WePlayed Sports Players of the Week - Oct. 20

October 20, 2025

Football

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference announced its WePlayed Football Players of the Week for games played during week seven of the 2025 season. Wingate's Elijah Holmes was named the Offensive Player of the Week and Carson-Newman's Cruz Temple was named the Defensive Player of the Week, while Wingate's Caleb Bonesteel was named the Special Teams Player of the Week.

Holmes, a sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., led the Bulldogs to a road win over No. 22 Emory & Henry on Saturday. Holmes connected on 17 of his 28 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown and added a 17-yard rushing touchdown as Wingate came away with a 27-20 victory.

Temple, a senior from Abbeville, S.C., notched nine tackles and his unit held Anderson to just six points in a 28-6 win on Saturday. He added a tackle for loss and was part of a defense that tallied 15 quarterback hurries, the most in a game in the last 15 years of Carson-Newman football.

Bonesteel, a senior from Dawsonville, Ga., had another flawless week of kicking, helping Wingate pick up the in at Emory & Henry. He connected on both of his field goals, while also connecting on all three PATs. Bonesteel's 37-yard field in the first quarter started the scoring and he added a 27-yard field goal late in the first half to give the Bulldogs a 13-10 advantage.

2025 SAC Football Players of the Week

Offensive Player of the Week

Sep. 1 – Jordan Jackson, Emory & Henry
Sep. 8 – Khamoni Robinson, Lenoir-Rhyne
Sep. 15 – Preston Brown, Catawba
Sep. 22 – Zane Whitson, Carson-Newman
Sep. 29 – Daniel Thomas, UVA Wise
Oct. 6 – Reed Charpia, Newberry
Oct. 13 – Bryson James, Anderson
Oct. 20 – Elijah Holmes, Wingate

Defensive Player of the Week

Sep. 1 – Evan Simons, Catawba
Sep. 8 – Mikey Blandin, Newberry
Sep. 15 – Sakarri Morrison, Mars Hill
Sep. 22 – A.J. Burgess, Emory & Henry
Sep. 29 – Ean Rhea, Emory & Henry
Oct. 6 – Evan Simons, Catawba
Oct. 13 – Carter Wit, Anderson
Oct. 20 – Cruz Temple, Carson-Newman

Special Teams Player of the Week

Sep. 1 – Caleb Bonesteel, Wingate
Sep. 8 – Burke Nettles, Newberry
Sep. 15 – Elijah Swett, Anderson
Sep. 22 – Rivers Teeter, Wingate
Sep. 29 – Cam Peoples, Emory & Henry
Oct. 6 – Trace Butcher, Emory & Henry
Oct. 13 – Jake Snapp, Wingate
Oct. 20 – Caleb Bonesteel, Wingate

Volleyball

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference announced its WePlayed Sports Volleyball Players of the Week for matches played during week seven of the 2025 season. Anderson's Mia Elder was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Catawba's Riley Hill brought home Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Elder, a sophomore from Leland, N.C., led Anderson to a 3-0 week which pushed the teams winning streak to double digits. Elder tallied 44 kills, good for 4.00 kills per set, as Anderson swept Lenoir-Rhyne and beat Tusculum and UVA Wise in four. She hit .378 for the week, including a .500 hitting percentage with 11 kills and one error against LR. She added 16 digs and 12 blocks in the monster week and the 17 kills against Tusculum were a career high.

Hill, a junior from Salisbury, N.C., anchored the Catawba defense in a two-sweep week with 60 digs, 11 assists and two service aces. On a per-set basis, she averaged 9.00 digs per stanza in Saturday's shutout of Tusculum as her 27 total digs was one shy of her season high, which was achieved in a five-set contest. Hill was solid in service as well, tallying two aces with no service errors.

2025 SAC Volleyball Players of the Week

Offensive Player of the Week

Sep. 8 – Maya Van Heyst, Wingate
Sept. 15 – Emerson Ahsmuhs, Carson-Newman
Sept. 22 – Sydney Morland, Wingate
Sept. 29 – Emmaleigh Allen, Lenoir-Rhyne
Oct. 6 – Sydney Morland, Wingate
Oct. 13 – Emmie Modlin, Lenoir-Rhyne
Oct. 20 – Mia Elder, Anderson

Defensive Player of the Week

Sept. 8 – Maddie Hoffman, Wingate
Sept. 15 – Maddie Hoffman, Wingate
Sept. 22 – Hadley Prince, Lenoir-Rhyne
Sept. 29 – Emily Johnson, Wingate
Oct. 6 – Jamie Juhnevicz, Anderson
Oct. 13 – Maddie Hoffman, Wingate
Oct. 20 – Riley Hill, Catawba

Men's Soccer

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference announced its WePlayed Sports Men's Soccer Players of the Week for matches played during week six of the 2025 season. Lenoir-Rhyne swept the week, with Hector Taboada named the Offensive Player of the Week and Tomas Fontes bringing home Defensive Player of the Week honors. This is the second straight week LR has swept the weekly honors.

Taboada, a junior from Barcelona, Spain, helped Lenoir-Rhyne to a 2-0 week with wins over Mars Hill and Carson-Newman, both by 3-0 final scores. In the win over C-N, Taboada tallied LR's first hat trick since 2021 and accounted for all three of the Bears goals. He added three shots on goal in the win over Mars Hill on Oct. 15.

