(Posted November 18, 2000)

THEW EARNS A FIRST-TEAM NOD/SILVEY TABBED AS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Huntingdon, PA ? Four Juniata College field hockey players were named to the Commonwealth Conference all-star squads this fall. Junior forward Jen Thew (Line Mountain/Herndon) was named to the first team, while senior back Jeanean Chiusano (Freehold/Freehold, NJ) and junior goalkeeper Liz Allard (Mohawk Trail Reg./Shelburne, MA) were tabbed with second-team honors. In addition, freshman midfielder Jean Silvey (Red Lion/Airville) was selected as the Commonwealth Rookie of the Year. All four received the first all-conference honors of their respective College Hill tenure.

Thew led the Eagles in scoring this fall with 24 points. She posted 11 goals and two assists and started all 19 games for Juniata this year. She scored both goals for the blue and gold in a 4-2 loss versus Cabrini in the Drew Fall Fest Tournament on September 3. Thew passed out the initial assist of her career during a 1-0 win over Washington (MD). During a mid-season stretch, she scored one goal in five consecutive contests, including game-winners against Albright, Elmira and Dickinson. Thew also registered the net-finder in a 1-0 season-ending triumph at Slippery Rock. She also had a team-best eight defensive saves. She now has 14 goals and two assists in her career.

Allard took over as the club's starting goalkeeper seven games into the year. She reached double digits in saves five times this year, including a career-best 17 stops against Elizabethtown when she faced 21 shots. She added 12 more to her totals in two separate outings this fall. For the season, Elias finished with a personal-best 106 saves, an .822 save percentage and a 1.74 goals-against average. She posted four shutouts and tallied a record of 6-7.

Chiusano started all 19 games for Juniata on the defensive line. Although she was kept off the scoring chart during the 2000 campaign, she finished second on the team in defensive stops with three. Chiusano aided Juniata's defensive effort in four shutouts and during one stretch the Eagles gave up just three goals in five outings.

Silvey made an immediate impact on the Juniata program with four goals and four assists during her rookie season. She finished tied for second on the club with her cage-finder total and she was second as well in her four helpers. Silvey started all 19 games for the Eagles and wasted little time getting into the scoring column with a goal in the season-opener (a 2-1 loss to Franklin & Marshall). The very next outing, she had an assist against Cabrini. Silvey's first-half goal at Dickinson tied the contest, 1-1, and enabled Juniata to go onto a 2-1 triumph. In addition, she had a goal and an assist versus Moravian and she had the assist on the game-winning goal against Indiana (PA).

The Eagles finished the 2000 campaign with a 7-12 overall record and a 2-5 mark in the Commonwealth.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.