2017 Bull Run Awards: Best of UB’s Fall Sports

This is the third year of the Bull Run Awards, which we started after the 2014-15 season, our first covering each and every UB team. As always the Awards will be spread out over five days, covering each of the three seasons and two day's worth of special awards:

Day 1 - Wednesday: Fall Sports

Day 2 - Thursday: Winter Sports

Day 3 - Friday: Spring Sports

Day 4 - Saturday: Coach of the Year, Men's and Women's Rookie of the Year, Clutch Moment of the Year, Fan Favorite ——-> VOTE HERE

Day 5 - Sunday: Team of the Year, Men's Overall Bull of the Year, Women's Overall Bull of the Year

Fall Sports

Football- Jordan Johnson*

UB Athletics

For the second time, we’ve selected Jordan Johnson for this award. Last year, the now Bills running back had over a thousand all-purpose yards and 12 touchdowns. This year his numbers dropped off a bit, but then again, so did the entire offense. Johnson proved yet again how valuable of an asset he is on the ground with almost the same amount of yards and six touchdowns on the season.

An utterly dominant performance against Akron showed off the ceiling of this talented back. The Buffalo native ran for 282 yards, breaking a 25-year-old UB rushing record. Simply put, the effort and elusiveness that night was suffocating and was able to capture UB’s second and final win of the season.

Honorable Mentions: Mason Schreck, Khalil Hodge, Ishmael Hargrove

*2016 Winner

Men’s Soccer- Russell Cicerone*

UB Athletics

Last year he won MAC player of the year with an impressive 12 goals and 8 assists on the season. This year, he still managed to top that in the final season of UB Men’s Soccer. We all had huge expectations for the current Timbers 2 player this year and he delivered from day one, literally and figuratively.

Once again, Cicerone was the go-to guy with 14 goals to his name. His five-goal effort versus Daemen and two-goal shredding of Niagara will not be forgotten. But most of all, his perfect free kick during overtime to assist the game-winning score against Bowling Green in the MAC semi-finals will be priceless in our minds.

Honorable Mentions: Braden Scales, David Enstrom, Joseph Kuta**, Ryan Pereira

*2015 and 2016 Winner

** 2016 Honorable Mention

Women’s Soccer- Carissima Cutrona

UB Athletics

Coming into the 2016 UB Women’s Soccer season, someone needed to step up and help fill the void that the graduated Kassidy Kidd left. Carissima Cutrona did just that. Earning second team All-MAC accolades, the Williamsville native brought home 10 goals and an assist—a sharp increase in scoring production from her previous season.

Cutrona had a pair of two-goal games in 2016, each in 3-1 efforts versus St. Bonaventure and Navy respectively. She also had back-to-back games with a goal twice, further cementing her impact on a team that will look to get back to their winning ways this upcoming season.

Honorable Mentions: Julia Benati**, Moira Petrie, Nicole Gerritz

**2016 Honorable Mention

Men’s Cross Country- Barrett Kemp*

UB Athletics

Once he got back into the thick of things midway through the season, Barrett Kemp was more of an asset to UB Cross Country than the year before, especially because of the departure of Cameron Bruce. Kemp lead the way for the Bulls in both the MAC Championships and the NCAA Northeast Regionals, garnering 7th and 37th place finishes respectively in each. Thanks to Barrett’s feat in the Northeast Regionals, the Bulls were able to finish eighth overall, the second best performance UB history.

Honorable Mentions: Andrew Berge, Jack Jibb

*2016 Co-Winner

Women’s Cross Country- Stephanie Ward

UB Athletics

Stephanie Ward is only a freshman, but she’s already made a name for herself at UB. Ward became the highest finishing freshman in program history at the MAC Championships with her 13th place 21:44.40 result in the 6K. Then, just a week later the freshman showed off her potential at Regionals, finishing 21st and being named to the All-Region team. That also had never been done by a freshman in UB’s history. With Ward leading the way, UB Women’s Cross Country has a very bright future.

Honorable Mentions: Morgan Mahoney, Rachel Barich**

**2016 Honorable Mention

Volleyball- Cassie Shado*

UB Athletics

Cassie Shado as the MVP for this past season’s volleyball team? Yeah, it’s a no-brainer. The senior-to-be led the MAC in hitting percentage at .400, which is also the second best in school history. Huge performances from Shado were common occurrences—hitting at .769 against Bucknell and her dominating 22 kill effort at Akron comes to mind. There’s no telling how much UB’s young roster would’ve struggled without her. For a team looking to make a rebound next season, Shado will be right at the forefront yet again.

Honorable Mentions: Megan Wernette**, Valisha Watkins**, Scout McLerran

*2015 and 2016 Honorable Mention

**2016 Honorable Mention

***

Congrats to the honorees on great seasons! Stay tuned tomorrow for the Winter Sports Awards!