Region 20 Announces Athletes of the Month for September
Congratulations to the NJCAA Region 20 Athletes of the Month for September, 2024. The Region recognized eight student-athletes from seven member institutions.
DI Men's Soccer
Xavier Fernandez-Mendia, Fr., GK, Montgomery
Fernandez-Mendia posted a .66 goals against average in nine starts for the Raptors in September. He allowed just five goals in 678 minutes between the pipes, making 25 saves. Fernandez-Mendia had a 7-0-1 record in the month with three solo shutouts and two combined shutouts.
DI Women's Soccer
True Benshoff, Fr., F, Hagerstown
Benshoff scored 30 goals on 39 shots on goal in 10 games in September, adding five assists. She scored multiple goals in all but one game for the Hawks, netting four game-winners and scoring on her lone penalty kick attempt. Benshoff scored five goals and had an assist against Middlesex on September 7, adding three four-goal games and a pair of hat tricks.
DII Men's Soccer
Bartu Yakkan, So., M, CCBC Essex
Yakkan scored 14 goals and assisted two others in 11 September games for the Knights, who went 8-3 in the span. He had four games with two or more goals, and three games with hat tricks, scoring the game-winner on three occasions. Yakkan tallied points in eight of 11 games, and scored his three hat tricks in consecutive games between September 17 and 26.
DII Women's Soccer
Sara Allwine, Fr., F, College of Southern Maryland
Allwine averaged more than two goals per game in September, scoring 16 goals in seven games while adding six assists. She had six goals and an assist against Trinity Washington on September 5th, and recorded two more hat tricks and a brace in the month with three seven-point games.
DII Volleyball
Karley Badorf, Fr., OH, Carroll
Badorf averaged 3.84 kills per set and 3.89 digs per set in September to lead the Lynx to their best start in program history. She had a 20/20 game at Garrett College with 20 kills and 20 digs. Badorf recorded double-digit digs in 9 of 10 matches in the month and double-digit kills in all 10. In an upset win over Southern Maryland, she had 14 kills and 27 digs.
DIII Volleyball
Josie Russo, Fr., MH, Butler County
Russo led the Pioneers to a 15-0 start to the season and the No. 8 ranking in NJCAA Division III. She averaged 4.07 points and 2.9 kills per set, hitting .473 in September. Russo also added 1.39 blocks per set in the month. She recorded a career-high 18 kills in a five-set win at Cuyahoga on September 6th, which was one of six double-digit kill efforts in the month.
Men's Cross Country
Will Campbell, Fr., Hagerstown
Campbell was the top two-year finisher in all three meets in the month. At the Galen Piper Cross Country Challenge hosted by Shippensburg, Campbell completed the 6k course in 21:17.0. At the Shenandoah Twilight Invitational the following week, Campbell ran the 6k course in 20:48.3 to finish 18th overall. Two weeks later back at the same course for the Hornet Harrier Invitational, Campbell finished ninth overall with an 8k time of 29:58.7
Women's Cross Country
Addison Lease, Fr., Potomac State
Lease finished fourth at the Westmoreland Invitational and in 11th place at the Shenandoah Invitational in the only two meets for the Catamounts in the month. Lease cut more than two minutes off her fourth-place time to place as the top two-year runner at the Shenandoah meet.