SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - The Union College Department of Athletics announced winners of its 2023-24 underclass awards on Wednesday evening at the annual Student Affairs Leadership Celebration, recognizing the achievements of 15 student-athletes along with many others within the Department of Student Affairs at the College Park Hall Ballroom.
 
Union will recognize the achievements of its senior class and present graduating seniors with their Block U awards at the annual Senior Awards Ceremony, which will take place on Friday, June 14 at noon in Memorial Chapel.

A full list of 2023-24 undergraduate award winners are listed below:
 
ECAC Medal of Merit
Presented to a junior female student-athlete for attitude, ability, participation and achievement in intercollegiate sports.

Cat Dacey (Women's Cross Country and Track & Field)
Dacey had a fantastic season on the course and the track for Union as a junior, resetting program standards at nearly every turn. During the fall, she recorded multiple program firsts, becoming the first Union female runner to earn All-Liberty League first-team honors, to garner USTFCCCA All-Region recognition, and to individually qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. She also finished the year with the five fastest 6K times in program history and six of the top-seven times. Moving to the track, she helped to break four different Union track & field records, taking over top honors in the indoor 3,000 meters, the outdoor 800 meters and 1500 meters, and as part of the outdoor 4x800-meter relay. This is her third straight honor, having previously won the Terry Lynch-Jackie Havercamp Cuttita Memorial Award in 2022 and the Female Sophomore Athlete Prize in 2023.

Greta Maurer (Women's Lacrosse)
Maurer had another excellent season in the midfield for Union, earning All-Liberty League second-team honors and leading the women's lacrosse team to the conference semifinals for the third straight season. The junior ranked top-two on the team in almost every major statistical category, finishing the season with 23 goals and a team-best 25 assists (ninth in the Liberty League) for 48 points, while also leading the team in draw controls (47) and ranking second in both ground balls (26) and caused turnovers (16).
 
William A. Pike '60 Award
Presented to a junior male student-athlete for attitude, ability, participation and achievement in intercollegiate sports.

Matt McCorkle (Football)
McCorkle moved to left tackle as a junior and had a great season as the anchor of the Union offensive line, earning second-team All-America honors from both the AFCA and D3football.com in addition to first-team All-Liberty League and All-Region laurels. He allowed only one individual sack in 12 games as part of a line that conceded less than one sack per game and ranked 13th in Division III by averaging 235.0 rushing yards per game and over 430.0 yards per contest overall. 
 
Junior Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award
Presented to a junior student-athlete for outstanding performance in the classroom, community and playing arena. 
 
Liz Bentsianov (Women's Golf)
Bentsianov continued to be a leader in the clubhouse and on the course for the women's golf team, posting nine of the team's 10 lowest rounds of the year and recording the second-lowest single-season scoring average in program history (81.89 strokes per round) this season. Her season-low round of 77 against St. Lawrence University is tied for fourth-lowest in school history and gives her six of the program's eight lowest scores in addition to the top-three single-season scoring averages ever by a Union golfer. Off the course, Bentsianov boasts a 3.98 GPA as a biology and anthropology double major in the Leadership in Medicine program. She was previously named Union's Freshman and Sophomore Scholar-Athlete of the Year in her first two years.
 
Maren Friday (Women's Hockey) 
Friday maintained her status as a mainstay on the blue line for the women's hockey team as a junior, playing in a program-record 35 games. On the ice, the junior ranked seventh on the team with eight points on three goals and five assists and earned the team's Hana Yamashita '97 Award, while also serving as Union's nominee for the Mandi Schwartz ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year Award for the second year in a row. In the classroom, Friday boasts a 4.0 GPA as a mechanical engineering major. Like Bentsianov, Friday also was previously named Union's Freshman and Sophomore Scholar-Athlete of the Year in her first two years.
 
Female Sophomore Athletic Prize
Presented to a sophomore female student-athlete for attitude, ability participation and achievement in intercollegiate sports.

Megan Dorsey (Field Hockey)
Dorsey played a big role in the field hockey team's first Liberty League Tournament appearance in 13 years, tying for the team lead in points with 10 goals and a team-best eight assists on the way to All-Liberty League first-team and NFHCA All-Region second-team honors. Her eight assists ranked second in the Liberty League this year and are tied for third in Union's single-season list, while her 28 points sit just outside the school single-season top-10. Dorsey recorded at least one point in a team-leading 12 games in 2023 and ended the year with points in eight of her last 10 contests, including the team's lone goal in the Liberty League Tournament against Vassar College.
 
Harold R. Moore Sophomore Athletic Prize
Presented to a sophomore male student-athlete for attitude, ability participation and achievement in intercollegiate sports.

Caleb Miller (Baseball)
Miller helped lead the charge for a rejuvenated Union baseball team in 2024, earning Liberty League Player of the Year honors in addition to All-Region first-team recognition from both the ABCA and D3baseball.com. Miller started 38 of his 40 appearances as a sophomore, hitting .374 with 58 hits, 12 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 44 runs batted in and 44 runs scored. Miller recorded a 24-game hitting streak that spanned the entire month of April and had at least one hit in 34-of-39 games in which he had at least one at-bat. The catcher ranked in the top three in the Liberty League in hits, home runs, runs scored, RBIs and triples this season.

