Three Honored With Senior Scholar-Athlete Awards

BOSTON, Mass. – Three graduating student-athletes who combined excellence on the fields and ice with excellence in the classroom have been honored as the 2011 recipients of the Wentworth Athletic Department Senior Scholar-Athlete Awards. Men’s soccer defender Anthony Berntsen (Portland, Maine) and ice hockey defenseman Kyle Richardson (San Jose, Calif.) took home the Carl A. Swanson Senior Scholar-Athlete Award, while softball catcher Bridget Souza (Medford, Mass.) was named the recipient of the Eugenia Louise Sweeney Senior Scholar-Athlete Award.

The awards were voted on by the Wentworth Athletic Policy Board earlier this month and presented as a part of the Leopards’ Senior Ring Ceremony which was held today at the Watson Hall Auditorium. The ceremony, held the day before commencement, honors four year student-athletes and contributors to the program with a ring, symbolizing their commitment to the Athletic programs at Wentworth during their careers.

Berntsen, a four-year letterwinner and a two-year captain of the Leopard men’s soccer team, was named the 2010 The Commonwealth Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year and an Honorable Mention All-TCCC selection. This season he played in 17 of the team's 18 games, helping the Leopards to a 9-8-1 record with seven shutouts and two other games in which Wentworth held the opposition to just one goal. In November he became the first Wentworth men’s soccer player to earn Academic All-America honors, as he was named to the prestigious first team.
 
A Computer Engineering Technology major, Berntsen started 53 of the 68 games he played in during his career. A stalwart on defense throughout his time wearing the Black & Gold, he was often been called upon to shut down the opposing team's top scorer. During last two seasons he started every game he has played in (37 of team's 39) and during the 2009 season he helped the team post second-most shutouts (eight) in school history. For his efforts, he was named Second Team All-TCCC and First Team NSCAA All-New England.
 
During both his freshman and junior seasons, Berntsen and his teammates played in both TCCC and ECAC New England championship games and in 2009 the Leopards won the ECAC Division III New England title.
 
Richardson arrived on the Wentworth campus in the fall of 2008 after spending his freshman year at Wayne State University and wore the Black & Gold for the past three seasons. One of the top defensemen on the often nationally ranked ice hockey team, he served as a captain during the last two seasons.

A management major, Richardson played in 78 games during his three seasons at Wentworth and scored 48 points, which came on eight goals and 40 assists. Five of his eight goals came on the power play, while two of his eight career markers were game-winning goals. As a sophomore he posted a career-high 19 points, coming on three goals and 16 assists. As a junior, three of his four goals came on the power play and helped the Leopards finish first among Division III schools in power play percentage. That season Wentworth won 20 games for the first time since 2003 and the 20 wins were the third-most in program history.

This past season he scored a goal and added 13 assists and during both his sophomore and senior seasons he helped the Leopards reach the ECAC Northeast championship game. In the 2009 ECAC Northeast Championship Game, he assisted on a goal in the Leopards’ 4-3 setback to Nichols.

A four-year letterwinner for Wentworth’s softball team, Souza served as a captain of this year's squad, where, while starting all 37 contests, she batted .337 (31-for-92) with three doubles, four home runs, and 21 runs batted in, en route to being named First Team Academic All-District. Her academic all-district honor was the first for a Wentworth softball player since 1996.

Souza earned Honorable Mention All-The Commonwealth Coast Conference honors as a sophomore (2009) and for her career she started 133 of the 134 games in which she played – both of which rank second in program history – while batting .319 (117-for-367) with 22 doubles, 13 home runs, 47 runs scored, and 87 RBI. On Wentworth's career list, her 22 doubles and 178 total bases rank second, while her 117 hits, 13 home runs, and 87 RBI rank third.

A Civil Engineering Technology major, Souza was a recipient of the President's Award for outstanding achievement in the classroom and in co-curricular activities as a part of Wentworth’s annual awards program in April.

Carl A. Swanson Scholar-Athlete Award
First given in 1985, this award originally honored a male and/or female student-athlete who has excelled, both athletically and academically, while showing exemplary character. The recipient of this award must have exhausted his and/or her athletic eligibility in the year they are honored. Beginning in 2002, this award, named after the longtime Dean of Students at Wentworth, became eligible to male student-athletes only.

 
Eugenia Louise Sweeney Scholar-Athlete Award
First given in 2002, this award annually honors a female student-athlete who has excelled, both athletically and academically, while showing exemplary character. The recipient of this award must have exhausted her athletic eligibility in the year she is honored. The award is named after Mrs. Sweeney, who with her late husband, Myles Elliott '28, have been tremendous benefactors to Wentworth and the field which Wentworth's soccer, lacrosse, and softball teams bear their name.