Sport Briefs
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: Sports
Unlike The Flame, UIC athletics didn't stop during winter break. Here is what we missed in the past month:
Dundjer caps career with All-American nod
Flames senior midfielder Pavle Dundjer capped off his stellar collegiate career as an All-American when the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) announced that Dundjer was named to the 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America Third Team.
This is the first All-America honor for Dundjer, who was a three-time All-Region selection and the first-ever four-time All-Horizon League First Team honoree.
The senior co-captain scored five goals and assisted on three others for 13 points during a 2007 campaign in which he helped the Flames win the Horizon League Tournament for the first time in seven years and advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the first time in school history.
Dundjer finished his UIC career with 24 goals, 13 assists and 61 points in four years.
He becomes the third individual from UIC to earn All-America accolades. Eric Lukin was a two-time All-America, earning Second Team honors in 1999 and Third Team accolades in 2000, while Tonci Skroce was a Second Team All-America last season.
Bubonja named a Soccer America MVP
UIC sophomore goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja was named a Soccer America 2007 Men's Second Team MVP when the teams were released December 20.
Bubonja turned in a school-record 12 shutouts to help guide the Flames to their first Horizon League Tournament title since 2000 and UIC's first-ever Elite Eight finish in the NCAA Tournament.
The second-year keeper finished the 2007 campaign with a goals-against average of 0.56, which ranked ninth in the country.
Bubonja allowed just three goals in the Flames' final nine matches, including an eight-match stretch prior to UIC's final contest in which he allowed only a penalty kick goal.
In addition to his honor from Soccer America, Bubonja was also named a College Soccer News All-American and earned 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-Great Lakes Region First Team honors.
Collins nabs two Chicago prospects
UIC head men's basketball coach Jimmy Collins officially announced late last semester that Jelani Poston (Chicago, Ill./Harmony Community School of Cincinnati) and Zavion Neely (Chicago, Ill./John Hope College Prep) have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Flames beginning in the 2008-09 campaign.
Poston is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward. Currently attending Harmony Community School in Cincinnati, Poston averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds per game as a junior at Chicago's Boys to Men Academy last year.
Rivals.com lists Poston as the top power forward prospect in the Horizon League.
"Jelani is already big and strong and he is going to get bigger," said Collins. "He is the kind of young man who tracks down rebounds, the type of rebounder who reminds me of [former Flames standout] Armond Williams.
Neely is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound high-scoring combo guard from Hope College Prep on Chicago's South Side. He is considered one of the top players in the Chicago Public League's competitive Red Central.
"Zavion is a good combination guard who can shoot the basketball and is extremely quick and athletic," said Collins. "We think he will come under the same type of mold as [current UIC guard] Robo [Kreps] in that he'll be a combo guard for us."
Granderson to be inducted
Former Flame outfielder and current Detroit Tiger standout Curtis Granderson headlines the Class of 2008 UIC Athletics Hall of Fame inductees.
Granderson, fellow UIC baseball player Ron Christopher, women's basketball star Penny Armstrong, acclaimed gymnast Roger Wojtkiewicz and track-and-field standout Liz Crowder will be honored at the 2008 Reunion and Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, Jan. 18 at The Carlisle in Lombard, Ill.
The athletes will also be honored at halftime of the men's basketball game against Detroit on Saturday.
Granderson set the UIC single-season records in batting average (.483), hits (100) and runs (78) in 2002. Despite being drafted in the third round of the MLB draft as a junior, the fleet-footed Granderson also set UIC career-record with 178 runs scored, led UIC in home runs (9), doubles (23), triples (4), RBI (45), total bases (158), slugging percentage (.763), walks (32), on-base percentage (.562) and stolen bases (17).
Dundjer caps career with All-American nod
Flames senior midfielder Pavle Dundjer capped off his stellar collegiate career as an All-American when the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) announced that Dundjer was named to the 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America Third Team.
This is the first All-America honor for Dundjer, who was a three-time All-Region selection and the first-ever four-time All-Horizon League First Team honoree.
The senior co-captain scored five goals and assisted on three others for 13 points during a 2007 campaign in which he helped the Flames win the Horizon League Tournament for the first time in seven years and advance to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the first time in school history.
Dundjer finished his UIC career with 24 goals, 13 assists and 61 points in four years.
He becomes the third individual from UIC to earn All-America accolades. Eric Lukin was a two-time All-America, earning Second Team honors in 1999 and Third Team accolades in 2000, while Tonci Skroce was a Second Team All-America last season.
Bubonja named a Soccer America MVP
UIC sophomore goalkeeper Jovan Bubonja was named a Soccer America 2007 Men's Second Team MVP when the teams were released December 20.
Bubonja turned in a school-record 12 shutouts to help guide the Flames to their first Horizon League Tournament title since 2000 and UIC's first-ever Elite Eight finish in the NCAA Tournament.
The second-year keeper finished the 2007 campaign with a goals-against average of 0.56, which ranked ninth in the country.
Bubonja allowed just three goals in the Flames' final nine matches, including an eight-match stretch prior to UIC's final contest in which he allowed only a penalty kick goal.
In addition to his honor from Soccer America, Bubonja was also named a College Soccer News All-American and earned 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-Great Lakes Region First Team honors.
Collins nabs two Chicago prospects
UIC head men's basketball coach Jimmy Collins officially announced late last semester that Jelani Poston (Chicago, Ill./Harmony Community School of Cincinnati) and Zavion Neely (Chicago, Ill./John Hope College Prep) have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Flames beginning in the 2008-09 campaign.
Poston is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward. Currently attending Harmony Community School in Cincinnati, Poston averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds per game as a junior at Chicago's Boys to Men Academy last year.
Rivals.com lists Poston as the top power forward prospect in the Horizon League.
"Jelani is already big and strong and he is going to get bigger," said Collins. "He is the kind of young man who tracks down rebounds, the type of rebounder who reminds me of [former Flames standout] Armond Williams.
Neely is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound high-scoring combo guard from Hope College Prep on Chicago's South Side. He is considered one of the top players in the Chicago Public League's competitive Red Central.
"Zavion is a good combination guard who can shoot the basketball and is extremely quick and athletic," said Collins. "We think he will come under the same type of mold as [current UIC guard] Robo [Kreps] in that he'll be a combo guard for us."
Granderson to be inducted
Former Flame outfielder and current Detroit Tiger standout Curtis Granderson headlines the Class of 2008 UIC Athletics Hall of Fame inductees.
Granderson, fellow UIC baseball player Ron Christopher, women's basketball star Penny Armstrong, acclaimed gymnast Roger Wojtkiewicz and track-and-field standout Liz Crowder will be honored at the 2008 Reunion and Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, Jan. 18 at The Carlisle in Lombard, Ill.
The athletes will also be honored at halftime of the men's basketball game against Detroit on Saturday.
Granderson set the UIC single-season records in batting average (.483), hits (100) and runs (78) in 2002. Despite being drafted in the third round of the MLB draft as a junior, the fleet-footed Granderson also set UIC career-record with 178 runs scored, led UIC in home runs (9), doubles (23), triples (4), RBI (45), total bases (158), slugging percentage (.763), walks (32), on-base percentage (.562) and stolen bases (17).
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