E8 Athletes of the Week: September 23, 2013
E8 league standings began taking shape over the past week with several programs making it through their first conference contests unscathed. Football will start conference play this weekend, while cross country and golf continue to impress on the course.
Football Offensive Player – Ithaca
Jared Prugar, Senior, TE – York, ME/York
Tight end Jared Prugar had career-best totals of six catches and 165 yards in Ithaca's 17-3 win at Union, including a 56-yard reception. He is the first tight end for Ithaca to record a 100-yard receiving game since 2010.
Football Defensive Player – Salisbury
Jeremy Keith, Senior, DL- Centerville, MD/Queen Anne's
Jeremy Keith registered four sacks in Salisbury's 28-10 win at N.C. Wesleyan. The four sacks are the most by a Sea Gull since the 2008 season. Keith's four sacks totaled 31 yards lost, including an 11-yard sack on the game's final play. He also had five tackles the cost NC Wesleyan a total of 33 yards. To date Keith has 6.5 sacks on the season, which already ranks in the top 15 of single-season sack totals in program history. He ranks sixth in the nation in sacks this season (2.2 per game) and eighth in tackles for loss (3.0 per game).
Football Special Teams Player – Salisbury
Jerome Johnson, Sophomore, SL - Rehoboth, DE/Cape Henlopen
Jerome Johnson was key on special teams for Salisbury, taking three punts for a total of 69 yards and returning one kickoff for 47 yards.
Field Hockey Offensive Player – Utica
Louise Steele-Norton, Junior, Forward – Avondale, PA/Millbrooke School
Louise Steele-Norton tallied four goals to help Utica go 2-0 last week. On Wednesday, she netted two tallies in the Pioneers’ 3-2 win over Geneseo. She followed that up with two goals in a 4-0 conference-opening victory over St. John Fisher. With four goals last week, she broke the College’s career goal scoring record of 46, and became just the second person in program history to record 100 career points. On the season, she ranks second on the team with six goals and 13 points.
Field Hockey Defensive Player – Hartwick
Shannon Carter, Freshman, Goalie – Falls Church, VA/ JEB Stuart
Shannon Carter totaled 30 saves on the week for Hartwick. On Tuesday, she had 13 saves against Rochester and backed that performance with another solid outing in a 17 save performance against Stevens on Saturday.
Men’s Cross Country Runner – Ithaca
Stephen Gomez, Sophomore – Orleans, MA/Nauset Regional
Sophomore Stephen Gomez led the Bombers to a third-place finish out of 15 teams Friday at RPI's Saratoga Invitational. He clocked a career-best time of 26:28.80 to place 11th out of 170 runners on the 8K course.
Women’s Cross Country Runner – Utica
Ashton Villeneuve, Sophomore - Holland Patent, NY/Holland Patent
Ashton Villeneuve led the Pioneers to a 12th place finish at the RPI Invitational with a time of 17:57. Her performance stands as the second best 5k cross country time in school history, behind her record-shattering 17:55 effort at Cobleskill two weeks ago.
Men’s Golf Athlete – Elmira
Evan Clarke, Junior – Rochester, NY/Chili-Churchville
Evan Clarke began the week by winning the Oswego State Fall Invitational by two strokes with a 71 (E). His 71-card is his third lowest 18-hole round of his collegiate career. Evan also finished the first installment of the Empire 8 Men's Golf Championship in a tie for second place with a 150.
Women’s Golf Athlete – Ithaca
Sharon Li, Junior – Happy Valley, Hong Kong/Hong Kong International
Sharon Li was the individual medalist at the Mount Holyoke Invitational with a second-round score of 73 for a two-day total of 150. Li entered the final round two strokes behind a group of leaders, but her stellar effort on Sunday resulted in her eighth tournament individual title in the last nine events. She finished two strokes ahead of the second-place player. Ithaca finished second at the highly-competitive Mount Holyoke Invitational, being played at The Orchards. Ithaca finished with a two-day total of 631, and posted the lowest team score of the second round with a 314 in windy conditions. Ithaca finished 12 strokes behind Williams, which opened the tournament with a school-record score of 304. Williams was ranked eighth in the preseason poll, while Ithaca was ranked 15th.
Men’s Soccer Offensive Player – Houghton
Mitch Beattie, Freshman, MF – Maitland, ONT/St. Mary Catholic
Mitch Beattie scored the game winner in the 1-0 victory over previously unbeaten and No. 5 nationally ranked Stevens Tech.
Men’s Soccer Defensive Player – Utica
Anthony Caruso, Senior, Goalie – Easton, CT/Joel Barlow
Senior goalie Anthony Caruso, who recently recorded his 200th career save, tallied his first shutout of the season in the Pioneers 1-0 win over Naz on Saturday. It marked the first time Utica topped Nazareth since 2007. He now has 15 shut outs for his career. It was Caruso's school-record 33rd win. He made two particularly spectacular saves to secure the shut out and he totaled four saves on the afternoon against Naz. For the week he posted a 1.41 GAA and totaled ten saves, including six in the Pioneers' double overtime loss to Hobart.
Women’s Soccer Offensive Player – St. John Fisher
Alexandra Rohloff, Senior, M/F – Clarence, NY/Clarence
Alexandra Rohloff scored three goals and tallied one assist (seven points) as the St. John Fisher College Cardinals rolled to two wins last week. She peppered opposing goalies with nine shots including six against SUNY Fredonia.
Women’s’ Soccer Defensive –Hartwick
Hope Brown, Junior, Goalie – Sherburne, NY/Sherburne-Earlville
Hope Brown was stellar in goal for Hartwick this past week. On Wednesday against Bard, she had three big saves to keep the Raptors off the board in a 1-0 Hartwick victory for her second shutout of the season and the seventh in her career. Facing #9 Ithaca on Saturday, Brown stopped six shots and only surrendered a penalty kick goal in a near upset of the Bombers.
Women’s Tennis Player – Elmira
Ayaka Yoshino, Sophomore – Yokohama, Japan/Yokohama Futaba
Ayaka Yoshino led the Soaring Eagles to a perfect 2-0 record this week, which included an Empire 8 Conference win against Hartwick and a win against Houghton. Ayaka went 4-0 during the week playing at second singles and second doubles. She is currently riding an 8-match win streak; during this time Elmira has gone 4-0.
Women’s Volleyball Player – St. John Fisher
Megan Miller, Sophomore, OH – Lancaster, NY/St. Mary’s
Megan Miller posted 35 kills in four games last week as the St. John Fisher College Cardinals earned three wins including a fifth set come-from-behind win against previously unbeaten Elmira College. Against Elmira, she posted 12 kills, while tallying 13 against the University of Pitt-Bradford. In four games, she recorded 10 service aces, 49 digs and three total blocks.
Women’s Volleyball Rookie – Nazareth
Madi Wickens, Freshman, Setter – Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy
Madi Wickens helped Nazareth to three more victories last week as she amassed 90 assists (9.00 per set) in wins over Fredonia, Houghton and Hartwick. She also had six service aces and 31 digs.