Field Hockey | 4/13/2020 12:21:34 PM
Parity ruled supreme during the 2019 fall season, with seven different institutions garnering Empire 8 Championships out of its eight sports. Four different programs won their first league championships. St. John Fisher College and Utica College were the lone institutions to win a pair of E8 titles. Check out a capsule of each of the eight 2019 Empire 8 Fall Championships below.
Women’s Tennis – Top-seeded St. John Fisher rolled to its first Empire 8 Championship in program history, with consecutive shutout wins over No. 4 seed Houghton and No. 2 Nazareth. Led by Empire 8 Tournament Most Valuable Player Mikayla Santulli and 2019 Player of the Year Kalli Saffran, the Cardinals rolled through the regular season with a perfect 6-0 league record and did not drop a set in the two postseason contests on Oct. 18-19.
Men’s Cross Country – Utica College won its second consecutive Empire 8 Championship in dramatic fashion on Nov. 2, rallying over the final 2,000-meters to nip Nazareth and Houghton with a team score of 49 points. Senior Mitchell Marlow took the individual title, pulling away over the final 4,000-meters to win by 35 seconds in a time of 26:03.5. Marlow, Kyle Engelhart and Hunter Reed earned top-eight finishes for Utica.
Women’s Cross Country – Senior Shelby Langlois pulled away late to win the individual crown and lead Houghton to its first Empire 8 title in any sport, as the Highlanders recorded a team score of 43 to defeat St. John Fisher by just two points on Nov. 2. Langlois finished six seconds ahead of the pack to win in a time of 23:14.2. Houghton senior Emily Blosdale placed fourth, while first-year Amanda Burrichter finished sixth to earn All-Empire 8 first team accolades.
Men’s Soccer – Top-seed Nazareth College won its fourth Empire 8 Championship and first since 2006 after defeating Elmira in the semifinals and Alfred in the title game on Nov. 9. Senior defender Dereck France, the Empire 8 Tournament Most Valuable Player and the Golden Flyers did not relinquish a goal in either postseason game and gave up just three goals in all Empire 8 action throughout 2019. Nazareth junior Jake Adams was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year as the Golden Flyers placed six student-athletes on the Empire 8 First Team and finished 14-3-3 overall.
Field Hockey – Third-seeded Hartwick College knocked off No. 2 seed Utica on Nov. 8 and No. 4 seed Nazareth the following day to claim its fourth Empire 8 title and first since 2005. The Hawks, led by Empire 8 Tournament Most Valuable Player Brooke Singer, used a balanced attack to out-scoring opponents 54-27 in 2019. First-year standout Sydney Gagnon was named Empire 8 Rookie of the Year after tallying 14 goals and 33 points.
Women’s Volleyball – No. 1 seed St. John Fisher finished 7-0 in regular season play before knocking off No. 4 seed Elmira and No. 3 seed Nazareth on Nov. 9 to win its first Empire 8 Championship in program history. St. John Fisher sophomore Alea Steigerwald was named the 2019 Empire 8 Player of the Year, E8 Tournament MVP and garnered AVCA All-New York Region and Honorable Mention All-American accolades in leading the Cardinals to a 23-11 record.
Women’s Soccer – Utica, the No. 4 seed in the Empire 8 Tournament, defeated top-seed St. John Fisher in the semifinal and No. 2 seed Hartwick in the championship on Nov. 9, to secure its first league title. The Pioneers scored in the final 10 minutes of regulation in both games, while Tournament Most Valuable Player Allison Wagner stopped all 16 shots she faced in the two games for back-to-back shutouts. The Pioneers, who were led offensively by 2019 E8 Offensive Player of the Year Mikayla Blumenstock (22 goals and 47 points) finished 12-6-1 on the season.
Football – The College of Brockport earned a share of its third straight Empire 8 title in 2019, by virtue of a 5-1 record in league play. Brockport would share the league title with SUNY Cortland but earned the nod as the Empire 8’s NCAA representative in the NCAA Tournament after rallying from a 23-0 deficit to defeat the Red Dragons, 32-26, on Nov. 2. The Golden Eagles won a first round game in the NCAA Tournament on their way to finishing 9-3 in 2019. Cortland also finished 5-1 in league play and 8-3 overall in 2019.
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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