UTICA, NY – Second-year SUNYIT head women's soccer coach Tyler Renaud was selected by his peers as the North Eastern Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Coach of the Year, while senior defender Samantha Reddington (Poland, NY/Poland) was named the Player of the Year and six Lady Wildcats in total were named to the All-Conference Team.

Renaud led the team to its first-ever NEAC regular season championship with a perfect 11-0 conference record while guiding the squad to a program-best overall record of 15-3, breaking the mark he set last season when the team finished 10-8-2.  The team shattered multiple single-season program records, including goals, goals per game, assists, points, goals against average, shutouts and consecutive wins.

Reddington, an All-Conference First Team Selection last season, helped the team record the most shutouts and fewest goals allowed in school history.  Said Coach Renaud: "Sam has been the backbone of our defense for the past two years and was the primary reason this season we were able to finish first in the league standings.  Her ability to see the entire field and make the appropriate decisions when making a play on the ball, oncoming opponent and into space was second to none.  She was never afraid to push forward with the ball at her feet offensively when she saw the opening and created many offensive buildups that led to many of our goals this year." 

Reddington was joined on the All-Conference First Team by senior teammates Jane Burroughs (Fonda, NY/Fonda-Fultonville) and Darilyn Brown (Middletown, NY/Middletown).  Burroughs, a team captain and the program's all-time leader in career goals, assists and points, registered 16 points on five goals and six assists this season.  This is Burroughs' third straight appearance on the All-Conference Team, making it as a second team selection the past two seasons.  Brown teamed with Reddington in the backfield and started in 17 games for the Wildcats.  A staple of the Wildcat defense the past four seasons, Brown makes her third straight appearance on the First Team. 

Making the All-Conference Second Team was junior forward Nicole DiNitto (Oriskany, NY/Oriskany) and freshman midfielder Abbey Hanehan (Stillwater, NY/Stillwater).  DiNitto broke the program records for most points (41) and goals (17) in a season while adding seven assists.  The 5-foot-7 forward netted two hat tricks on the year and was crowned the NEAC Student-Athlete of the Week and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Upstate/Metro Offensive Player of the Week this past week.  Hanehan recorded 16 points on five goals and six assists while starting 15 games for the Lady Wildcats.

Rounding out the Lady Wildcat All-Conference selections was freshman forward Kristina Strang (Rotterdam, NY/Schalmont), who was selected to the Third Team after being second on the team in points (23) and goals (10) while also adding three assists.

The Wildcats will host the NEAC Championship Tournament at the Wildcat Soccer Field this Saturday and Sunday.  They will open competition as the top seed of the tournament and will kick off the games at 8:30 am Saturday when they take on No. 4 seed Penn State Harrisburg, who defeated No. 5 seed Cazenovia on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals this past Tuesday.  The women's tournament will also include No. 2 seed Penn State Berks squaring off against No. 3 seed Keuka College at 1:00 pm.  Keuka advanced with a 4-1 win over sixth seeded Penn State Berks in the quarterfinals.