Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. –Standout forward Amanda McCardell has been selected as the WomensFieldHockey.com National Player of the Week for her efforts in the University of Delaware field hockey team’s two victories over the weekend.

McCardell, a native of Elkton, Md., scored a pair of goals during the week to help lift the Blue Hens over No. 12 Old Dominion and William & Mary. Guided by her efforts, those victories helped vault Delaware into the national polls. The squad currently sits at No. 17 in the NFHCA rankings, while the team is No. 12 in the WomensFieldHockey.com poll.

Against the Monarchs, McCardell scored a goal and set up another to lead the team to the upset victory. After Casey Howard opened the scoring with just under four minutes remaining in the first half, McCardell’s efforts directly led to an insurance goal less than one minute later. On the play, she took control of the ball in her own zone, weaved through the ODU defense, and eventually relayed a perfect pass to Carli Shutter, who hit Tori Karsten with a beautiful feed to set up the goal.

Following halftime, her continued pressure led to a Delaware penalty stroke after the Old Dominion goalkeeper took her out of a play. Although the Blue Hens could not convert the free shot, McCardell came back to light up the scoreboard herself after taking a pass from Alexis Esbitt and ripping it into the back of the cage at 53:06 in the second half.

The following day, McCardell picked up the game-winning goal against the Tribe after opening the scoring at 29:05. On the play, she carried the ball across the top of the arc before blasting a shot past the William & Mary goalie.

On the season, McCardell has appeared in all 11 games and ranks second on the squad with seven goals and 14 points. She currently stands ninth in the conference with a 0.64 points-per-game average, while her 1.27 goals-per-game rank 10th among league participants.

McCardell is the second straight Blue Hen to earn National Player of the Week accolades after senior captain Casey Howard was honored last week.

Along with McCardell, the website selected James Madison’s Tori Lindsey as the National Rookie of the Week.