Astel, Sorge and Ricchiuti Named ECAC All-Stars
Metro-Region | North - Region
DANBURY, Conn. – The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) released its Division III All-Stars and Stevens Institute of Technology's Kaitlyn Astel, Nazareth's Sam Sorge and Ithaca College's Ali Ricchiuti were honored. Astel was a first-team all-star in the Metro region, while Sorge was first-team in the North region and Ricchiuti was second-team in the North.
Astel closes out her career on Castle Point as one of the top players in program history. She was recently named Empire 8 Conference Offensive Player of the Year for the third year in a row to become the first three-time honoree in conference history. The Staten Island native averaged 16.8 points per game, which ranked third in the conference and led the E8 in field goal percentage (.458). She reached double figures in 20 games this season, including nine with 20 points or more.
The high-scoring guard finishes her career ranked third on the school's all-time scoring list and is ranked in the top five in both field goals and free throws made. Astel set a new school record with her 36-point performance against St. John Fisher earlier this season and her career 15.1 points per game scoring average places second on the Stevens career list.
Sorge led the Empire in scoring with 20.6 points per game in conference play. Prior to Nazareth's season-finale against Stevens, Sorge had scored in double figures in each of the previous 24 games – that streak included a career-high 35 points against Elmira College on January 24
th. The Webster native went over the 1,000-point plateau earlier in the season and finishes her career with 1,230 points. She goes down as the all-time Nazareth leader in 3-pointers made with 188 on 39.5 percent from the field. In addition, Sorge averaged 5.5 rebounds per game. Her 85.7 percent free throw percentage (48-for-56) was tops in the conference and 41.6 field goal percentage third.
Ricchiuti finished her career on South Hill with 1,015 points, which ranks in the top 15 all-time in program history. She averaged 11.4 points per game this season over 29 games played, en route to being named first-team all-conference by the Empire 8 as well as the Most Outstanding Player of the Empire 8 Championship. She led Ithaca to a 25-4 record this season and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship. The Bombers, who racked up 90 victories over the past four seasons, won two Empire 8 titles and played in three NCAA Tournaments with Ricchiuti on the team.
To go along with the 1,015 points in 114 career games, Ricchiuti also tallied 423 rebounds and 227 assists. She posted career-highs of 30 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists over the span of four years.