Cuce, Carroll Crowned EC Athletes of the Week

2017 Nov 7

Matthew Cuce '20 of the men's ice hockey team and Katie Carroll '18 of the field hockey team are the recipients of this week's (10/30/17) Elmira College Athlete of the Week Awards. Although on different playing surfaces, the two hockey standouts helped guide the Soaring Eagles to a pair of wins over the weekend at the Murray Athletic Center.

On Friday, October 27, in the 2017-18 season-opener, Cuce's heroics lifted the Purple and Gold to an exciting 3-2 overtime victory over No. 10/9 nationally-ranked Hobart College. The second-year forward netted a pair of goals, including the game-winner in the extra session that sealed the upset over Elmira's long-time Route 14 rival.

Cuce's first goal of the new campaign came midway through the third period and put the Soaring Eagles up 2-1. After advancing the puck across the blue line, classmate Connor Powell '20 received a pass from Nick Ford '20 along the end boards and found Cuce camped in front of the goal. With a defender draped over his back, the sophomore from Fort Myers, Florida, was able to backhand the puck stick-side past the Hobart netminder while falling to the ice. His second goal, the overtime winner, came after a hard slap shot from Harry Kramer '20 from the left-wing side. After deflecting off a pair of defenders, Cuce was able to collect the puck and slammed it inside the near post to secure the season-opening upset.

The victory marked the second multi-goal game of Cuce's collegiate career, while the overtime tally was his second game-winning goal. In 27 games donning the Purple and Gold, the 5-foot-9-inch forward has logged 27 points on eight goals and 19 assists.

Carroll recorded a combined three assists across two games last week for the Elmira field hockey team. Two of her three helpers came in a narrow 5-4 overtime loss at Keuka on Tuesday, while the other was recorded in a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Nazareth in the season finale on Saturday.

On the road against the Wolves, the fourth-year forward dished out assists on the first two goals of the game. Her initial assist went to Atu Machika '18 in the sixth minute, with the latter coming approximately two minutes later on a Janie Kempf '21 goal that made it 2-0 in favor of EC early on. Then on Saturday a the day EC celebrated Class of 2018 Recognition Day a with the Soaring Eagles trailing 1-0 in the second half, Carroll made an outstanding play to keep a ball from rolling out of bounds through the end line. After her tremendous individual effort to keep the ball in play, the Somerville, Maine, native found Megan Brain '18 with a centering pass that set up the fellow senior for the game-tying goal in the 59th minute, sparking an eventual 2-1 comeback win.

With a trio of assists last week, Carroll doubled her total to finish her final collegiate season with a team-high six, tied for fourth-most in a single season. She will also graduate in a three-way tie for fifth place all-time in program history with 11 career assists. Across her four-year career at Elmira, Carroll has amassed 27 points (8g-11a), which as her tied with teammate Alison Mariano '18 for 11th-most all-time.