Hamilton College's Riffle Award winners announced

Akuamoah-Boateng '09 and Briscoe '09 are 2009 honorees

2009 Riffle Award winners Max Akuamoah-Boateng '09 (left) and Kaillie Briscoe '09

Hamilton College men's soccer and lacrosse athlete Max Akuamoah-Boateng '09 (Winneba, Ghana/Nottingham HS [N.Y.]) and women's lacrosse All-American Kaillie Briscoe '09 (Orangeville, Ontario/Orangeville District School) received the 2009 Jack B. Riffle Awards at the College's senior varsity athlete awards dinner on May 21.

The Riffle Award has been presented annually since 1987 to the most outstanding Hamilton male and female senior athlete. Riffle graduated from Hamilton in 1950 and passed away on Dec. 13, 1986. A group of Riffle's friends and associates established a memorial fund in his name because of his deep interest in Hamilton athletics.

Briscoe represents the ninth women's lacrosse player to win the award and this marks the third straight year someone from the program has received the honor. She is a four-year letter winner, senior captain and started all 77 games at attack during her career. As a senior, she scored 41 goals and led the team with 37 assists and 78 points as the program reached the NCAA tournament semifinals for the second straight year.

Briscoe helped the women's lacrosse program to a record of 65-12, including 29-3 in Liberty League regular season games. Hamilton made three NCAA tournament appearances, earned four league tournament berths, and captured three league tournament championships and two league regular season titles. The team has not lost at home since her first year.

Briscoe holds the all-time program records with 206 goals, 134 assists and 340 points. She is a four-time all-region first team selection, a three-time member of the all-league team and a league co-rookie of the year in 2006. In 2008, she was voted a first team All-American after she set a team record for most points in a season and tied her own record for most assists, and helped lead the team to Hamilton's first national championship in a team sport.

Akuamoah-Boateng is a four-year letter winner and senior captain in men's soccer and a three-year letter winner in men's lacrosse. He helped the men's soccer program to a record of 38-20-5, two NCAA tournament appearances, three Liberty League tournament berths, a league regular season title in 2006 and a league tournament championship in 2007.

Akuamoah-Boateng scored nine goals and assisted on 10 others during his 49-game men's soccer career. He is a four-time all-league selection and a two-time member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America all-region first team at midfield. In 39 games with men's lacrosse, he scored 13 goals and was credited with five assists.

Perhaps his finest moment as a Hamilton athlete came during a men's soccer NCAA tournament game against New York University on Nov. 10, 2007, when he scored the first goal late in the first half of what eventually became a 2-0 victory.

The featured guest speaker was former Hamilton men's ice hockey coach Phil Grady, who stepped down from that position in March 2008 after 24 seasons behind the bench. He is retiring from his position as Professor of Physical Education later this spring.

Grady finished his career with a record of 304-260-34. His 304 wins are the most by a Hamilton men's hockey coach. He guided the Continentals to 18 postseason appearances, including 14 straight from 1993 to 2006. Hamilton won an Eastern College Athletic Conference East Division title in 1998, when the Continentals defeated Connecticut College 2-1 in overtime.

The Continentals enjoyed 15 winning seasons under Grady. Eleven 100-point scorers and four All-Americans played for him. Former Hamilton goaltender Guy Hebert '89 went on to a standout career in the National Hockey League in the 1990s.