John Prokop (Men's Hockey)
Prokop established himself as one of the top blueliners in Division I hockey as a sophomore, earning the program's first AHCA All-America honor for a defenseman in a decade with a spot on the East second team. He skated in 36-of-37 games for Union in his second season, recording a team-leading 35 points on eight goals and 27 assists to pick up unanimous All-ECAC Hockey First Team laurels. Prokop, who was Union's nominee for the prestigious Hobey Baker Award, was named the ECAC Hockey Defender of the Week twice this season and also earned Defender of the Month honors for November.
 
Sophomore Scholar Athlete of the Year Award
Presented to a sophomore student-athlete for outstanding performance in the classroom, community and playing arena. 
 
Mason Lang (Men's Track & Field)
Lang had a strong season both indoors and outdoors for the Union track & field team. During the indoor season, Lang ranked third in the Mideast Region and earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the shot put thanks to a 13.91-meter toss, and he also ranked top-40 in the weight throw as well. He had a trio of regional top-30 distances during the outdoor season as well, ranking seventh in the javelin (54.20 meters), 15th in the shot put (13.00 meters) and 28th in the hammer throw (40.47 meters). In addition, Lang boasts a 3.86 GPA as a biomedical engineering major and is a member of the Scholar's Program.

Skylar Semon (Women's Tennis)
Semon earns her second straight Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award after taking the honor as a first-year as well in 2023. The sophomore played a big role in the most successful season in Union women's tennis history this year, tying for the team lead with 13 doubles victories and ranking second on the team in wins overall thanks to a 15-13 singles mark playing primarily at the fourth-singles and third-doubles flights. The sociology major has a 3.98 GPA through her first five trimesters at Union.

Terry Lynch-Jackie Havercamp Cuttita Memorial Award
Presented to a first-year female athlete for attitude, ability, participation and achievement in intercollegiate sports. 
 
Maddie Greco (Field Hockey and Women's Lacrosse)
Greco burst onto the scene this fall with the field hockey team, earning Liberty League Rookie of the Year honors and becoming the program's first rookie to earn NFHCA All-Region recognition. The first-year played a big role in the field hockey team's first Liberty League Tournament appearance in 13 years, tying for the conference lead in goals with 13 and adding two assists for 28 points, matching the team lead and ranking second in the conference in scoring. Her 13 goals are a program single-season rookie record, tied for eighth on the school's single-season list overall, and finished second in Division III among first-year players. Greco also appeared in nine games for the women's lacrosse team during the spring season, scoring one goal and grabbing seven ground balls on the defensive side of the field.

Ashley Sheldon (Women's Soccer and Track & Field)
Sheldon stood out in multiple sports during her first year in Schenectady. During the fall, she was one of four players to start all 17 matches for the women's soccer team, recording two assists to tie for second on the team. She moved to the track for a historic indoor season, breaking school records in the 60-meter hurdles, triple jump and high jump a total of nine times while becoming the first Union women's field athlete to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. She was named the Liberty League Co-Rookie of the Year after winning a conference title in the high jump in addition to USTFCCCA All-Region and All-America second-team honors, the first national honors for a field athlete in program history. The first-year followed up with another All-Region campaign during the outdoor season, breaking two more school standards in the 100-meter hurdles and high jump.

Freshman Athletic Prize
Presented to a first-year male athlete for attitude, ability, participation and achievement in intercollegiate sports.

Tanner Tedesco (Men's Basketball)
Tedesco made an immediate impact with the men's basketball team, starting 24-of-25 games and averaging a team-best 10.6 points per contest while also dishing out 5.1 assists per game and grabbing 3.8 caroms per contest. He was named both the Liberty League and the D3hoops.com Region 3 Rookie of the Year, in addition to All-Liberty League honorable mention. Tedesco paced the Liberty League with 127 assists as a first-year, the ninth-most in a season in program history and the most assists by a first-year ever at Union. He was a two-time Liberty League weekly honoree, earning one Player of the Week and one Rookie of the Week award, and also took home MVP honors at the Sig Makofski Invitational in November.

Freshman Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award
Presented to a first-year student-athlete for outstanding performance in the classroom, community and playing arena.
 
Winston Lee (Men's Swimming & Diving)
Lee made a big splash in his initial season in the pool for the Union men's swimming & diving team, earning a trio of Liberty League Rookie of the Week honors as a first-year. He swam in a pair of B finals at the Liberty League Championships and finished the season with six wins to rank second on the squad. The biochemistry major also boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA through his first two trimesters at Union.

Sam Rose (Softball)
Rose emerged as the top newcomer for the very youthful Union softball team this spring, hitting .306 with 15 runs scored and 13 runs batted in while starting all 32 games. She reached base in a team-best 14 straight games during the month of April, highlighted by a 10-game hitting streak, and also ranked second on the team with seven multi-hit outings. She also boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA as an environmental engineering major.

In addition to the 15 athletics awards, several other Union Athletics members were honored on Wednesday:

- Head field hockey coach Kelly Harchetts was named the Staff Volunteer of the Year
- Senior Clayton Arcuri of the men's lacrosse team was recognized as one of two First-Year Experience Orientation Leaders of the Year
- Junior Jonathan Anderson of the football team was one of three "Commitment to STEP" Award winners
- Junior Gabi Baker of the women's track & field team earned the Student Activities "Perseverance as a Leader" Award
- Senior Aiden Markoff of the football team was one of three students recognized for the Student Affairs Collaborative Event of the Year
- Senior Glory Moncion Allen earned the inaugural Student Affairs "True to our Name" Award
- Senior Dionis Polanco of the football team was both honored for his work with U Journey and recognized as the Student Affairs Student Leader of the Year