Middlebury’s Big Three: Fuqua, McCann and Chandler All Named All-NESCAC

Middlebury didn’t just have a good season. They had three players who were, individually, among the best in the NESCAC, and the league has now said so officially.

Megan Fuqua, Emma McCann and Addie Chandler have all been named to the All-NESCAC teams. Fuqua and McCann made the first team. Chandler made the second. Between them they’ve scored 28 goals and set up plenty more, and they’ve carried the second-ranked team in the country to a 15-3 record.

Fuqua’s the captain, and she’s been here before. This is her second straight year on the first team, and she’s earned it again. Nine goals, 22 points, second on the team in both, and two hat-tricks along the way. One came in the season opener, an 8-0 win over Union. The other came in a 5-0 win over Colby on 3 October. Nine goals puts her fifth in the whole league. Not bad for a midfielder who does plenty of the unglamorous work too.

McCann’s the playmaker. Ten assists, second in the NESCAC, plus six goals of her own for 22 points. Her best day came in that same opener against Union, when she set up four goals, the most by any Panther in a game all season. She’s started all 18 games and logged 1,036 minutes, and she’s scored three game-winners. This is her first all-conference honour, and it won’t be her last.

Then there’s Chandler, and honestly, the second team feels harsh. The sophomore leads Middlebury in goals with 13, in points with 31, and in game-winning goals with five. She’s second in the entire NESCAC in points. She scored the overtime winner against then-top-ranked Christopher Newport, she beat Amherst with 48 seconds left in the NESCAC quarter-final, and she recorded her first hat-trick and a career-high six points against Skidmore on 21 October. That’s not a second-team season. That’s a player of the year conversation, and the rest of the league will know it by now.

Saturday’s the next test

Middlebury earned a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament, and they host the winner of Babson and Union on Saturday at 11:00am ET, 9:00pm PKT, at Peter Kohn Field. Fuqua, McCann and Chandler will be right at the heart of it, like they’ve been all season.

For our money, this is a team built for a deep run. They’ve got goals from everywhere, a captain who leads by example, a playmaker who sees passes nobody else does, and a sophomore who scores winners for fun. The All-NESCAC honours are nice. A trip to the final four would be better, and on this form, it’s very much on.