Sentinel Player of the Week, Sept. 17-23: Sophomore Mariella Tsitsonis, Fall Mountain girls soccer

Christopher Detwiler, The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
Updated ·3 min read

Oct. 1—After a last-minute voting surge on Thursday morning, Fall Mountain sophomore Mariella Tsitsonis earned Sentinel Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 17-23, as selected by Sentinel readers.

Tsitsonis earned 669 votes during the week (42.3 percent) — just seven votes ahead of ConVal junior Emma Rodenhiser.

Tsitsonis — a member of the girls soccer team — scored four goals in three games during the week: the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Belmont on Tuesday Sept. 20 and a hat trick in a 4-1 win over Mascoma on Friday Sept. 23. The Wildcats went 2-1 during the week.

"My teammates also really contributed to my success," Tsitsonis said. "Our passing has been pretty good offensively. I think I was just in some really good spots."

The Wildcats have won four of their last six games and are 4-5 on the season and currently sit in 11th place in Division III. Fall Mountain has seven games left in the regular season. The top 16 teams make the playoffs.

"Moving the ball around has really helped us break down the defense of other teams," Tsitsonis said. "We have a strong midfield and other strong players and our wingers are really reliable, so that's really helped us."

Listen to the full interview with Tsitsonis at SentinelSource.com.

The sophomore is the team's leading scorer this season with five goals — four of which came this past week.

"She's been really assertive about finding space and taking her shots when she finds opportunities," said Fall Mountain head coach George Tsitsonis, Mariella's dad. "She's kind of turning it on a little bit this last week."

Rodenhiser finished in a close second place with 662 votes (41.8 percent). The junior led the Cougars' volleyball team to a five-set victory over Pelham on Monday Sept. 19 — the team's only match of the week. She had five aces, 16 kills, three blocks, an assist and six digs. Down 2-1 and with the fourth set tied at 14, ConVal grinded out the win to force a deciding fifth set, which also went to Cougars' way.

Fall Mountain senior Mitchell Cormier earned third place with 152 votes during the week (9.6 percent). Cormier had two matches and two Medalist honors during the week with the golf team. The senior earned Medalist with 26 team points on Wednesday Sept. 21 against Hopkinton, Woodsville and Littleton as the Wildcats went 1-2. The next day, Thursday Sept. 22, Cormier earned Medalist again, scoring 25 team points to lead the Wildcats to a 3-0 day over Gilford, Sunapee and Moultonborough.

Monadnock senior Jack Lorenz finished fourth with 100 votes (6.3 percent). During the Monadnock football team's nail-biting win over Inter-Lakes on Saturday Sept. 17, Lorenz played his first game in the backfield and ran for 109 yards on 12 carries, including an eight-yard touchdown run. He then stopped Inter-Lakes' potential game-tying two-point conversion with a sack in the second overtime. He had three sacks in the game.

Nominees for Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 24-30 will be announced in Monday's Sentinel, online at Sentinelsource.com and on Twitter @KeeneSentSports. You can submit nominations until Sunday here: www.sentinelsource.com/site/forms/playeroftheweek/player_of_the_week/.

Any questions, email Chris Detwiler at cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com.

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler.