ELMIRA, N.Y. — Matthew Cuce ’20 of the men’s ice hockey team and Kelcey Crawford ’18 of the women’s ice hockey team have been selected as the Elmira College Athletes of the Week for the week ending December 10.
Both Soaring Eagles received the award for the second time this season.
Cuce continued his stellar sophomore season by guiding the EC men to a 5-2 non-conference victory over the Lions of Bryn Athyn at the Murray Athletic Center on December 5. The Fort Myers, Florida, native scored a game-high two goals and was tied for the team lead with three points. It marked his third consecutive game with at least one point and his fifth multi-point outing of the year.
The second-year forward recorded his first point of the night by dishing out the primary assist on a Nick Ford ’20 goal that knotted the score at 1-all at the 13:47 mark of the opening period. He then netted his first goal a mere 22 seconds into the second period, giving the Purple and Gold a 2-1 lead, an advantage they never relinquished. Cuce added some insurance late in the third period, padding Elmira’s lead to 4-2 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation en route to the win.
Cuce enters the winter break ranked third in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) with 18 points, trailing only linemates Ford and Connor Powell ’20. He is second in the league in assists (11) and his seven goals, which are tied for fourth in the UCHC, are already one more than he scored in his entire freshman season.
Following an extended break for the holiday season, Cuce and the Soaring Eagles will return to action on Friday, January 5, when EC takes on Connecticut College in the first round of the Boston Landing Collegiate Invitational, hosted at the Boston Bruins’ practice facility, the Warrior Ice Arena.
Crawford started both games between the posts for the No. 2/2-ranked EC women during their weekend split with an always tough Amherst squad. Although the fourth-year netminder suffered her first loss of the 2017-18 campaign on Saturday, the senior responded with a brilliant performance on Sunday afternoon, backstopping Elmira to a 2-0 shutout victory.
In the two games combined, Crawford registered a 1.51 goals-against average, a .955 save percentage and 63 stops. She made 31 saves in the series opener and 32 more in the win in the finale, which allowed her to reach yet another milestone in her incredible career. With her first stop on Sunday, Crawford became just the fifth Soaring Eagle in program history to reach 1,000 career saves. She heads into the winter break with 1,031 saves to her name, needing just 10 more to climb another peg and take sole possession of fourth-place all-time. Her third shutout of the season also allowed the Purcellville, Virginia, native to take sole possession of fifth-place in EC history (15).
Through the first nine games of her senior campaign, Crawford ranks among the best goalies in all of Division III in several statistical categories. She’s second in save percentage (.963), tied for fifth in both shutouts (3) and winning percentage (.889), and sixth in goals-against average (1.00).
The nationally-ranked Elmira women’s ice hockey team will also return to the ice following the holiday break, as the Soaring Eagles trek to Northfield, Vermont, to participate in the East-West Hockey Classic. The two-day tournament begins on Sunday, January 7, against No. 4/4 Adrian.
