Nineteen Cardinal athletes and one coach earned all-NESCAC laurels this fall. Men’s soccer team garnered the most attention with six honorees, followed by football with four; women’s cross country, field hockey, women’s soccer, and volleyball with two each; and golf with one.

Men’s soccer midfielders Woody Redpath ’10 and Nick Whipple ’10 and goalkeeper Adam Purdy ’13 received first-team all-NESCAC recognition. Whipple, who has played in all 65 games (starting 62) over his four years in Middletown thus far, has tallied eight goals and 10 assists for 26 career points. Redpath has started all 18 contests in 2009 so far as a defensive center midfielder for a Cardinal team that has allowed a NESCAC-low eight goals. Purdy became the first freshman ever to receive first-team all-NESCAC honors, as he has played all but 34 minutes in net for Wesleyan and leads the NESCAC in goals-against average (0.43), save percentage (.906), and shutouts (10). He currently sits fourth in Division III in save percentage and fifth in GAA. Purdy was also honored as NESCAC Rookie of the Year.

Wesleyan also had three players receive second-team all-NESCAC laurels in Asante Brooks ’10, Keisuke Yamashita ’10, and Jacob Mergendoller ’11. Brooks and Yamashita have been starters for three seasons. Yamashita stands at the Cardinals’ leading scorer this year with four goals and five assists for 13 points, has 28 career points (12 goals, five assists). Brooks ranks second on the team in scoring with three goals and three assists; having moved from the back line to the front in 2008, he has tallied four of each in his career. Mergendoller, who moved in the starting lineup in 2009 after playing in 11 games with seven starts last season, helped the Cardinals tie Williams in the season opener with a goal in the 77th minute.

Geoff Wheeler, head coach of the men’s soccer team was named NESCAC Coach of the Year for the second time in five seasons. Wheeler, who took over as the Cardinals’ head coach in 1999, was also received the award in 2005 after the seventh-seeded Cardinals won the NESCAC title. Wesleyan has finished with a winning record seven of the last nine seasons, winning at least nine games in each of those campaigns.

The Cardinals had an additional honoree as defender Jory Kahan ’10 was named second-team CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine College Division Academic All-American. Kahan, who has twice received NESCAC All-Academic recognition, is the first Wesleyan men’s soccer player to be named to an Academic All-America squad and is the only player from a NESCAC institution to be named to any of the three national teams this season.

The women’s soccer team boasted the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, as leading scorer Laura Kurash ’13 received the honor. Kurash tallied a school-record four goals to complement four assists in the team’s second game of the season, a 7-0 victory over Smith College. After being injured in the next game, against Colby, she returned on Oct. 17 and netted the golden goal to lead the team to a 2-1 victory over Bates. She finished the season with six goals and three assists for 15 points and was the only freshman to receive all-NESCAC laurels, as she was named second-team All-Conference along with midfielder Taylor Stevenson ’10. Stevenson, who also received second-team all-NESCAC honors in 2008, played in 54 of a possible 57 games during her four years in the red and black, starting 53. She contributed two assists while also helping anchor a defense that recorded a school-record seven shutouts.

The volleyball team’s Ruby Hernandez ’11 and Ellie Healy ’10 received all-NESCAC honors. Hernandez, who led the NESCAC in digs per set with 5.47, was named Defensive Player of the Year and received first-team honors. Hernandez was also one of 14 players, and the only libero, named a New England All-Star by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Healy, a four-year starting setter, was named second-team all-NESCAC as she averaged 9.47 assists per set this season. She sits second on the all-time Wesleyan assists list with 4,079 and is one of just nine players in program history to record 1,000 digs, as she tallied 1,018 in her career. Healy was also chosen to play in the annual New England Women’s Volleyball Association (NEWVA) Senior All-Star Classic, which was held Sunday at UMass Boston.

Four members of the Cardinal football team received all-NESCAC honors, led by first-team selection Pete Sugarbaker ’10. Sugarbaker led the defensive linemen in tackles with 38, 22 of them solo. He also had eight tackles for a loss, including five sacks, both of which are team highs. Sugarbaker was also named a CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine District I College Division Academic All-American. Linebacker Justin Freres ’11, defensive back Derrick Williams ’12, and offensive lineman Nick Seara ’11 all received second-team honors. Freres collected a team-leading 76 tackles, including 4.5 for a loss, and had a pair of interceptions in 2009, in addition to a defensive two-point conversion in a 43-39 victory at Bowdoin. Williams ranked second on the team in pass breakups with four and also had 35 tackles and an interception to lead the Cardinal secondary. Seara, the team’s starting center, has been a consistent starter on the offensive line during his three years in Middletown.

Ravenna Neville ’10, who placed second in the women’s race in the NESCAC Championships (one second behind the first-place finisher), and Julia Mark ’13, who took fifth in the race, both received first-team all-NESCAC honors. Neville and Mark also received all-New England Division III recognition after finishing second and 25th, respectively, in the New England Division III Championships on Saturday.

Two members of the field hockey team received a pair of regional honors. Leading scorer Morgan McCauley ’12, who led the team with nine goals and four assists for 22 points, was named second-team all-NESCAC, as was goalkeeper Tori Redding ’13. Redding ranked third in the conference in save percentage (.819) and seventh in goals-against average (1.87) as she amassed 131 saves while allowing 29 goals. She reached double-digits in saves in six games, including a career-high 20 in a 2-0 loss at second-seeded Tufts, which went on to win the conference title, in the NESCAC tournament. She also recorded 18 saves as the Cardinals toppled defending national champion Bowdoin 3-2 in penalty strokes. Both players also received second-team All-New England Division III West Region laurels from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA).

Golfer Pete Taylor ’12, who shot a 75-74-149 in the NESCAC Championship Qualifier Oct. 3-4, earned second-team all-NESCAC laurels for the second straight year. Taylor tied for seventh among 49 players with his seven-over-par score. Over six fall tournaments, Taylor averaged a 75.17 over his 12 rounds of play, ranging from 71 to 79.