Cardinals Set Record With Four NESCAC Players of the Year

 

Whether on the ice, the pitch, or the diamond, the red and black were dominant in 2012–2013. Four Wesleyan athletes were named NESCAC players of the year, a record for the Cardinals, who previously had three players of the year since the conference started naming players of the year 12 years ago. 

Soccer players Adam Purdy ’13 and Laura Kurash ’13, softballer Allee Beatty ’13 and men’s hockey player Keith Buehler ’14 won the honors in a competitive year that saw outstanding performances across the NESCAC.

“For Wesleyan Athletics to produce four student-athletes who are recognized as NESCAC Player of the Year (in the same academic year) is truly amazing,” said Mike Whalen ’83, the Frank B. Sica Director of Athletics. “These four individuals are not only talented on the field but are also outstanding students and leaders in the Wesleyan community. The NESCAC is the most competitive Division III athletic conferenc in the nation, and we are extremely proud of their accomplishments.”

The New England Small College Athletic Conference, founded in 1971, includes Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Connecticut College, Middlebury, Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, and Hamilton.

Purdy was a three-time all-NESCAC and 2009 All-American as a goaltender. He notched a .71 goals-against average, a .842 save percentage and a Wesleyan-record 31 shutouts.

Kurash ranks second in career scoring at Wesleyan with 37 goals and 88 scoring points; the Cardinals won 25 games with Laura in the lineup and she netted the game-winning goal in 15 of them. She was all-NESCAC for four years.

Buehler led the NESCAC in scoring with 19 goals and 21 assists and was finalist for the Joe Concannon Award for the top Division II and III

American-born player in New England, and was a New England Hockey Writers Association all-star.

For more on Beatty, selected as Wesleyan magazine’s “scholar-athlete,” see the following page.