals (17)
Ranks Number 6 in Division I in Total Points (37.000)
Ranks Number 13 in Division I in Game Winning Goals per Game (0.330)
Ranks Number 19 in Division I in Goals per Game (0.940)
Ranks Number 42 in Division I in Points per Game (2.060)
The national office announced the winners Tuesday, Oct 22. Walcutt was chosen for his performance during the week of Oct. 14-19 and was selected out of a pool of conference, independent, and unaffiliated grouping award winners.
The University of Saint Francis, founded in 1890 as a comprehensive university in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, offers more than 60 undergraduate and 14 graduate programs in five schools: The School of Health Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Keith Busse School of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership, School of Professional Studies and School of Creative Arts. More than 2,300 students from a broad geographic region attend USF for its academic excellence. The university has a regional campus in Crown Point, Ind.
