The Score 281123

It’s been an amazing week for our Alumni including multiple medal and award winners.  Here is how they went..

AFLW

Congratulations to Monique Conti on winning the AFLW Best and Fairest award for 2023.  After being close to winning the ‘W Award’ a few times in the past, this year she took her game to another level with an average of 28.5 disposals, 5.8 tackles and 7.3 clearances per game. 

She now becomes the first Richmond AFLW player to win the award.  Monique now adds to her impressive list of achievements in the game including being a five-time All-Australian, five-time club champion, once at the Western Bulldogs and four times at Richmond, a premiership player and best on ground in a grand final.

Taekwondo

Our congratulations to MSA Alumni and current Taekwondo Program Coach: Leon Sejranovic, who was awarded the prestigious Victorian Institute of Sport 2XU Rising Star Award.   Leon was presented with the award at the VIS Awards of Excellence last week, and this tops of an outstanding year for Leon.  

This Award is presented to an athlete who is eligible to compete in the 'age grade' category of their sport (maximum age U23) who has achieved outstanding sporting results during the year and excelled away from competition.   At 21 years of age, Leon won a Bronze Medal at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in Azerbaijan – a remarkable achievement.

Para Table Tennis

A fantastic result for MSA Alumni Nathan Pellissier in the past week at the Oceania Para Championships claiming gold medals in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.  Nathan confirming on the weekend he has now locked in spot for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.  Congratulations Nathan

Pacific Games

Our Alumni have also been in the Solomon Islands competing in the 2023 Pacific Games. Congratulations to Danny Vojnikovich who won Gold in the Judo Men’s 90kg Competition and also Gold in the Mixed Teams Comp. Taekwondo athlete Reba Stewart won Gold in the Welterweight 67kg Female competition, while in Swimming, Johann Stickland was 4th in Men’s 50m Breststroke for Samoa.

Hockey One

HC Melbourne have just missed out on a Grand Final spot by losing to the Brisbane Blaze in a penalty shootout in the semi-final of the Hockey One Men’s Competition.  Playing without star players and MSA Alumni Cooper Burns and Nye Roberts, the HC Melbourne team lost to Brisbane 10-9 in the shootout after finishing tied at 3 all after 4 quarters.  HC Melbourne went on to claim 3rd place in the competition when they beat the Tassie Tigers. Congratulations to the boys and also coaches Andrew Smith and Jessie Workman for a great season.

AFL Draft

Congratulations to Emerson Jeka who was picked up by Geelong in the rookie draft last week after being delisted by Hawthorn at seasons end.

AFLW Preliminary Finals

Brisbane v Geelong – Lions won by 4 points.

Georgia Prespakis had 21 disposals, 4 tackles 6 clearances.

Nth Melbourne v Adelaide – North Melbourne won by a point

North Melbourne - Amy Smith had 5 possessions and 2 tackles and will now play in the AFLW Grand Final this week.

A League

Seb Pasquali come on the field for Western United at the 67th min while Matt Grimaldi also came on in the 76th min in United’s 3-1 loss to Adelaide United.

A League Women

Naomi Chinnama started for Melbourne City in their 3-2 over Sydney.

Newcastle United had a 4-3 win over Canberra with MelindaJ Barbieri coming on in the 89th minute.

Annabel Martin played in the Central Coast’s 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory.

International Football

Connor Metcalfe came on in the 24th min in FC St Pauli’s 3-2 over Hansa

Badminton

Jacob Schuler played men’s singles in the Bahrain International Challenge and lost in the round of 32 in 3 sets.  Jacob now heads to Wales for his next competition.

The Score 211123

Once again, our Alumni and our current day student athletes have been mixing it with the World’s best.  Here are their performances.

Cricket

Fergus O’Neil took 2/33 and 2/24 with the ball and made 33 no and 27 no with the bat in Victoria’s 113 run win over Queensland in the Marsh Sheffield Shield.

Hockey

Cooper Burns, Connor Otterbach and Nye Roberts all played in the HC Melbourne 4-2 victory over the Canberra Chill on the weekend in the Hockey One Competition.  HC Melbourne now move into finals mode.

Meanwhile the final 18-man team has been named for the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2023.  Congratulations to Cooper Burns and Nye Roberts who have made that team.  The Burras depart for Kuala Lumpur on the 28th November ahead of the opening pool match against Argentina on the 5th of December.

Badminton

Jacob Schueler made it through to the Round of 16 in the Men’s Singles at the Bahrain International Series winning his round 32 match 2-1 and going down 25-23, 12-21, 10-21 in the Rd 16 match.  Jacob stays in Bahrain now for the Bahrain International Challenge before heading to Wales for the Yonex Welsh International Badminton Championships 2023.

