Marlborough, Mass.- The NEWMAC has announced its Athlete of the Week honorees for the week ending 4/13/25.  The full list of honorees can be found below.
 
Baseball
 
Athlete of the Week- Rick Barkley (Jr., SS), Coast Guard Academy
 
Junior Rick Barkley (Seattle, Wash.) helped Coast Guard to a 3-1 week after compiling seven hits, five runs scored, seven runs batted in, two doubles, three home runs and a stolen base. He hit .467 with a 1.200 slugging percentage and a .579 on base percentage on the week.
 
Pitcher of the Week- Liam Goldthwaite (Sr., P), Wheaton College
 
Senior Liam Goldthwaite (Braintree, Mass.) was brilliant in three appearances for the Lyons. Out of a possible 12 outs over four innings pitched, the senior struck out 10 batters and issued just one walk, while holding opposing hitters to a paltry .154 (2-13) batting mark. He did not allow a run in any of his outings to post a 0.00 earned run average to go with a 0.75 WHIP and recorded one save during the week. Goldthwaite began the week by striking out all three batters he faced against United States Coast Guard Academy on April 8. The reliever allowed just one hit in and inning and a third and struck out two at Clark University on April 11. He closed out the week by striking out five batters in an inning and two-thirds of work and gave up just one hit and a walk at Clark on April 13.
 
Men's Lacrosse

Offensive Athlete of the Week- Matthew Minkwitz (Gr.., A), Clark University  

Graduate student Matthew Minkwitz (Norfolk, Mass.) led the Cougars this week with nine goals and four assists as Clark picked up a non-conference win over Keene State and a NEWMAC victory against Wheaton. In the 11-8 victory over Keene State, Minkwitz scored a pair of goals and dished out three assists. He added seven goals and an assist in the Cougars 15-8 win against Wheaton. 

Defensive Athlete of the Week- Kaden Quirk (Sr.,GK), Springfield College

Senior Kaden Quirk (Nahant, Mass.) made 13 saves, caused two turnovers and scooped up three ground balls in a 12-5 win for Springfield on Saturday against Coast Guard on senior day as the Pride took sole possession of first place in the NEWMAC standings.

Face-Off Specialist of the Week – Vincent Scialdone (Sr., FO), Springfield College

Senior Vincent Scialdone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) was dominant on the face-off in a 12-5 win over Coast Guard on Saturday as he went 13-for-19 at the X and scooped up four ground balls against the Bears on senior day as the Pride took sole possession of first place in the NEWMAC standings on Saturday.
 
Women's Lacrosse

Offensive Athlete of the Week- Clare Connolly (Sr., M), Babson College

Senior Clare Connolly (Hanover, Mass.) notched a pair of game-winning tallies and finished a 3-0 week for No. 14/16 Babson with 15 goals and 35 draw controls. She scored five of the final six goals, which includes tying the game late in the fourth quarter and scoring the game winner 4:55 into OT, to help the Beavers rally from a 13-7 deficit to beat MIT 14-13 on Wednesday night. Connolly followed it up with six goals and 19 draw controls in Friday's 20-7 win at Framingham State and capped the week with four more goals, including the go-ahead tally with 5:49 to go in the fourth, and seven draw controls as the Green and White rallied to edge Bowdoin 12-10 on Sunday. 

Defensive Athlete of the Week- Annie Battle (Sr., GK), Clark University

Senior Annie Battle (Bozeman, Montana) helped guide the Cougars to two NEWMAC victories this week as she tallied 19 saves on a .543 save percentage and 8.00 goals against average. In Wednesday's 12-11 win over Emerson, Battle stopped seven shots and scooped up three ground balls. Battle broke the program record for career saves after tallying 12 saves in Clark's 14-5 victory against Mount Holyoke on Sunday. 
 
Softball
 
Athlete of the Week- Jessica Gomez (Sr., DP/P), Emerson College
 
Senior Jessica Gomez (West Chester, Pa.) hit .444 (4-for-9), including a pair of triples to slug .889, to go with four RBIs and one run scored as Emerson swept Salve Regina. She also started game two in the pitcher's circle, tossing three innings and fanning three batters.
 
Pitcher of the Week- Cameron Whiteford (Gr., P), Babson College
 
Graduate student Cameron Whiteford (Centerville, Md.) went 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP to go along with 15 strikeouts in 14.0 innings over two starts for Babson. She struck out five and allowed just two runs on three hits over 7.0 innings to help the Beavers beat MIT 6-2 on Wednesday and then fired a one-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in Friday's 2-0 victory over Smith. Whiteford held opposing hitters to just a .085 average in her two starts. 
 
