General | 9/6/2022 12:51:40 PM
Below are the Empire 8 Players of the Week, released on September 6, 2022, for games played from September 1-September 4. It is the first Empire 8 weekly honors release of the 2022-23 season. Sports featured include men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball.
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
RUNNER OF THE WEEK – Nathan Bowers, Nazareth, Sr., Endicott, NY/Owego Free Academy
Bowers finished fifth overall at the fourth annual Fisher-Rodenbeck Early Season Invitational Friday in a time of 19:48.2 over the 6,000-meter course. He averaged a 5:18.7 mile time and edged out teammate Matt Reimann for the top E8 finisher by just under two seconds.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
RUNNER OF THE WEEK – Amanda Burrichter, Houghton, Jr., Fillmore, NY/Fillmore
Burrichter finished in fifth place overall at the Highlander Short Course Invitational on Thursday. Burrichter ran a time of 15:14.2 over the 4,000-meter course, which was the fastest time by any Empire 8 runner during the week over that distance and was the fastest 4,000-meter time by a Houghton women's cross country runner since joining the NCAA Division III ranks in 2012. It is her third straight top-six finish dating back to last season.
FIELD HOCKEY
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Cassie Deppner, Medaille, Fr., F/M, Burlington, Ontario/Nelson
Deppner provided the Mavericks offense during the week in her first two collegiate games, scoring twice to go along with three shots on goal. On Sunday, she scored both of Medaille’s goals on two shots against Transylvania.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – MeganRae Burke, Elmira, Jr., GK, Medford Lakes, NJ/Saint Joseph
Burke opened the season by recording a combined 38 saves through two matches for the Soaring Eagles. Burke set a then career-high mark with 17 stops against Wilkes before notching a personal-best 21 saves against Brockport on Saturday. She has a .776 save percentage through two matches.
FOOTBALL
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – JJ Laap, Cortland, Jr., WR, Stony Brook, NY/Ward Melville
Laap broke the Empire 8 and Cortland single-game records with 312 receiving yards as the No. 16 ranked Red Dragons opened the season with a 48-28 win over visiting Wittenberg on Saturday. His 312 yards eclipsed the previous conference record of 311, set by Jack Phelan of Hartwick in 2008, while he smashed the previous school record of 267 yards set by Frank Burm in 1982. Laap finished with nine catches, including 90-yard and 49-yard touchdowns along with other catches of 51, 44, 35 and 20 yards.
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Nate Palmer, Utica, Gr., WR, Verona, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherill
Palmer recorded 222 receiving yards on eight catches while finding the end zone four times in Utica's 43-28 win over the University of Rochester on Saturday. Palmer's first touchdown tied the game at seven on a 41-yard reception. His next two receiving touchdowns came on 19 and 39-yard passes with the 39-yard dart extending the team's lead to 29-21. His final score of the game came in the 4th quarter on a 48-yard pass.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Jeremy Gerdvil, Hartwick, Sr., LB, East Northport, NY/Northport
Gerdvil recorded 11 tackles, including six solo to go along with 3.5 tackles for a loss and a pair of sacks in the season-opening 31-10 win over Maritime College on Saturday. His 3.5 tackles for loss set Maritime back 21 yards. One of his two sacks came on a crucial fourth down to thwart a Maritime drive.
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Hunter Regels, Morrisville, Jr., P, Gansevoort, NY/Saratoga Springs
Regels posted six punts Saturday for a total 258 yards as Morrisville picked up the 10-0 season opening win over Kean University. He averaged 43.0 yards per punt, with a long of 54 yards, while also posting a touchback.
MEN’S GOLF
PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Ryan Fecco, Oswego, Gr., Baldwinsville, NY/CW Baker
Fecco finished third overall at the season-opening St. Lawrence Invitational over the weekend, carding a 152 (8-over par) during the two day event. He began the tourney by shooting a 79 (7-over) on day one, while shooting up the leaderboard with a 1-over par 73 on Sunday.
