CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University fall athletic programs gathered at the Casella Theater on Wednesday night to celebrate the accomplishments of student-athletes both on and off the field.
 
The women's soccer program was awarded the President's Cup for Academic Excellence by President Jonathan Spiro. The award is given each season to the team with the highest cumulative grade point average. The team posted a GPA of 3.67. For the first time on record, each of Castleton's 10 fall programs held a cumulative team GPA above 3.0.
 
Men's Cross Country
Castleton competed seven times during the 2021 season, and played host for a pair of meets on campus. Team MVP Wayne Alexander logged a pair of top-10 finishes at the Castleton Invitational and the Cardinal Classic, finishing eighth in each race. He posted a season-best 8k time in the season-opening meet on his home course, running a 31:09.
 
Women's Cross Country
The Castleton women's cross country team opened the season with a second-place finish at its home meet, the Castleton Invitational, and raced seven times in total on the year. Team MVP Eden Goldstein had two top-10 finishes on the season, first a seventh-place finish in the Castleton Invitational before placing eighth at the Cardinal Classic. She posted a season-best 6k time at the Western New England Invitational, running a 27:49.8.
 
Field Hockey
The field hockey team played its way to a 7-11 record under first-year head coach Emily Lowell, winning five games in the Little East Conference. The Spartans were competitive in nearly every contest, and had six consecutive games down the stretch decided by just one goal. Team MVP Emily Harris led the nation in scoring, racking up a program-record 30 goals on the season. Her 1.67 goals per game and 3.56 points per game topped the entirety of NCAA Division III, and landed her Little East Conference Rookie of the Year accolades.
 
Football
The Castleton football team had a veteran roster in 2021 with 21 graduating seniors on the squad in search of a conference championship. The season began with a flourish, as Castleton recorded back-to-back shutouts against Plymouth State and Fitchburg State. The Spartans were in the running for the ECFC title until the penultimate week of the season, and capped the year with a win over Gallaudet to finish 6-4 overall and third in the ECFC. Team MVP Chris Rice had one of the best seasons for a defensive lineman in the country, as the senior led the conference with 23 tackles for loss, and his 2.3 TFL per game ranked second nationally in all of Division III.
 
Men's Golf
The Spartan golfers won a pair of tournaments as a team in 2021, finishing atop the leaderboard at the NVU-Johnson Invitational and at the Castleton Invitational. The team also finished second at the inaugural LEC Championship at Rutland Country Club. Team MVP Nicholas Ojala claimed medalist honors three times this season and finished with the lowest single-season scoring average in program history. His low round of 67 at the LEC Championship was tied for the lowest round in program history.
 
Women's Rugby
The Castleton women's rugby posted an impressive 5-2 record in 7's play this fall, sweeping NEC three times and Manhattanville twice. Team MVP Hannah Coupas became the program's single-season try record holder, finding the try zone 21 times. She twice scored five tries in a single match, and notched multiple tries in five of the team's seven matches.
 
Men's Soccer
The men's soccer program finished the season with a 4-13 record, notching wins over Russell Sage College, Southern Maine, Westfield State and Plymouth State. Team MVP Jacob Godfrey scored a pair of goals and had an assist this season, playing both sides of the ball as the team's captain. He ranked second on the team in minutes played, averaging 86.5 minutes per game.
 
Women's Soccer
The women's soccer team had a stellar season in the Little East Conference in 2021, posting a 9-6-4 record overall with a 4-2-2 mark in LEC play. The Spartans earned a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed in the LEC Championship Tournament before defeating Keene State 3-0 at Dave Wolk Stadium. Team MVP Alex Benfatti earned multiple LEC Goalie of the Week accolades this season, and was named All-LEC Second Team after posting nine shutouts along with 127 saves, a 0.96 goals-against average and a .870 save percentage.
 
Women's Tennis
The Castleton women's tennis team posted a 5-9 record in 2021, its most wins in a season since 2017. The Spartans picked up wins over Russell Sage College, NVU-Lyndon, Southern Maine and twice over NVU-Johnson. Team MVP Makayla Boisvert went 6-3 playing at the No. 5 singles position, and was 7-6 across doubles play split between the Nos. 2 & 3 spot.
 
Women's Volleyball
The volleyball program went 5-19 on the season, but was highly competitive in nearly every match on the year. Team MVP Hailey Martinovich became just the fourth player in program history to reach the 200-kill mark in a single season, finishing her rookie year with 205 kills, 206 digs and 21 blocks.