Rio Spruenken is this week's North Dakota Petroleum Foundation Female Athlete of the Week. Spruenken has made an immediate impact for the 4-0-1 UMary Women's Soccer already covering a lot of ground on the pitch and leading the Marauders in overall points with 6. This weekend was Spruenken's time to shine for the Marauders soccer team, currently still undefeated with the first two NSIC games under their belts. Mary Meeks and Eli Olsen already enjoyed NSIC Defensive Player of the Week honors, and Olsen was the NDPF female athlete of last week. On Friday at the 59:39 mark into the second half, fellow Freshman Kira Hockley played a great ball into the back line, allowing Kendra Park to set up the opportunity for Rio's first collegiate career goal, which turned out to be the game-winner in the 2-0 victory over St. Cloud State. Later on Sunday afternoon, UMary quickly found themselves trailing Minnesota Duluth, but not for long as Spruenken played a ball deep down the center of the field giving Olivia Gardner the chance to score in a footrace for 30 yards to the net. That assist gave Gardner her first career goal and the tying goal in the 1-1 draw against the Bulldogs. Spruenken is a freshman midfielder from Krefeld, NRW, Germany.
