SYRACUSE — Nora Fitzgerald, Lauren Haley), Avery Durgan and Casey Granger of the Plattsburgh State women’s soccer team were each selected to the 2023 All-State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) teams, as announced by the conference office on Thursday. Fitzgerald and Haley earned First Team plaudits, while Durgan was named to the Second Team and Granger to the Third Team.
Fitzgerald repeats as a first-team selection, while Haley and Durgan make their first appearances on an All-SUNYAC team. Granger was a second-team honoree her sophomore year, making her third-team selection the second all-conference nod of her career.
Fitzgerald continued to be one of the most versatile and talented players in the SUNYAC in 2023, making the move to midfield this season. Offensively, she finished fifth in the league in points (20) and sixth in goals (8), leading the team in both categories. She finished behind Durgan for the team lead in assists with four helpers, also registering two game-winners on the season. She scored the game-winners in two 1-0 wins, both conference games, in victories over Oswego State and Fredonia. The New Rochelle native posted her first multi-goal game in the team’s 6-0 win over SUNY Canton, scoring two goals and one assist, despite just 16 minutes of action. She also scored a goal and assist against NCAA tournament-bound R.I.T., a game Plattsburgh won 3-1.
After a breakout campaign in 2022, Haley continued her excellent play throughout the 2023 season, earning first-team honors as goalkeeper. Haley ended the season with 70 saves, good for a third-place rank in the conference, also adding seven shutouts on the season, six of which came in SUNAYC play. Her numbers in conference games were outstanding, as she had a .67 goals-against-average, making 41 saves for a .872 save percentage. Here 4-1-4 record with just six goals allowed ranked as one of the top marks in the league, as the junior was recognized as the top goalie this year in the league.
In her senior year, Durgan posted a career year, putting together career-highs in every major offensive category to earn all-conference honors at forward. In 17 starts, she posted 18 points, ranking sixth in the conference and second on Plattsburgh State. She led the Cards with six assists, good for fifth place tie on the SUNYAC leaderboards, and was behind only Fitzgerald with six goals. In four separate games, the Beekmantown graduate had three points, tallying a goal and assist in each game. She won a SUNYAC Offensive Player of the Week award during Plattsburgh’s biggest week of the season, as she registered game-winners against Oneonta and Geneseo, helping the Cardinals jump all the way to the third seed in the league. Durgan also proved to be incredibly well-conditioned, playing in 90 minutes at the forward spot six times, totaling 1,347 minutes over the 17 games she played.
After missing out on last year’s all-conference team following a second-team nod in 2021, Granger returns to the all-league team, earning a third-team selection as a defender in 2023. Granger was incredibly reliable and durable this past season, playing in all 90 minutes 15 times. The senior helped lead a strong defensive unit that allowed just six goals in conference play during the regular season. She also logged 1,383 minutes overall, good for second on the team, missing just one game on the season.
Men’s Soccer
SYRACUSE — For the second straight year, junior defender Brian Coughlan and junior midfielder John Hayes of Plattsburgh State have been named to the 2023 All-State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Teams. Coughlan earned Second Team honors while Hayes was named to the Third Team.
For Coughlan, it is his second time earning honors on the second team while Hayes earns his way onto the All-SUNYAC Third Team for the third time.
Coughlan, playing his first season as a defender in 2023, was exceptional on the defensive end, while still being a huge piece of the Cardinal offense. The Pearl River native finished in the top 20 in the conference in points after the conclusion of the conference tournament, tallying six goals and one assist playing in all 16 of Plattsburgh’s games. He also registered three game-winning goals, first against Clarkson in the season opener, and then in two conference wins against Potsdam and Fredonia. On the year, he posted two braces, scoring twice against Clarkson and against Fredonia, some of which was credited to his excellence on penalty kicks, where he was 3-3 on the season. He was incredibly reliable, as head coach Chris Taylor called upon Coughlan to play in all but seven minutes of the team’s season, registering 1,433 minutes.
With Coughlan’s move to the defensive unit in 2023, Hayes became the focal point of an offense that scored 24 goals on the year. Hayes led the team in goals (7) and points (17) and was tied for the team lead in assists (3) during the 2023 campaign. The junior set career highs in all three categories with his performance this year, on his way to a third-straight all-conference nod. Hayes was incredibly durable as well, playing 1,280 minutes, good for fifth on the team and also the highest mark for any midfielder or forward on the roster. On the conference statistical leaderboards, he finished top 10 in the conference for goals (T-8th) and was 11th in the league in points. The Pearl River native twice scored two goals in one game, doing so first against Utica in the team’s second game of the year, and then doing so in the team’s season finale against St. Lawrence.