WALTHAM, Mass. – Two members each from the Brandeis University fencing and softball teams have earned University Athletic Association Player of the Week honors for the week ending Feb. 27.
For the women's fencing team, junior Maggie Shealy of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was honored for the seventh time this season. Shealy was nearly perfect at the 2022 New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Championships on Saturday, February 26 at the Gosman Center, en route to the sabre title. She helped the Brandeis women to a fourth-place finish in the standings, while the men finished sixth. The Judges were fourth in the overall six-weapon combined championships. Shealy went 14-0 in the team competition, helping the Brandeis women's sabre squad finish in third place, just two wins behind MIT and Tufts. In the individual competition, she was 4-1 in pool play, earning the third seed, then won her elimination bouts 15-4, 15-12 and 15-11 to claim gold. The Brandeis women will fence against Drew University this weekend.
Senior Garrett Tordo of Framingham, Massachusetts, earned his first career UAA Athlete of the Week for the men's team. Tordo helped the Brandeis men's epee squad to a fourth-place finish at NEIFC Championships on Saturday. He went 7-4 in the team competition to reach the individual rounds. Tordo then went 3-2 in individual pool play to advance to the elimination bracket, falling, 15-10, in his quarterfinal match. The Brandeis men's and women's fencing teams will next compete together at the NCAA Regional Championships on March 13th.
Graduate student and centerfielder Melissa Rothenberg of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, was recognized as the UAA Softball Hitter of the Week. She paced the 22nd-ranked Judges a 6-2 West Coast swing to start the season, batting .448 with an .467 on-base percentage and .862 slugging percentage. She drove in 10 runs and scored five, stroking three doubles and three home runs. She went 3-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI in an 11-3 win over Occidental in game 2; 2-for-3 with a homer and 2 RBI in a 5-3 win at LaVerne; and 2-for-4 with a career-high 2 HR and 5 RBI, providing all the offense in a 5-2 win at Whittier. She was also perfect in center field in nine total chances.
Sophomore Alex Cohen of West Palm Beach, Florida, earned UAA Softball Pitcher of the Week honors. Cohen appeared in five of the Judges' eight games in California, going 2-1 with a 1.91 ERA and 16 K. She allowed 16 hits in 14.2 innings pitched. Cohen earned wins against Occidental with four innings of five-hit relief allowing one run with 5 Ks, and another in relief of a 3-2 walk-off win at Whittier throwing 3.2 innings of two-hit ball with four Ks. Her lone start was also her lone loss, going 3.0 innings of a 5-2 loss to Redlands, giving up 5 runs (3 earned) with three strikeouts. Brandeis softball returns to action with their first New England games at Simmons University on March 20 at 12 noon.
Shealy is a 2019 graduate of East Chapel Hill High School.
Tordo is a 2018 graduate of Framingham High School.
Rothenberg is a 2017 graduate of Lawrence High School.
Cohen is a 2020 graduate of The Benjamin School.
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