LOCK HAVEN — Mars graduate Mani Brueckner earned two of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s highest honors for her freshman season on the Gannon University soccer team.

Brueckner, who scored 10 goals and added 13 assists for Gannon, was named the conference’s Women’s Soccer Athlete and Freshman of the Year.

Brueckner led all of NCAA Division II in assists per game and became the first player since Sarah Romasco in 2006 to earn both Athlete and Freshman of the year in the same season.

Slippery Rock University head women’s soccer coach Noreen Herlihy was named Coach of the Year after guiding The Rock to the PSAC title. SRU plays in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 on Friday at West Chester.

Herlihy has led SRU to 17 straight winning seasons.

Huskies split pair over weekendPITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Huskies U16AA hockey team split a pair of games over the weekend.The Huskies earned a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Predators on Saturday, before dropping their first PAHL game of the season 5-3 to the North Pittsburgh Wildcats on Sunday.Dustin Davis, Cam Williams and Nick Makozy scored for the Huskies (5-1) in Saturday’s win, while Nick Whann, Christian Miller, Connor Scott and Makozy tallied assists. Goalie Cley Pujol recorded 15 saves.Davis, Scott and Marcus Krstonich had goals in Sunday’s loss on assists from Ethan Marie and Bobby Kinsey. Clay Bachman registered 23 saves in net.

Butler dog wins championshipMARIENVILLE — Chip’s Uncle Buzzy, owned by Butler’s Steve and Ginny Chiappini, was named the winner of the Grand National Grouse Championship on Saturday.The championship was held in the Allegheny National Forest and Buzzy was one of 70 dogs competing for the title. Buzzy was sired by Needlepoint Bigbad Jon. His dam was Chip’s DD.

Steelers release rookie Ta’amu PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have parted ways with troubled rookie nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu and added wide receiver David Gilreath to the 53-man roster.Ta’amu was chosen by the Steelers in the fourth round of the NFL draft but has yet to play in a game. He was suspended two weeks without pay last month following a run-in with police in the city’s South Side neighborhood that resulted in more than a dozen charges, including multiple felonies.