Kelly Williams and Stewart Reich Earn GBC October Athlete of the Month Honors
PIKE CREEK, Del. – Sophomore Kelly Williams of the women’s soccer team and freshman Stewart Reich of the men’s cross country team have been named Goldey-Beacom College male and female athletes of the month for the month of October.
Both of these athletes put up impressive numbers and cracked into the school’s all-time record books with their performances this past month. Williams, who earned Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference honorable mention the last two consecutive weeks, took sole possession of third place on the school’s single-season goal list with 11 and became the first GBC women’s soccer player to score four goals in a game since 2006. Reich, who earned CACC rookie of the week twice in October (three times this season), ran the school’s second-fastest 8K (26:59) at the Don Cathcart Invitational hosted by Salisbury University.
Williams, a native of Copiague, N.Y., had an electrifying October as she tried to reenergize a struggling Lightning team. She scored nine of the team’s 15 goals in seven games this past month, including the gamewinner in both of GBC’s wins.
Always a threat to score, Williams took a team-high 22 shots, putting 15 on goal (.682 SOG%) over the course of the month. After two frustrating games against Nyack and Holy Family where she put herself in great opportunities to score goals but came up empty, Williams broke through for the game-opening goal in a 3-0 win against Concordia on Homecoming (10/16).
A week later, she would tally twice in a 3-2 loss at Post (10/23). Williams single-handedly erased a 2-0 Lightning deficit by scoring two consecutive goals to force a 2-2 tie before GBC ultimately surrendered a goal in the second overtime session. The very next day, the Lightning hosted Felician, and Williams netted two more goals in another 3-2 GBC loss.
Finally, Williams exploded for four goals in the Lightning’s 8-0 thumping of Lincoln in the home season finale on Oct. 29. There she scored the first goal of the game just minutes in and set the tone for what would be a dominant performance by the Lightning from start to finish.
An accounting major, Williams came to GBC from Copiague High School on Long Island, N.Y. There she was an All-League Suffolk County selection in 2009 and twice named All-Conference. At Goldey-Beacom she has 12 career goals. Her 11 goals this season rank fourth in the CACC and her 22 points rank seventh.
Reich, a Frederick, Md. native, has led the men’s cross country team in every race this season. In four races this month, he placed in the overall top-50 in each one, including a fifth-place performance with a time of 29:14 in the GBC Fall Classic on the very challenging Carousel Park course.
October also included a 16:31 finish (33rd overall) at the 5K Nevins Invitational hosted by East Stroudsburg University. Reich, who hit the mile mark at 5:00 and the 2-mile mark at 10:30, improved his 5K time from the first meet of the season on Sept. 11 by 44 seconds.
An accounting major, Reich came to Goldey-Beacom from Gov. Thomas Johnson High School where he was a two-year letterwinner in cross country and track and was a First-Team All-County selection by the Frederick News Post. He figures to be a strong candidate for CACC rookie of the year.
Reich and the Lightning had this past weekend off as they prepare for the CACC Championships in Philadelphia on Sun., Nov. 7.
Previous Winners:
September 2010: Ricky Jackson, Laura Cure
April 2010: Michael Coppa, Cailin Cavanaugh
March 2010: Devon Ripley, Lauren Witzke
February 2010: Sam McDuffie, Devonne Richardson
January 2010: Terrence Parkes, Janae Weldon
December 2009: Kyle White, Jacinda Jones
November 2009: Ben Kinley, Elizabeth Williams
October 2009: Chris Steele, Vanessa leon Velasquez
September 2009: Angel Rodriguez, Luciana Pereira