Men's Tennis
 
Singles Player of the Week – Marc Villanueva Abad (Jr.), Springfield College
 
Junior Marc Villanueva Abad (Barcelona, Mexico) clinched a 4-3 win for Springfield men's tennis against Clark University on Sunday afternoon. Villanueva Abad's win over Graham Russo, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 singles, helped the Pride win its 12th match of the season - the second most victories in a single year in program history for Springfield. Springfield reached 12 wins for just the sixth time since 1949 and for the first time since 2017 one shy of tying the program record.
 
Doubles Team of the Week – Jaime Galligo & Pablo Munoz, Wheaton College
 
Wheaton's number one doubles tandem did not drop a game in a 6-0 win at Salve Regina University on April 11. Sophomore Jaime Galligo (Madrid, Spain) combined with first year Pablo Munoz (Paris, France) to earn a 6-0 triumph over senior Samuel Middleton and junior Jacob Faulise. 
 
Women's Tennis
 
Singles Player of the Week – Olivia Soffer (Sr.), Babson College
 
Senior Olivia Soffer (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) recorded a pair of straight-set wins at number one singles as No. 15 Babson split its matches in Atlanta. She defeated third-ranked Emily Kantrovitz of No. 3 Emory 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in the Beavers' 4-3 loss on Friday and followed it up with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 38th-ranked Lily McCloskey to help Babson beat No. 17 Case Western Reserve, 5-2, on Saturday.
 
Doubles Team of the Week – Alessandra Cristiani & Chaniel Soffer, Babson College
 
Alessandra Cristiani and Chaniel Soffer went 2-0 at number two doubles as No. 15 Babson split a pair of matches versus nationally-ranked foes in Atlanta over the weekend. They defeated third-ranked Emily Kantrovitz and Dakota Fordham of No. 3 Emory 6-2 to secure the doubles point in Friday's 4-3 loss and followed it up with a 6-3 win over Laurel Utterback and Katie Wong in the Beavers' 5-2 triumph over No. 17 Case Western Reserve. 
 
Men's Track & Field
 
Field Athlete of the Week – Logan Quinn (So.), Wheaton College  
 
Sophomore Logan Quinn (Portsmouth, R.I.) placed second in the hammer throw with a toss of 40.56 meters for the fourth-best mark in school history at the Jerry Gravel Invitational on April 13. Quinn was 10th in the shot put with a heave of 10.62 meters and 13th in the discus throw with a distance of 27.14 meters. 
 
Relay Team of the Week – 4x100, Wheaton College
 
Wheaton's 4X100-meter relay was outstanding at the BSU Bears Invitational, recording a time of 41.46 to win the event and rank as the fourth-fastest relay time in program history on April 11. The mark also places the Lyon quartet 26th in all of NCAA Division III. First year Gael Vera (Westminster, Mass.) was followed by classmate Aidan Greenleaf (Topsham, Maine) and seniors John Dowgiert (Methuen, Mass.) and Kelvin Peterson (Eliot, Maine). 
 
Track Athlete of the Week- Aithan Bezanson (Fy.), Babson College
 
First year Aithan Bezanson (Danvers, Mass.) recorded season-best marks in seven events and came in third in the decathlon at UMass with a school-record 6355 points, which currently ranks first in the NEWMAC, second in New England and eighth in Division III. He recorded top-four finishes in eight of the 10 events and took first in the 1500-meter run and javelin, second in the 110-meter hurdles and third in both the shot put and high jump. Bezanson recorded season-best marks in the 100 meters (11.47), long jump (21-8.25), shot put (37-7.75), 400 meters (52.58), discus (90-4), pole vault (10-6) and 1500 meters (4:34.63), and his point total broke a 10-year-old school record.  
 
Women's Track & Field
 
Field Athlete of the Week – Anika Wagner (Jr.), Wheaton College
 
Junior Anika Wagner (Elmore, Vt.) recorded a toss of 47.05 meters for the Lyons to win the hammer throw at the Jerry Gravel Invitational. She also led Wheaton in the shot put with a heave of 9.94 meters to place fourth, while notching a distance of 26.30 to finish fifth in the discus throw.
 
Relay Team of the Week – 4X400, Coast Guard Academy
 
Coast Guard's women's 4x400 team of Ella Besant, Grace Flynn, Alaina Stonebraker, and Makenna Topp ran a time of 4:03.43 to win the event at Silfen Invite.
 
Track Athlete of the Week – Gillian Roeder (Gr.), MIT
 
Graduate student Gillian Roeder (Delmar, N.Y.) finished 31st overall at the Duke Invitational in the 1500m for the No. 2 MIT Women's Track and Field Team, finishing with a time of 4:30.21. Her time currently ranks as the eighth fastest in Division III. 
  
About the NEWMAC

The NEWMAC is an association of 12 selective academic institutions: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Salve Regina University, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, that are committed to providing high quality competitive athletic opportunities for student-athletes within an educational and respectful environment that embodies the NCAA Division III Philosophy. The conference also partners with four Associate Members: Norwich University (Football), Simmons College (Rowing), SUNY Maritime College (Football), and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Football), while sponsoring 20 sports.