Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531683
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 13 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Jack Fracyon — Men's Lacrosse Fracyon was the highest-ranked Nittany Lion on Inside Lacrosse's list of the top 50 players in the country in 2025, placing 14th. The senior goalie from Annapolis, Md., is coming off a junior season in which he led the Big Ten in save percentage (.589) and saves per game (13.88). Fracyon was named an All-American by Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine in 2024 and was the Big Ten's Specialist of the Year for the second sea- son in a row. Two other Nittany Lions players made this year's Inside Lacrosse top 50, with junior defender Alex Ross at No. 29 and senior midfielder Matt Traynor at No. 48. Tessa Janecke — Women's Ice Hockey With a goal against Syracuse on Jan. 18, Janecke be- came Penn State's all-time points leader. The junior forward from Orangeville, Ill., scored in the second period to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead on their way to a 4-0 victory. It was Janecke's 138th career point, one more than Natalie Heising amassed from 2017-22. Through Penn State's first 26 games, Janecke was lead- ing the Atlantic Hockey America conference in goals (17), assists (21) and points (38). She was one of the main reasons why Penn State was ranked sixth in the country with an average of 3.71 goals per game. Greg Kerkvliet — Wrestling Kerkvliet shared Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors with Maryland's Jaxon Smith after opening Big Ten competition by pinning Michigan State's Max Vanadia in just 56 seconds Jan. 10 at Rec Hall. The super senior heavyweight from Inver Grove Heights, Minn., took down Vanadia three times on his way to earning the first-period fall. Ranked second in the 285-pound weight class, Kerkvliet was 11-0 on the season heading into a Jan. 24 dual meet at Rutgers. He had won five of those bouts by fall and six by technical fall, including a 20-2 victory over No. 24 Harley Andrews of Nebraska on Jan. 17. Bridget Nemeth — So ball Coming off a 23-8 debut season at Penn State, Ne- meth was named the No. 12 pitcher in the nation by D1Softball heading into the 2025 campaign. The sopho- more from Glendora, Calif., was the third-ranked pitcher in the Big Ten behind Nebraska's Jordy Bahl (second) and UCLA's Taylor Tinsley (11th). Nemeth also was named a second-team preseason All-American by Soft- ball America. A year ago, she led the Big Ten and was 10th nationally with 210 innings pitched, and her 1.77 ERA ranked second in the conference. In addition to her 23 wins, she had 5 saves to help Penn State finish 35-20 and earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. — Matt Herb PENN STATE'S TOP PERFORMERS NEW! BWI Wrestling Show! BWI LIVE Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday Coverage of the Nittany Lions. News, game analysis, stories with T. Frank Carr EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 5 P.M. Your home for the Penn State Wrestling Show from Blue White Illustrated and Cael Sanderson's weekly press conference. www.youtube.com/c/bluewhiteillustratedvideo Listen to the podcasts on Apple and Spotify Watch all of our shows on YouTube on the Blue White Illustrated channel