MEN’S SOCCER
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Ander Castillo, Medaille, So., F, Bilbao, Spain/Mater Dei Catholic
Castillo, the national leader in goals and goals per game in 2021, picked up right where he left off, scoring four goals and nine points in two games. He scored a hat-trick against Wells College and added an assist to total seven points for the game on Thursday. He also added seven shots, with six on goal. Castillo scored the lone goal in a 1-1 draw against Hobart College on Sunday to go along with three shots on goal.
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Cuneyt Vardar, Nazareth, Gr., F, Webster, NY/Webster Schroder
Vardar enjoyed an incredible start to his season, tallying 11 points on five goals and an assist in leading defending E8 Champion Nazareth to a pair of wins to open the year. On Thursday, Vardar scored a hat-trick in the first 13:17 of the contest and added an assist in a 7-2 win over Allegheny College. On Sunday, he added two more goals in a 5-1 win over Wells.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Zachary Raffino, Elmira, Sr., GK, Bethlehem, PA/Freedom
Raffino recorded a shut-out against SUNY Morrisville with four saves in the season opener and helped Elmira to a 2-2 tie in the home opener Saturday against SUNY Brockport with eight saves. Raffino’s biggest save of the week came with 40 seconds to play versus Brockport game with the score tied 2-2. The Golden Eagles came up with a scoring opportunity in the middle of the box and Raffino was able to dive backwards to tip it over the bar.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Parker Lahey, Keuka, Fr., F, Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro
Lahey enjoyed a strong start to her collegiate career. She assisted on Shayla Vetter’s game-tying goal with 13:52 remaining at Hilbert on Thursday. Lahey then headed home Keuka's lone goal midway through the first half in the 1-0 Wolves victory over Buffalo State on Saturday.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Megan Merrifield, Houghton, Sr., GK, Liverpool, NY/Liverpool
Merrifield began the season with back-to-back road shutouts, including a seven save performance against 2021 NCAA Tournament team Penn State University-Harrisburg on Saturday, which preserved a scoreless tie. She also led the Houghton defensive unit in a season-opening shutout over Alfred State on Thursday.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Damita Bollers, Hartwick, Fr., Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn College Academy
Bollers went a perfect 4-0 on the week, leading Hartwick to a pair of 9-0 victories over the weekend versus Oneonta State and Mount Saint Mary. On Friday, she partnered with Jade Killikelly for an 8-1 win at first doubles and won 10-8 in the third set tiebreaker to secure the team sweep. On Saturday, Bollers cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win at first singles and an 8-0 win at first doubles.
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Theresa Hecht, Nazareth, Sr., East Granby, CT/East Granby
Hecht led Nazareth to a great start in 2022 with a convincing 9-0 win over Geneseo on Thursday. She also advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Mary Hosking Tournament at William Smith over the weekend. She posted an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles in the win over Geneseo (the first win for Nazareth over Geneseo since 2005) and then scored an 8-3 win over a Geneseo opponent in the first round of the Hosking Tournament.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Eleanor Cepiel, Utica, Sr., OH/RS, West Sand Lake, NY/Academy of the Holy Names
Cepiel recorded 31 kills and 27 digs while averaging 4.43 kills per set in a 2-0 week for the Pioneers. Cepiel started the SUNY Poly tri-match with 13 kills and 18 digs in a straight set sweep of Poly before finishing the day with 18 kills, nine digs and two block assists in Utica's 3-1 win over Bard. In all, Cepiel recorded a .225 attack percentage.
CO-PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Elaina Moisidis, Russell Sage, Sr., L/DS, Albany, NY/Albany
Moisidis received All-Tournament Team honors at the Morrisville State Tournament over the weekend. The senior libero registered 70 digs, 4.38 per set, 11 aces, three assists, and two kills across the four matches. She compiled a weekend-high 23 digs in a four-set contest against Misericordia on Friday.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Delaney Sims, Alfred, Fr., S, Bogart, GA/George Walton Academy
Sims enjoyed a strong inaugural collegiate debut, totaling 100 assists in three matches over 12 sets while totaling 19.0 points from 10 kills, seven aces, two block assists and one solo block. Defensively, she added 34 digs. Sims established her five-set set assists career-high mark at 45 in the loss to SUNY Potsdam. In that match, she also set the bar with six kills and a hitting percentage of .429. She dished out 37 assists and added 12 digs in a four-set win over SUNY Canton.
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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