Contact: Brock Reisler, Assistant Executive Director, breisler@midwestconference.org
OSHKOSH, Wisconsin – The Midwest Conference (MWC) announced its Performers of the Week award recipients for games played September 1-7, 2025, on Monday.
MWC sports information directors nominate student-athletes for the Performer of the Week honor by sport and vote as a committee to select the winners.
For the fall season, Performers of the Week will be recognized every week on Monday (football, soccer) and Tuesday (cross country, women’s tennis, volleyball) once their seasons have been triggered (three MWC institutions competing) and will conclude the week prior to the sport-specific Conference tournament/championship.
The Performer of the Week award winners are as follows:
Football Defensive Performer of the Week
Gavin Carpenter, Monmouth College
Gavin Carpenter made quite the impression in his first career start with a MWC-best 14 tackles (15th nationally) on Saturday night at #9 Wartburg. He also delivered 4 TFL which leads the MWC and is 5th in the nation, added a sack and forced a fumble. Carpenter was all over the place as the Scots held Wartburg 12 points and 75 rushing yards below their 2024 averages. Of his 14 tackles on the night, 10 were solo and Carpenters TFL's resulted in 11 lost yards for the Knights.
Football Offensive Performer of the Week
Tyson Elliott, Illinois College
Elliott made his first career start on Thursday and helped the Blueboys post a 28-9 win over Greenville by going 22-for-30 for 252 yards with four touchdowns.
Football Special Teams Performer of the Week
Tad Tan, University of Chicago
Tan was excellent on Saturday in special teams and played a huge part in holding the potent Carnegie Mellon offense to just 20 points on the scoreboard. Tan punted the ball 9 times for 336 yards, an average of 336 yards per punt. He also ripped a 61 yard punt from his own endzone after penalties backed the Maroons up to their own 3. His 336 punt yards are also the most for a UChicago punter in over 15 years.
Men’s Soccer Offensive Performer of the Week
Jake Elmore, Cornell College
Elmore scored two goals and assisted on another in leading Cornell to its first win of the season, 6-0 over Minnesota Morris. The team's six goals tied for the most in a single match since the 2009 season.
Men’s Soccer Defensive Performer of the Week
Sam Satisky, Lake Forest College
Satisky came on as a sub in the 34th minute of Saturday's 2-1 Forester triumph at Dominican University and headed in a corner kick just three-and-a-half minutes later. He also converted a penalty kick opportunity in the 82nd minute shortly after re-entering the contest. That proved to be the game-winner after the Stars scored on a penalty kick with just over two minutes remaining. His first career two-goal performance came in just 28 minutes on the field.
Women’s Soccer Defensive Performer of the Week
Darby Wallig, Knox College
Sophomore Darby Wallig posted shutouts on back-to-back days to help Knox defeat both Aurora University and Coe College by scores of 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. On Saturday, she turned away six Spartan shots on goal to record the shutout, then added two more in the waning minutes of Sunday’s contest against the Kohawks to give the Prairie Fire their second victory of the weekend. The two wins match Knox’s total from the past three seasons combined, and the last time the Fire posted back-to-back victories was at the end of the 2021 season when they won nine straight to advance to the MWC Championship game. The last time a Knox goalkeeper posted shutouts in consecutive games was in October of 2022 (both ended as scoreless draws). With her performance this weekend, Wallig doubled her career shutouts total to four.
Women’s Soccer Offensive Performer of the Week
Izzy DeStefano, Lake Forest College
DeStefano contributed to five of the team's eight goals as Lake Forest posted a pair of victories last week. She scored the official game-winner and added two assists in Wednesday's 4-1 home-opening triumph over Aurora University. On Sunday the Foresters blanked St. Norbert College 4-0 on the road with DeStefano setting up the first two scores of the contest.