Athletes shine in trio of MIAA competitions

THIS WEEK’S HONORS — Clockwise starting in the top left: Josh Gibson (`19), Hillary Curry (`19), Darren Ford (`18) and Griffin Weigl (`18). (Hope College)

MEN’S GOLF: The Hope College Flying Dutchmen fall sports teams continue to surpass expectations, as seen in last week’s events. It began at Monday’s Aurora Men’s Golf Invitational where Junior golfer Josh Gibson (`19) shot a two-round score of 140 (72-68) to finish first among individuals. A second-straight MIAA Golfer of the Week Award coupled with a 15-stroke margin of victory seems to have solidified the strength and depth of this promising season’s roster.

WOMEN’S SOCCER: The performances kept on coming throughout the week, this time on the soccer field from Junior forward Hillary Curry (`19). With two game-changing performances, Curry made the selection for the MIAA Women’s Soccer Player of the Week an easy one. She scored three of the teams five goals during last week’s matchup, sealing victories against Albion and Adrian.

FOOTBALL: Saturday’s events at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium topped off the week’s stellar play in spectacular fashion. Making a dependable five-out-of-five field goals and tacking a 30-yard field goal on top ensured that Senior kicker Darren Ford (`18) carried his weight in the 38-point Dutchmen football outing. There’s no question that the team will rely on the Special Teams Player of the Week and his leg as competition picks up. On the defensive side of the ball, Senior linebacker Griffin Weigl (`18) anchored the dominant Hope defense with eight solo tackles that included a key sack in the game. Members of the defense seemed to follow Weigl’s lead en route to shutting out Defiance (Ill.) and limiting their offense to just 127 yards of production.