For the second week in a row, several Keene State athletes were awarded Little East Conference awards for players of the week. It has been a successful start to the fall sports season for the Owls as many individuals have been recognized by the league for their strong starts.
The Owls’ women’s soccer team had two players receive awards this week. Senior defender and Captain Giuliana Stolfi received the “Defensive Player of the Week” award. Stolfi spoke on how the Owls started putting in the work for this upcoming season early.
“During the off-season, I know that me and the defense made our own group chat, and every week we would get our runs in, and we would send in our times and how we did, and we always tried to push each other and improve each week,” Stolfi said.
The senior was a big reason why the Owls have only allowed three goals in their last five contests.
The other recipient on the women’s soccer team was senior goalkeeper Riley Andriski, who was awarded women’s soccer “Goalkeeper of the Week.” Andriski has been a top performer for the Owls, and she credited a lot of that to KSCe’s new goalkeeper coach, Jake Walker.
“It all kind of starts in the spring. We have spring practices and we got a new goalkeeper coach who’s a Keene State alum. … He’s been a huge addition to our program, especially in the goalkeeping area and I credit a lot of the work to him,” Andriski said.
Keene State’s next award winner is a part of the women’s golf team. First-year Sadie Murray started off her career strong with the Owls, receiving the “Rookie of the Week” award. The first-year began the season in a tie for sixth place at the Westfield State Fall Invitational. KSC finished third in the match with Murray playing a big role in that.
“Back at home, I’m a member at a private course so I would play there a couple of times a week,” Murray said. “I would try to go before work, and put an hour in at the putting green or an hour in at the driving range, so really just playing whenever I had the chance and my dad is super into golf so I would go play with him as much as I could.”
Murray said her commitment to improving over the offseason paid dividends in her first match as an Owl.
The Owls’ final award winner came from the field hockey team. Senior Captain GraCe Bazin is no stranger to these awards as she already has netted sixteen goals in her first eight contests. Bazin has helped the Owls in a pivotal way with their 7-1 start to the season. Bazin’s teammate, junior midfielder Grace Seabury, said Bazin’s success can easily be attributed to her preparedness.
“I feel as though she has gotten really strong as a player,” Seabury said. “She’s also taken into account what teams pick up on her skill sets. … She’s been working hard to figure out what works for her against certain teams and what doesn’t.”
Keene State Athletic Director Marty Testo spoke on what it means to him to see Owl athletes receive such high praise and recognition.
“It means that our coaches are doing a tremendous job identifying talented student-athletes and developing them, and it’s also a larger tribute to the actual student-athletes that are actually out there performing,” Testo said. “All of the hard work they put in at practice, all of the hard work they put into their strength and conditioning, that’s why these students are where they are and get where they’re getting to.”
The Owls will look to keep rolling and continue to be recognized by the league, showing just how much talent Keene State holds.
Matt Cabral can be contacted at
