ELMIRA, N.Y. -- It was an exciting week of sports for Elmira College's winter sports teams, as the Soaring Eagles posted a combined record of 5-2 during the Thanksgiving break. Men's ice hockey led the way with a perfect 3-0-0 record, while men's and women's basketball each picked up a win over the weekend.  
  The second-ranked Elmira women will face their toughest challenge of the season, as the Soaring Eagles host sixth-ranked Norwich University on Saturday, December 3rd. The battle between the two nationally-ranked programs marks the 10th consecutive season that the two non-league rivals will face off. Elmira enters the bout having won the previous four meetings and has yet to suffer a defeat to the Cadets at the Murray Athletic Center in five all-time home contests (5-0-0).
  Elmira's season-long four-game homestand continues this week with a pair of games at Speidel Gymnasium against non-league foes Pennsylvania College of Technology and SUNY Cortland. EC takes on the Wildcats of Penn on Tuesday, November 29th, at 6:00 p.m., before playing in the final game of 2016 against the Red Dragons two days later on Thursday, December 1st, at 5:30 p.m. The Soaring Eagles will look to continue their winning ways after topping Gallaudet University in EC's home opener last Sunday.  
  The Soaring Eagles continue their tour of Upstate New York this Sunday, December 4th, when Elmira makes the four-hour trek to North Country to face Liberty League foe, St. Lawrence University at 2:00 p.m. Sunday's contest will be a tough test for Elmira, who went toe-to-toe with Saints at Speidel Gymnasium last season, a year that saw St. Lawrence reach the Liberty League title game. The Saints are 3-1 entering the week, but also have a rough road ahead of them, as St. Lawrence is scheduled to play SUNY Plattsburgh and Ithaca College on Tuesday and Friday of this week, prior to its matchup with the Purple and Gold.
  For a second consecutive year, Elmira College Athletics will host the Under the Dome Craft Fair this Sunday, December 4th. Over 110 vendors are registered for the holiday craft fair, which will take place at the Murray Athletic Center in Pine Valley, New York, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission to the UDCF is just $2.00 per person. Raffle prizes will be handed out throughout the day and children will have access to play in Santa's Workshop.
  Elmira snapped a four-game skid with an impressive 6-4 road victory over SUNY Potsdam last Tuesday night. The win over the Bears was the beginning of a three-game win streak for the Soaring Eagles, as the Elmira men went on to defeat Nichols in pair of non-league games at the Murray Athletic Center this past weekend. The series with the Bison marked the first all-time matchups between the two storied programs.
 
Matthew Cuce '20 paced Elmira with eight points on the week, scoring a pair of goals and assisting on six others. His best game of the week came in Elmira's 7-4 win over Nichols on Sunday, a game that saw the Fort Myers, Florida, native produce five points on two goals and three helpers. His two goals were scored shorthanded and on the power play, the latter of which would go down as the game winner. The five-point performance from Cuce marked the first time a Soaring Eagle has racked up as many points in one game since 2014, while he also became the first EC rookie to amass five points since four-time All-ECAC West recipient Rusty Masters '10 did so in his debut season in 2006-07.
  Elmira traveled to the Flower City to compete in the Lexington Rochester Airport Hotel Tournament, hosted by the University of Rochester, this past weekend. The Soaring Eagles opened the tournament with a solid 76-67 win over Vassar, thanks in large part to the double-double efforts of Henry Cuffee '19 and Anthony Abate '19. Cuffee scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down 12 boards, while Abate chipped in with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Cuffee and Abate were two of Elmira's five double-digit point scorers. Elmira would come up short in the title game to the host Yellowjackets of Rochester by an 88-50 final score. Cuffe and rookie Jeremy Every '20 earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
  Elmira went 1-1 this past week, suffering a hard-fought loss on the road to Shenandoah, before rolling past Gallaudet in EC's home opener on Sunday. Former high school teammates Danielle Cleary '18 and Rachel Vespucci '19 ignited Elmira's offense in the win over the Bison, combining for 44 of the team's 82 points. Cleary finished with 26 points, which matched her previous single-game high this season, and eight rebounds, while Vespucci turned in a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards. It was the second consecutive double-double for Vespucci, who scored 18 points and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds against Shenandoah.