SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 26, 2026) – Western New England field hockey's Tania Evans, WNE football's John De Camps, and WNE women's soccer's Liza Pinette have earned this week's Golden Bear Athlete of the Week award following major contributions to the success of their teams this week. 

Evans played in and started all three games for the Golden Bears, heavily contributing in all three games, though none bigger than her second goal of the season coming this past Saturday in a 1-0 win over the University of New England. With the game tied heading into the final eight minutes, Evans found a loose ball in front of the goal and flipped it into the back of the cage to give the Golden Bears the lead, and held on in their final conference game of the regular season, helping WNE secure a three-way tie for the top spot in the CNE and taking the second seed in the upcoming CNE Tournament, earning a first-round bye. The goal by Evans over UNE was her fourth career goal and first game-winner in her career. WNE field hockey is back in action this coming Wednesday, October 28, at 6:00 PM at Salve Regina University for the final non-conference game of the regular season.

De Camps provided plenty of offense for the Western New England football team, who took down the Colonels of Curry College with ease in a 48-13 victory. De Camps hauled in a team-high five catches, picking up 87 yards from scrimmage, and came down with a nine-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to seal the deal for the Golden Bears in the victory. De Camps now has 13 catches for 262 yards on the season and has picked up two touchdowns on the year. De Camps and the Golden Bears hit the road this coming Saturday, October 31, for a 12:00 PM kickoff at New England College, looking to build off last week's victory. 

Pinette contributed heavily on the scoreboard for Western New England women's soccer this week, helping the Golden Bears pick up a huge CNE victory over Curry to close the week. In a midweek home contest against Gordon, Pinette found the back of the net in the first minute, just 42 seconds into the contest, to find her eighth goal of the season. Pinette took a pair of shots against Gordon and played in 60 minutes. To end the week, Pinette struck for three goals, her second hat trick of the season in a 5-0 win over Curry, picking up her fourth game-winning goal of the season in the process. Pinette now has 11 goals for Western New England on the year and 23 points. WNE women's soccer plays its final regular-season contest this Tuesday, October 27 at 3:30 PM, taking on the University of Hartford with major playoff implications on the line.