With playoff positions on the line the last two weeks,
Union's fall student-athletes have risen to the occasion. The Liberty League has recognized the
efforts of the young women and men in Garnet uniforms and has rewarded those
efforts with league honors.
This week junior soccer forward Cassandra Mariani
(Boonton, NJ/Morris Catholic) picked up her third soccer “Offensive
Performer of the Week” while freshman soccer forward Christopher Poey
(Amherst, MA/Amherst Regional) earned his second-straight “Rookie of the
Week” award. Junior soccer goaltender Matt
Mayerhofer (Wappinger
Falls, NY/John Jay)
earned the Liberty League's “Defensive Player of the Week” while sophomore football
running back Tom Arcidicano
(Castleton, NY/Columbia) was named the circuit's “Offensive Player of the
Week.”
Mariani
had two goals in the 5-0 victory over Vassar and two goals, including the
game-winner, in the 6-0 win over RPI.
She now has team-high 14 goals, which ranks her second in the Liberty
League's overall statistics, including six game-winning tallies (also a Union
high and second in the league). Her 33
points lead the Dutchwomen and rank third in the conference.
Poey
scored a goal in the Dutchmen's 3-1 win over Vassar and netted the only tally
in a 1-0 double overtime win over Rensselaer.
He now has a team-high seven goals, including three game-winners. The twin wins clinched the Dutchmen's
first-ever Liberty League playoff spot and assured the 9-6-0 Dutchmen of a winning
season for the fourth consecutive year.
Mayerhofer,
a converted defensive player who took over in goal after senior Kevin O'Connor
was injured and lost for the year in the seventh game of the season, has played
every minute since and has a 4-2 record with three shutouts. He had three saves in the win over the
Brewers and three more in the double OT victory over the Red Hawks, the
Dutchmen's fourth-straight win.
Arcidiacono
became the third Dutchman to be recognized by the Liberty League after carrying
the ball 35 times for a career-high 226 yards in Union's 19-7 win over the
United States Coast Guard Academy. The
victory, the Dutchmen's fourth-straight, improved their league record to 4-0
and their overall standard to 4-2.
Arcidiacono, who did not have a negative carry, scored on touchdown runs
of one and four yards, and out-gained the Bears' entire offense, which finished
with 209 total yards.
The week of October 18 was also good one for the women and
men student-athletes as all four nominees earned Liberty League honors.
Sophomore forward Jessica Trotter (St. Louis, MO/John
Boroughs) picked up her second field hockey “Offensive Performer of the
Week” helped the Dutchwomen to a 2-0 week by scoring in victories over
Castleton State (6-1) and Elmira (3-2).
In the game against Elmira Jessica scored her 10th goal of
the season with 4:55 left to rally the Dutchwomen (who had fallen behind
2-0). Trotter's 10 goals are the most
since Yvonne Turchette scored nine in 2000, and the team's five victories are
the most since posting six in 2001.
Jessica has four of the Dutchwomen's five game-winning tallies.
Junior forward Mariani picked up her second soccer
“Offensive Performer of the Week” while junior goaltender Julie Gawronski
(Dunkirk, NY/Dunkirk) earned her first “Defensive Performer of the Week”
award.
Maraini, who earned the award for the first time the week of
September 13 after being named the Most Valuable Offensive Player of the Heron
Cup, helped the Dutchwomen to road victories over Oswego (3-0), Skidmore (2-0)
and Hartwick (6-0). She contributed
three goals (two of which were game-winners) and an assist.
Gawronski, meanwhile, kicked out all eight shots she faced
in the 3-0 week, including six in the Liberty League victory over Skidmore.
Maraini and Gawronski join senior forward Brittany
Cressman (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) as the Dutchwomen who have been recognized
by the Liberty League so far this season.
Cressman has been named the “Offensive Performer of the Week” twice, the
week of September 6 and the week of October 11.
Poey earned the soccer team's first league honor of
the year as he was named the “Rookie of the Week.” Poey earned the award after picking up
his second game-winning tally in a 1-0 non-league victory over St. Joseph's of
Maine.
NICHOLS NAMED ECAC “PLAYER OF THE WEEK”
Elise Nichols (Pittsfield, MA) was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I women's ice hockey “Player of the Week” after she led Union over the weekend with six goals in two games to help the Dutchwomen win back-to-back games against Sacred Heart. In the first contest, Nichols scored a pair of goals, including a short-handed tally in Union's 7-3 win over the Pioneers. The following day, the sophomore forward had another short-handed goal and the game winner in a four-goal outburst to lead the team to a 7-1 victory. Nichols made Union women's hockey history, becoming the first player to score four goals in a game. It also marked the first time that the Dutchwomen has ever swept a Division I opponent.
The Dutchwomen are now 2-2.