Two Trent Excalibur varsity soccer players, Katherine Munro and Chris Bascelli, both from Ottawa, Ontario, have been named October’s Boston Pizza Athletes of the Month.

Athletes of the Month awards are presented to outstanding Trent student-athletes in recognition of their commitment to varsity athletics, academics and the community. Each month, a male and female winner are selected from one of Trent’s 21 varsity teams and presented with a $25 gift card courtesy of Boston Pizza Peterborough

October’s female Athlete of the Month, Katherine Munro, is a Nursing student in her third year at Trent, who started her varsity career as a cross country runner before joining the varsity soccer team in 2011. Known for her excellent fitness level and tenacious athlete-to-athlete marking ability, she brings a positive attitude to training and games. Although she sustained a wrist injury early in the season causing her to miss two games, Ms. Munro trained hard and to make it back into the starting eleven. One of the highlights of Ms. Munro’s season with the Excalibur was scoring the winning goal against Ryerson in a 1-0 game to lead the Excalibur women to their highest overall finish in the last decade with three wins and a tie for 10 points and seventh place in the OUA. 

Excalibur Women’s Soccer coach Joe Muldoon, said: "Katherine is an outside midfielder with an extremely high work rate who has shown tremendous improvement in her game this year, her effort and determination are outstanding.”  

Off the field, Ms. Munro is a dedicated student and member of the community. Recently, she completed a two-week placement in Honduras with the School of Nursing. She raised $500 towards the Honduran community she was working in and brought several sets of used uniforms from Trent University and the Peterborough City Soccer Club to her adopted community. Ms. Munro called it “the most life changing experience ever.”

On the men’s side, Athlete of the Month honours went to defender Chris Bascelli, a third year Politics major, in recognition of his leadership both on and off the pitch.

“This skillful defender makes his teammates better by demanding that every player give their all,” said head coach Stuart Robertson.

Mr. Bascelli is also involved with the community, both here in Peterborough and in his hometown of Ottawa where he gives back by coaching kids.

Posted on Tuesday, November 6, 2012.