Kendall grad named to 'elite team'

Former Kendall Eagle and 2004 All-Greater Rochester soccer team pick Laura Gaesser was named Player of the Week for the Mid-American Conference and became the first Central Michigan University player to be named to the Soccer Buzz Magazine "National Elite Team of the Week."

Gaesser scored two goals including the game-winning goal against Ohio University in the week of her honors in helping the Chippewas to the top of the league standings with five games remaining in the regular season.

The "elite team" is made up of just 11 players each week from among 300 colleges and universities competing in women's soccer at the NCAA Division I level.

Gaesser has played in all of the first 13 games for the Chippewas this season as a defender and has an assist with the pair of goals. She holds the Kendall record for career goals, which she set her senior season and is joined on the Central Michigan squad by Section Five products Jacquie Lacek from Aquinas, Kristen Hubright from Webster Thomas, Katy Boggan of Canandaigua, Kylie Armstrong of Albion and Carly Tydings from Webster Schroeder.

Central Michigan head coach Tony DiTucci is also a Section Five product, having graduated from McQuaid and St. John Fisher College. Prior to arriving at CMU, DiTucci was the head coach of the New York State West Women's Amateur Select Team. He led the team to the semifinals in the 2001 U.S. Region 1 Tournament and guided it to the finals in 2003. These accomplishments were both firsts for the NYSW Women's Amateur Team. From 2000-01, DiTucci was responsible for the turnaround of the Finger Lakes Community College women's soccer team and from 1998 until 2003, DiTucci also served as head coach for the Rochester Junior Rhinos Premier Soccer Club.

October 16, 2005