General | 11/18/2019 12:57:21 PM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on Nov. 18, 2019 for games played from Nov. 12-Nov. 17. It is the 12th Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2019-20 season.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Bobby Connors, Hartwick, So., F, Rockville Centre, NY/Chaminade
Connors was named Hartwick Basketball Tip-Off Tournament Most Valuable Player, while leading the Hawks to three wins during the week. He enjoyed a career-best outing in the championship game Saturday, registering a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds in an 87-80 victory over Farmingdale State. He had six offensive rebounds, four 3-pointers and three blocked shots, which equaled a career-high. Connors added eight points, five boards, four assists, two blocks, and two steals in a 91-65 win over CCNY Friday night.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Billy McCrae, Houghton, Fr., F, South Washington Township, NJ/South Washington Township
McCrae averaged 8.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in his opening week as a Highlander over the course of three games. On Friday, McCrae had 12 points, eight boards and three blocks versus Scranton. He also added eight boards and three blocks against Pitt.-Bradford.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Sydney Przygoda, Utica, So., F, Freehold, NJ/Freehold
Przygoda averaged 20.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, while shooting a remarkable 77 percent from the field (17-of-22) in two wins. On Tuesday, she had 20 points and 16 rebounds as Utica defeated Potsdam by an 83-57 score. She was 8-of-13 from the field, and 4-of-5 at the foul line in the weeknight win. She added 21 points on perfect 9-for-9 shooting and seven rebounds in just eighteen minutes played in an 84-30 win over Wells on Saturday.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Ryann Stefaniak, Nazareth, Fr., G, Batavia, NY/Batavia
Stefaniak averaged 9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game for the week as she helped Nazareth to a 3-0 start and the championship of the Mike Daley Invitational. She had 10 points in the season-opener at Medaille and then added nine against Cobleskill and eight points versus Buffalo State.
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Andrew Ford, St. John Fisher, So., Clinton, NY/Clinton
Ford was the top Empire 8 finisher, placing 56th overall out of 300 runners at the 2019 NCAA Atlantic Region Championship, hosted by St. Lawrence University on Saturday. Ford completed the 8,000-meter event in a time of 26:23.9. He made a strong late push to gain 15 spots over the last 2,000-meters and finish just under three seconds faster than teammate Bernard Daoust.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
RUNNER OF THE WEEK – Kaitlyn Stinson, Utica, Gr., South Kortright, NY/South Kortright
Stinson qualified for the 2019 NCAA Championships after recording her best finish at the Atlantic Region Championship and the second-best regional finish in school history at St. Lawrence on Saturday. She recorded a 17th place finish out of 274 runners, clocking a time of 23:06.1 over the 6,000-meter course and improved her time by over a minute from the pre-regional meet held one month ago.
FOOTBALL
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Kinsey Williams, Morrisville, Sr., RB, Rome, NY/Notre Dame
Williams collected 96 yards net rushing and two touchdowns against a stingy Brockport defense that entered the game allowing opponents an average of just 28.3 yards per game. Williams’ touchdown with 1:51 remaining in the third proved to be the game winner, as the Mustangs toppled No. 22 Brockport 24-21 to hand the Golden Eagles their first conference loss since the 2016 season. He now has 903 yards rushing with an Empire 8 best 16 scores in 2019.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Jack Derby, Utica, Sr., DE, Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville
Derby had a senior day to remember on Saturday as the Pioneers won their final home game with a dominating defensive performance, 58-14 over Hartwick. Derby had six tackles, 1.5 sacks, and 1.5 tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble that later led to points and intercepted a pass at the line of scrimmage and ran it back 16 yards for a third quarter touchdown.
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Joe Dotterweich, St. John Fisher, Jr., K, North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda
Dotterweich kicked the game-winning field goal on Saturday as the Cardinals defeated visiting Alfred University, 31-28, to close out the regular season. Dotterweich totaled 11 points in the win overall after going 3-for-3 in field goal attempts with two extra points. Dotterweich connected from 21 yards, 22 yards and hit a game-winning 28-yarder to cap off a perfect day.
MEN’S SWIMMNG & DIVING
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Yury Chernyack, Hartwick, Sr., Breaststroke/Individual Medley, Sidney, NY/Sidney
Chernyak was a part of four wins in Saturday's victory over rival Oneonta, three individual and one relay. He started off his day by swimming the second leg of the 400-yard medley relay in 58.53 seconds en route to an over ten-second win for the Hawks. Individually, he set Moyer Pool records in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events, with respective times of 57.66 seconds and 2:06.20 (both also top-ten times in program history). He later added in a win in the 400-yard individual medley in the final individual race of the day, touching up in 4:20.37.
WOMEN’S SWIMMNG & DIVING
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – Abby Schwartz, Hartwick, Jr., Freestyle/Backstroke, Olean, NY/Olean
Schwartz dominated the freestyle events in Saturday's win over Oneonta, with three individual victories and one relay win. She set season bests in the 200-yard freestyle (2:01.89), 500-free (5:27.01), and 1,000-free (11:08.37) and also helped the Hawks set a season best in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a third leg split of 57.22 seconds.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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