Five Student-Athletes Earn NECC Weekly Honors

CHICOPEE, MA – Elms College had five student-athletes receive New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Player of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 28-Oct. 4 as announced by the league office on Monday.

Elms swept the field hockey awards as junior forward Andrea Ramsdell (Gardner, MA) was named NECC Player of the Week; while freshman goalkeeper Alexandra Bonavita (Agawam, MA) earned her second NECC Rookie of the Week honors.

Ramsdell broke a 1-1 tie against Bay Path, scoring her first collegiate goal, and then assisted on another to lift the Blazers to a 3-1 victory over the Wildcats in NECC action. The win came in Elms’ conference home opener and snapped a six-game losing slide.

Bonavita also played an important role in earning the victory, knocking away eight shots that Bay Path sent at her, giving her 155 saves for the season.

The Blazers also claimed both men’s golf accolades as junior Andrew Sullivan (West Springfield, MA) earned NECC Player of the Week honors; while freshman Dave Pianki (West Suffield, CT) garnered the conference’s Rookie of the Week award.

Sullivan carded rounds of 82 and 78 respectively in the two-day Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships en route to a tie for 26th place overall. The junior also turned in a round of 83 in the Blazers Invitational to lead the squad and earn a share of 13th place overall in the tournament.

Pianki earned a top 20 finish at the Blazer Invitational, turning in a round of 85 which put him in a tie for 18th place. At the ECAC Championships, the first-year golfer carded an impressive opening round of 77 before shooting an 81 in the second round of the two-day event to finish with a combined score of 158 and a tie for 18th place.

Women’s soccer junior midfielder Alison Couture (Chicopee, MA) was also named NECC Player of the Week.

Couture scored a pair of goals to guide the Blazers to a convincing 3-0 victory over NECC foe Daniel Webster in the squad’s conference home opener. Couture scored in the 23rd and 86th minutes to help seal the team’s second conference win of the season.