College Update: Flintridge Prep’s Kareem Ismail is a force at Macalester College

The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.

Kareem Ismail (Flintridge Prep, 2013) Macalester College basketball freshman: It didn’t take long for Ismail to garner notice with the Scots.

Thanks in large part to a 27-point, 12-rebound performance in his team’s Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener, Ismail was named the MIAC’s men’s basketball player of the week.

Ismail added three assists to his 27 points and 12 rebounds in Macalester’s 79-76 conference win over Concordia-Moorhead on Dec. 5.

The former All-Prep League pick went 10 of 18 from the floor and sank seven of 10 free throws.

Two days later, Ismail had 10 points and six boards in a 70-57 conference loss to Bethel.

On Monday, Macalester fell to St. Thomas, 78-55, with Ismail notching seven points and six rebounds. Another former local, Crescenta Valley High product Dylan Kilgour, was Macalester’s leading scorer against St. Thomas, tallying 19 points with four three-pointers.

Kilgour leads the Scots with 17.9 points a game, while Ismail is second with 12.4. Ismail’s 6.3 rebounds per contest are also second on the team.

Kilgour is averaging 2.7 rebounds a game and is shooting 52% from the field with a team-high 27 three-pointers for Macalester (2-5, 1-2 in conference), which returns to the floor Tuesday at home against North Central.

Amanda Rose Johnson (Crescenta Valley High, 2010) Western Oregon soccer junior: Rose Johnson’s first season in a Western Oregon uniform came to a conclusion Nov. 7 in heartbreaking fashion, but it also brought to an end quite a memorable and successful campaign for the goalkeeper.

She totaled nine shutouts in 20 games (all starts) and tallied a 0.54 goals-against average. In addition, she never allowed more than two goals in a game, which occurred in just three matches.

The last of which was in a season-ending 2-1 overtime loss to Western Washington in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. Rose Johnson made six saves in the match, in comparison to just one by her Western Washington counterpart.

For her efforts, she was named the GNAC Newcomer of the Year and as the conference’s first-team goalkeeper. Rose Johnson, who transferred from New Mexico Highlands, tallied a season-high nine saves on Sept. 19 in a 1-0 loss to Seattle Pacific. She had six or more saves in four games, including in three of her last four matches of the season. She also had two separate runs of three consecutive shutouts.

Western Oregon went 9-4-6 and 7-3-4 in conference.

Sierra Rhoads (Crescenta Valley High, 2013) Vermont soccer freshman: A mainstay in the Falcons’ starting lineup for four seasons, the former All-CIF, All-Area and All-Pacific player got her share of playing time as a freshman for the Catamounts.

Rhoads played in 16 of 18 games, notching six starts.

Last season’s leading scorer for the Falcons, Rhoads played offense and defense. With the Catamounts, she played on the defensive side, though she did tally an assist, as her first-ever college point came on Sept. 13 and was of the game-winning variety as Vermont defeated Quinnipiac, 1-0.

Vermont finished the season on Oct. 31 with a 2-1 loss to Hartford in the quarterfinal round of the America East Women’s Soccer Tournament. The Catamounts went 6-9-3.

Savannah Viola (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2013) New Mexico soccer freshman: After the finest season in her high school career concluded in 2013, Viola wasted little time in asserting herself at the NCAA level at New Mexico.

New Mexico went 8-10-3 on the season, which concluded Nov. 5 with a 0-0 (4-2) season-ending result against Utah State in the conference tournament, and 6-3-1 in the Mountain West Conference. Viola saw playing time in 20 of her team’s 21 matches and was in the starting lineup 19 times.

She scored one goal, which came Sept. 6 in a 3-0 home win against Rice.

Tera Trujillo, another former Tolog who’s now with New Mexico, also scored her only goal of the season against Rice. Trujillo, an All-Area mainstay during her time at Flintridge Sacred Heart, was limited to 12 games and three starts due to an injury.

Bryan Luna (Crescenta Valley High, 2011) Pasadena City College football sophomore: Luna, a linebacker, participated in six games for the Lancers, finishing 25 tackles. Three of Luna’s tackles were for a loss and he added one sack.

Pasadena finished 1-9, 1-5 in the Northern Conference National Division.