Fontes, a senior from Arouca, Portugal, has now posted four straight clean sheets with two more this week. In the aforementioned wins over MHU and C-N, Fontes stopped all four shots on goal and helped the Bears extend their unbeaten streak to six straight.

2025 SAC Men's Soccer Players of the Week

Offensive Player of the Week

Sep. 9 – Guillermo Garcia, Lenoir-Rhyne
Sep. 16 – Mate Kenyeres, Catawba
Sep. 23 – Gian-Carlo Kama, Lincoln Memorial
Sep. 30 – Mila Mzamane, Emory & Henry
Oct. 6 – Jean-Charles Eyidi, Emory & Henry
Oct. 13 -- Voro Peris, Lenoir-Rhyne
Oct. 20 – Hector Taboada, Lenoir-Rhyne

Defensive Player of the Week

Sep. 9 – Josh Moore, Mars Hill
Sep. 16 – Franco Antoniolli, Anderson
Sep. 23 – Ismael Caria, Coker
Sep. 30 – Daniel Benedek Miklosi, Lincoln Memorial
Oct. 6 – Noe Delmotte, Tusculum
Oct. 13 -- Tomas Fontes, Lenoir-Rhyne
Oct. 20 – Tomas Fontes, Lenoir-Rhyne

Women's Soccer

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference announced its WePlayed Sports Women's Soccer Players of the Week for matches played during week six of the 2025 season. Catawba's Ella Matthews was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Tusculum's Marja Enste brought home Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Matthews, a junior from Huntersville, N.C., scored both game-winners on 8th-ranked Catawba's 2-0 week. Matthews fired the game-winning score with 14 seconds remaining in the 1-0 win over 4th-ranked North Georgia for Catawba's highest ranked win in program history. Later in the week, she added another second-half, game-winner in the win at Emory & Henry.

Enste, a senior from Aachen, Germany, scored the match-winning goal in the 90th minute in the Pioneers 1-0 win over Emory & Henry on Wednesday. Her free kick from 30 yards out with 28.9 seconds remaining was punched into the air by the E&H keeper, but the ball spun into the net for the dramatic win. Earlier in the match, Enste cleared a ball off the line to prevent a would-be Wasps goal. She helped Tusculum to a 2-0 week with a pair of clean sheets.

2025 SAC Women's Soccer Players of the Week

Offensive Player of the Week

Sep. 9 – Bree Ehmer, Catawba
Sep. 16 – Molly Bukiewicz, Carson-Newman
Sep. 23 – Lucia Hidalgo, Lenoir-Rhyne
Sep. 30 – Ansley Douty, Anderson
Oct. 6 – Tilde Wahrenberg, Wingate
Oct. 13 – Morgan Delair, Catawba
Oct. 20 – Ella Matthews, Catawba

Defensive Player of the Week

Sep. 9 – Madison Gutierrez, Newberry
Sep. 16 – Berna Kabakci, Carson-Newman
Sep. 23 – Jenni Dähne, Catawba
Sep. 30 – Annika Fend, Carson-Newman
Oct. 6 – Aliyah Morgan, Anderson
Oct. 13 – Rhyan Parkin, Coker
Oct. 20 – Marja Enste, Tusculum

Field Hockey

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference announced its WePlayed Sports Field Hockey Players of the Week for games played during the week of October 13–19, 2025. Newberry's Parker Keeler was named the Offensive Player of the Week, while Belmont Abbey's Cecilia Müller was named the Defensive Player of the Week.

Offensive Player of the Week – Parker Keeler, Newberry

(Jr., F – Bridgeville, Del.)
Keeler powered Newberry's offense in a dominant 2–0 week, totaling four goals and three assists for 11 points in road victories over Barton and Lincoln Memorial. She opened the week with a goal and an assist in a 5–0 win at Barton, then recorded her third hat trick of the season and added two assists in a 6–0 victory at Lincoln Memorial. Keeler finished with a .500 shooting percentage and a .750 shots-on-goal rate, also converting a penalty stroke. Her explosive performance helped the Wolves extend their winning streak with back-to-back shutouts.

Defensive Player of the Week – Cecilia Müller, Belmont Abbey

(Sr., D – Santiago, Chile)
Müller anchored a dominant Belmont Abbey defense that recorded a pair of shutouts in wins over Lincoln Memorial and Coker. The Crusaders did not allow a single shot against LMU and limited Coker to just one shot on goal across both matches. A steady leader on the back line, Müller has started every game this season, guiding a unit that continues to set the standard defensively in conference play.

2025 SAC WePlayed Sports Field Hockey Players of the Week

Offensive
Sept. 9 – Amparo Figueroa, Converse
Sept. 15 – Parker Keeler, Newberry
Sept. 23 – Wibien Dahmen, Newberry
Sept. 30 – Sarah Schumacher, Belmont Abbey
Oct. 7 – Emma Westbrook, Newberry
Oct. 14 – Emma Westbrook, Newberry
Oct. 21 – Parker Keeler, Newberry

Defensive
Sept. 9 – Svenja Brandt, Wingate
Sept. 15 – Payton Keeler, Newberry
Sept. 23 – Ayanda Mangenah, Newberry
Sept. 30 – Ayanda Mangenah, Newberry
Oct. 7 – Lily Willard, Belmont Abbey
Oct. 14 – Ayanda Mangenah, Newberry
Oct. 21 – Cecilia Müller, Belmont Abbey