Taekwondo

Australia won silver at the TKD World Cup Team Championships in Korea with 3 of the 4-man either MSA Alumni or current students. 

Australia’s team consisted of Alumni and MSA coach Leon Sejranovic, Jamie Cefai (year 12 MSA), Xavier Nikolovski (year 12 MSA ASP) and our head coach Will Afonczenko’s brother Tom.

Also, congratulations to Leon who has been nominated for the prestigious 2023 Victorian Institute of Sport 2XU Rising Star Award!

At just 21 years old, Leon won bronze at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. His remarkable achievement not only made him Australia's first male world championship medallist in nearly a quarter of a century but also put him on the path to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris!

Baseball

Both Declan Spiers and MSA Baseball Head Coach Daniel Chircop made their debut for the Melbourne Aces in the ABL.  Daniel as a first base coach for the team and Declan had 2 at bats in game number 3 of the 4-game series.  Current year 10 student Jayden Kim is also listed as a development player with the team.

A League Women

Annabelle Martin started for the Central Coast Mariners in their 1-0 win over Newcastle.

MelindaJ Barbieri (Newcastle) and Naomi Chinnama (Melbourne City) both came off the bench in City’s 3-2 win on Sunday.

International Football

Connor Metcalfe played a strong game for the Socceroos in their 7-0 win over Bangladesh in a World Cup Qualifier played in Melbourne.

AFL

Congratulations to Jordan Croft who was selected with pick number 15 by the Western Bulldogs as a father/son pick.  Jordan was initially selected by the Sydney Swans, but their bid was matched by the Bulldogs.

AFLW

Sydney v Adelaide – The Crows won by 67 points.

Sydney – Aliesha Newman had 5 disposals, 2 tackles and 2 marks for the Swans.

Melbourne v Geelong – Geelong by 5 points.

Melbourne – Libby Birch had 6 disposals and 1 tackle for Melbourne.

Geelong – Georgie Prespakis had 18 disposals, 13 tackles 5 clearances and 2 marks.

Congratulations to both Georgie Prespakis and Monique Conti who were selected in the initial squad of 42 players for the AFLW All-Australian team.  The team will be announced next Monday.

The Score 141123

It’s been another big week for our MSA Alumni with heaps of great performances in so many different sports.  Check these results out.

Hockey

Congratulations to Cooper Burns and Nye Roberts who have made the ‘Burras’ squad for the Hockey Men’s U21 World Cup in Malaysia to be played from the 5th -16th of December.  Australia’s opening pool games of the tournament will be against Argentina, Chile and Malaysia.

A League Men

Seb Pasquali come onto the ground at the 82nd minute for Western United in their 1-0 loss to Newcastle.

A-League Women

Naomi Chinnama come onto the ground at the 84th minute for Melbourne City in their 4-3 win over Western Sydney.

Annabelle Martin played the whole game for the Central Coast Mariners in their one all draw with the Brisbane Roar.

International Football

Polly Doran played a critical role in Crystal Palace’s 3-2 victory over Lewes in the FA Women’s Soccer League Div 2.

Connor Metcalfe received a yellow card in FC St Pauli’s nil all draw with Hannover 96 over the weekend.  Connor has also been named in the Socceroo squad for their World Cup Qualifiers this week.

Basketball

Johnny Furphy has once again troubled the scorers in only his second game as a freshman for the Kansas Jayhawks in NCAA Div 1 men’s basketball Johnny playing 20 mins with 3 rebounds and 15 points inc. 3x3 pointers.  Click here to watch Johnny’s highlights from this game against Manhattan

Cricket

Darcy Gregory-Francis and Bailey Toseland have both made the Cricket Victoria U19 cricket team for this year’s nationals in Albury in December

AFLW

Gold Coast v Sydney Swans – Swans by 17 points

Sydney – Aliesha Newman had a quiet day for Sydney in their win. She had 3 disposals and 2 marks.

Geelong v Essendon – Cats by 18 points

Geelong – Georgie Prespakis had 23 disposals, 9 clearances and 2 tackles.

Essendon – Georgia Nanscawen had 21 disposals, 8 clearances and 8 tackles.

Melbourne v Nth Melbourne – Kangaroos by 41 points

Melbourne – Libby Birch had 10 disposals, 2 tackles and 3 marks.

North Melbourne – Amy Smith had 13 disposals, 7 tackles and 2 clearances.