Mansfield, Mass. - On Wednesday, the Northeast-10 Conference announced its Sport Excellence Award winners for the Fall 2023 season, and Adelphi University's own Noelle Alberda, Victor Castel and Morgan Salmon were recognized for their outstanding efforts on the playing surface and in the classroom. 

Among the 108 student-athletes named to the NE10 Academic All-Conference teams last week, the Sport Excellence Award honors one top individual from each of those seven fall sports that includes field hockey, football, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, and volleyball.

Alberda and Salmon are the first fall female winners for Adelphi since field hockey's Jackie Brown in 2021. Alberda concluded her junior season as an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, as well as making the NE10 All-Conference Second Team. Her highlight performance came in the team's regular-season finale vs. Bentley, when she accumulated 25 kills and 27 total points to help the Panthers clinch the league's regular-season title.

Castel is the first men's winner of the fall Sport Excellence Award since fellow men's soccer standout Paolo Marciano earned the honor in 2019. Castel wrapped up his senior season in the Brown and Gold as a NE10 First Team All-Conference performer and a CSC Second Team Academic All-American. He was the lifeforce of the Adelphi offense this season, scoring two goals in back-to-back games in September to lead the Panthers to the No. 3 seed in the NE10 Tournament. 

Salmon's accomplishments only round out what was a historic season for the Adelphi women's soccer program. An NCAA East Region Championship and subsequent Final Four appearance was much aided from the defense Salmon provided. She was named just the second NE10 Defensive Player of the Year in program history.

In the classroom, the three were nothing but stellar. Salmon (3.852) Alberda (3.928) and Castel (3.935) combined for an outstanding 3.905 cumulative GPA.

To be eligible for Academic All-Conference and Sport Excellence honors, a student-athlete must have started at least half or played in two-thirds of all contests, while making significant contributions and maintaining a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale.