Women’s soccer and men’s hockey split the major awards at the annual MacEwan Athletics’ Awards Banquet on Saturday night.
Grace Mwasalla (women’s soccer) and Ashton Abel (men’s hockey) were named the Female and Male Athlete of the Year award winners, respectively, while Amelia Russo (women’s soccer) and Ethan Strang (men’s hockey) captured Rookie of the Year honours.
Women’s soccer was also named the Murray Orvis Team of the Year for the second-straight season.
Women’s basketball captured the prestigious Cathryn Heslep Academic Team of the Year – presented to the team with the highest combined GPA – also winning it for the second-straight season.
It’s the fourth-straight year that a women’s soccer player has won the Griffins’ Female Athlete of the Year award and Mwasalla was most deserving. In leading Canada West with 15 goals in 2022 (second in U SPORTS), she broke a 27-year-old program record for the most goals in a single season by a Griffins women’s soccer player across all eras of play.
Mwasalla was named to both the U SPORTS and Canada West first all-star teams.
“I’m pretty proud to keep it in the soccer family, for sure,” said Mwasalla. “I’m feeling honoured and grateful to have received this recognition from MacEwan.
“One-hundred, per cent it was my incredible teammates and this coaching staff,” she added of how her prolific season happened. “I don’t think I’d be the person or player that I am without them. They’re all class players both on and off the pitch. They made my job 100 times easier this season. To be surrounded by exceptional players – it just motivated me all season to be a better player in order to inspire them.”
In his first season with the Griffins after transferring from Boston University (NCAA), Abel brought an elite level to MacEwan, breaking the program record for the most saves and most minutes in a Canada West season, while setting new standards for goals against average, save percentage and wins.
“It’s an awesome program to play for,” said Abel. “I think you have to give a lot of credit to the guys. They played a lot of great games in front of me, and we beat some awesome hockey clubs, so it’s just a great season overall. I had a lot of fun.”
Russo became the fifth-straight women’s soccer player to win the MacEwan Female Rookie of the Year award after a promising first-year campaign where she started 13 games at defensive midfield or centre-back, consistently keeping the best players in the conference in check. She was named to the Canada West All-Rookie team for her efforts.
“It feels really special,” said Russo. “I definitely couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches pushing me.
“I definitely sort of surprised myself. I always wanted to push myself to get to that level and coming in I was able to be pushed by my teammates to get to where I am.”
After leading the Griffins in goal-scoring with nine in his first season, Strang won the Male Rookie of the Year award, becoming the third men’s hockey player to do so. He broke three program rookie records and tied five others.
“It was obviously exciting,” said Strang of his incredible season. “I can’t take this award without thanking the boys and the coaching staff of the team for everything they’ve done for me. It means a lot to me as a first-year coming in. I’m just glad to win.”
The women’s soccer team saw its 2022 season end in the boardroom with a U SPORTS ruling that they would have to forfeit their first 11 games due to an ineligible player. Before that, though, they finished with the program's best record since joining Canada West in 2014 (12-2), led the conference in scoring (46 goals) and had the second-best goals against in Canada West (11 allowed in 14 games).
“It’s a special group of amazing student-athletes that I’m privileged and honoured to work with every single day,” said head coach Dean Cordeiro. “What they’ve been able to accomplish over these past couple years has been truly remarkable. This season, going 12-2 and setting a lot of new standards and program-bests, it speaks volumes of how much this group has accomplished, and we’re only getting started. It’s a young team. It’s a very motivated group and I’m excited about the future.”
Women’s basketball topped a list of five MacEwan teams with a combined GPA of 3.0 or higher to claim its second-straight Cathryn Heslep Academic Team of the Year trophy. The 13 student-athletes on the roster combined for an impressive 3.58 GPA in 2022/23. That topped the 3.508 they had to win the award in 2021/22.
“It’s incredible. They’re so studious and so disciplined. They’ve really made it a part of our identity and who we are. They’re really, really proud of the efforts they put in. It’s something they strive to achieve every year. Incredible group of young women and it’s well-deserved recognition.”
The MacEwan University Griffins are the eight athletic teams that represent MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, in four sports. The university's teams are members of U SPORTS and compete in the Canada West Conference.
This story was originally published at www.macewangriffins.ca on April 2, and was written by Jefferson Hagen.