Historic Fall Jumpstarted AU’s 2022-23 Great Midwest Presidents’ Cup Title Run

Winning an all-sports championship at any level is a team effort – every team, in fact. In 2022-23, Ashland University's athletic department won its first Great Midwest Athletic Conference Presidents' Cup championship – the athletic department's first conference all-sports title in a quarter century. And in order to win the Presidents' Cup, Ashland athletics needed every single point it earned – from all 23 teams which scored in conference-sponsored sports during the past school year.
 
Over a three-day period, GoAshlandEagles.com will take a look at how it happened, starting today with the historic 2022 fall season.
 
FINAL 2022-23 POINT TOTAL: 170
FALL 2022 POINT TOTAL: 50

• 13 – volleyball
• 11 – women's soccer
• 10 – men's soccer
• 9 – football
• 4 – men's cross country
• 3 – women's cross country

WINTER 2022-23 POINT TOTAL: 56
SPRING 2023 POINT TOTAL: 64
 
CONFERENCE SUCCESS LEADS TO AU ATHLETICS FALL FIRST
The fall of 2022 marked the first time in Ashland athletics history that the football team, the volleyball team, and the men's and women's soccer teams all earned spots in the NCAA Division II postseason at the same time. That doesn't happen without highly-successful Great Midwest finishes – and for the purposes of the Presidents' Cup, football won the league title, volleyball had the circuit's top regular-season record, and the men's and women's soccer teams each finished second during the regular season (both won their respective Great Midwest Tournaments to automatically qualify for the D-II playoffs).
 
VOLLEYBALL DOMINATES EN ROUTE TO HOSTING GREAT MIDWEST TOURNAMENT
When you win every conference regular-season match except one (16-1), there isn't necessarily one key moment which allowed the Eagle volleyball team to help the athletic department bring home the Presidents' Cup. Of those 16 wins, however, 14 of them came by a 3-0 count.
 
WOMEN'S SOCCER CONTINUED AS ONE OF GREAT MIDWEST'S FRONT-RUNNERS
After losing 2-1 at Cedarville on Sept. 17, the Eagle women's soccer team went 8-0-2 to finish the Great Midwest regular-season slate – allowing only four goals in those 10 games. Ashland boasted eight clean sheets in 14 conference games, then blanked both Walsh and the host Yellow Jackets in the Great Midwest Tournament.
 
NEW-LOOK MEN'S SOCCER ROSTER LIFTS EAGLES TO NEW HEIGHTS
Ashland's men's soccer team finished second in the Great Midwest regular-season standings by one point over Lake Erie – but that's just part of the story of the Eagles' 2022 season. Ashland lost each of its first two league games, and each of its last two league games in the regular year, but went 9-1 in the middle. The Eagles then won both Great Midwest Tournament games to earn the right to play host to the program's first D-II home playoff game at Ferguson Field. All of that came with a roster which was almost completely turned over from 2021.
 
FOOTBALL TAKES GREAT MIDWEST TITLE IN OWENS' FINAL SEASON
Head coach Lee Owens' final season guiding the Eagle football program was a memorable one. The Eagle defense's first drive of the Great Midwest season ended with an interception by senior safety Jourdan Swett, and that set the tone for a 28-3 win at Findlay on Sept. 10. Ashland then defeated both Ohio Dominican (14-7) and Tiffin (28-20) at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field on back-to-back weeks – leading to the Eagles winning the conference title by one game over the troika of the Panthers, Oilers and Dragons.
 
CROSS COUNTRY ADDS KEY PRESIDENTS' CUP POINTS AT LEAGUE MEET
At the 2022 Great Midwest Championships, Ashland's men's cross country team finished in eighth place, and the Eagle women in 11^th place. Those seven combined Presidents' Cup points were key in an all-sports race decided by one point.
  Volleyball – Kevin Foeman (Coach of the Year), senior middle blocker Anna Krikke (first team), fifth-year setter Zoey Peck (first team), fifth-year outside hitter Erin Krupar (first team), sophomore outside hitter Makenna Belcher (first team), junior libero Katie Thompson (second team), sophomore right-side hitter GraceAnn Hartman (third team), and freshman middle blocker Abby Stanford (third team).
 
Women's soccer – Fifth-year center back Rylie Howman (Defensive Player of the Year and first team), junior center back Maddy Grabowski (first team), senior forward Bailey Clark (first team), sophomore forward McKinley Mendenhall (first team), freshman forward Dani Hicks (second team), fifth-year midfielder Georgia Nagucki (second team), and senior goalkeeper Bri Rogers (second team).
 
Men's soccer – Nick Roberts (Coach of the Year), sophomore goalkeeper Ty Bowden (Goalkeeper of the Year and first team), freshman center back Francesco Chiappo (Freshman of the Year and second team), fifth-year forward Haruki Kimura (first team), and junior midfielder Matthew Roberts (second team).
 
Football – Lee Owens (Coach of the Year), senior linebacker Michael Ayers (Player of the Year and first team), redshirt freshman center Ethan Enders (Freshman of the Year and second team), senior quarterback Austin Brenner (first team), junior tailback Larry Martin (first team), junior left guard Nehemiah Cannon (first team), senior right tackle Gavin Posey (first team), senior right guard Sam Puthoff (first team), junior defensive end Jeffrey Barnett (first team), sophomore cornerback Devin Prude (first team), senior safety Jourdan Swett (first team), junior tailback Gei'vonni Washington (second team), redshirt freshman left tackle Nick Walker (second team), senior wide receiver Logan Bolin (second team), senior wide receiver Garrett Turnbaugh (second team), junior defensive end Deeb Alawan (second team), senior defensive tackle Nick Cone (second team), senior whip Jordan Mosely (second team), junior linebacker Jackson Myers (second team), senior safety Justin Moore (second team), sophomore kickoff returner Jent Joseph (second team), and redshirt freshman kicker A.J. Rhodes (third team).