Student Athlete of the Week (10-1)
MAAC Sports
Eric Elgin, Rider University
The 2013 Rider men’s soccer team got off to its best start (5-1) in 21 years in large part to team captain Eric Elgin. A senior center back from Mechanicsburg, PA, Elgin is a veteran of 56 games and has started 47 games for Rider, including every game this season. An accounting major with a 3.97 cumulative grade point average, Elgin has helped Rider lower its goals against average from 2.44 last year to 0.66 this year. Playing almost every minute of every game, the two-time MAAC All-Academic team member has received high praise from his head coach. “In my 25 plus years coaching on the college level, Elgin is the best leader I have ever had,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso, who has seen over 40 of his former players become college or high school coaches. The only senior on the young Rider squad, Elgin leads through example on and off the field. Off the field, Elgin is the President of the Catholic Campus Ministry at Rider. As the main defender on the field, he has led Rider to the best goals against average in the MAAC.
Jess Rusin, Quinnipiac University
Senior forward Jess Rusin (Garwood, N.J.) currently boasts a 3.57 grade-point-average while majoring in physical therapy. Last week, in a 5-0 win against Holy Cross, Rusin scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season and 29th of her career. It was also the fourth-year Bobcats' 69th career point, tying her with Catie Canetti '01 for second place all-time at Quinnipiac, trailing all-time point leader Heather Cady’s ’02 79 career points. Additionally, her 29 career goals rank third all-time trailing Canetti (30) and Cady (32) for the all-time record. To date, she leads Quinnipiac with six goals while her 14 points rank second on the Bobcats’ roster.