ELMIRA, N.Y -- Michael Bryant '18 of the men's soccer team and Natalie Schieder '19 of the women's volleyball team have been named Elmira College Athletes of the Week following a pair of high-scoring outings for their respective teams last week.

A breakout performance from Bryant guided the men's soccer team to a 6-1 drubbing of Utica College in EC's Empire 8 Conference opener on Saturday at Campus Field. One of the top scorers in all of NCAA Division III a year ago, Bryant tallied twice against the Pioneers and assisted on two others.

The Portola Hills, California, product earned assists on each of Elmira's first two goals, both scored by Donte Donegal '18. In the sixth minute and 17th minutes, Bryant set up Donegal with a pair of one-on-one chances with the Utica keeper off of headers, both of which were successfully converted. He then scored his first goal of the afternoon in the 34th minute with a header off of a corner entry from Tony Barraco '18, putting the Purple and Gold up 4-0 at the half. The busy afternoon concluded in the 78th minute, as Bryant slipped past a bevy of Utica defenders and buried a shot to the far right corner.

Bryant's six-point effort equaled his single-game career high, as did his two assists. On the season, the 6-foot 2-inch forward has accumulated eight points off of three goals and two assists. His 1.60 points per game lead the Empire 8 Conference through EC's first five contests.
 
The Elmira men's soccer team will hit the road for a non-conference contest against Vassar College on Tuesday, September 20th, at 4:00 p.m.
 
Schieder continued to assert herself as one of the best in the league with an outright dominate performance last Thursday against the Pennsylvania College of Technology. After the Wildcats jumped ahead two-sets-to-none, she helped the Soaring Eagles pull off a miraculous comeback with career highs in kills (31) and digs (27).

With the EC offense struggling early on, Taylor Kaznowski '19 shifted her focus towards setting her always-reliable classmate. As a result, Schieder compiled a whopping 79 total attacks. She managed to earn her career-best 31 kills while still maintaining an admirable .253 hitting percentage. Defensively, the Alden, New York, native picked up 14 of her digs in the final two sets, where the Soaring Eagles limited Penn College to a mere .063 hitting percentage.

Not only did Schieder set new career records for kills and digs against the Wildcats, but her outing vaulted her into first place in the E8 in kills per set at 5.45. Additionally, it marked the first 30-kill, 20-dig match for the Soaring Eagles since former AVCA All-American Taryn Rumsey '14 racked up 32 kills and 20 digs in a five-set victory over Hartwick College on October 4, 2013

Schieder and the Elmira women return to action with a road trip to Ithaca College for the 2016 Empire 8 season opener on Wednesday, September 21st, at 6:00 p.m.