ALBANY — Morgan Burchhardt, a senior from The College of Saint Rose, and Lydia Ware, a senior from Averill Park High School, recently received Grand honors at the Capital District Sports Women of the Year Awards Event held at The Desmond Hotel Albany.

Burchhardt was named the Grand Collegiate Woman of the Year and Ware was named the Grand Scholastic Woman of the Year. The event also honored nine other high school and two other college female student-athletes from the region, who made up the 2020 (and first ever) Class of the Capital District Sports Women of the Year. CDSWOY honors excellence in academics, athletics and community service.

The event featured the honorees and two guests each at The Desmond. A live video was provided as well. The virtual guest speaker was Chris Plonsky of the University of Texas, who serves as the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director/Chief of Staff and UT’s Senior Woman Administrator for Big 12 Conference and NCAA governance. Plonsky is a past president of of NACDA, NACMA and Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly NACWAA).

Burchhardt was named a United Soccer Coaches second team Scholar All-American and a United Soccer Coaches first team Scholar All-East. Athletically, Burchhardt was a United Soccer Coaches third-team All-America pick and earned United Soccer Coaches first-team All-East honors. She was a Northeast 10 first-team All-Conference pick and made the NE-10 Championship All-Tournament Team and made the NCAA National Championship All-Tournament Team as her team reached the national semifinals. She was a four-time NE-10 All-Conference pick.

A D2CCA second-team All-East pick, Burchhardt was named to the NE-10 weekly honor roll (10/21/19). She was fourth in program annals with 114 points, tied for 11th with 31 goals, and second with 52 assists. Burchhardt is one of only eight players in school history to record 100 career points. She was one of 14 active players in the country with 30 goals and 20 assists in 2019. Burchhardt was the active NCAA Division II leader in assists in 2019. She is the only player in school annals to record 10 or more assists in four separate seasons. 

Burchhardt’s community service includes the following: a former two-year Executive Board member of Saint Rose Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a four-year member of SAAC, named the recipient of the 2019 Michael Simpson Striker Award, which is bestowed upon a Golden Knights men’s or women’s soccer player who is active in community service as determined by the athletics coaching staff, volunteer at Capital City Rescue Mission — Albany Food Bank, Team Reading Days at the Delaware Community School (City School District of Albany’s only school offering a bilingual education curriculum.

Burchhardt also was part of the Dual Language Program, which teaches students in both English and Spanish. She also helped organize Penny Wars, a fundraiser for the Strength in Numbers non-profit organization. Burchhardt also coaches U-10 & U-12 girls teams for Albany Alleycats Premier. She also is a Delaware Community School Volunteer — Mardi Gras and Math Night, Team Impact — Leadership position, and a volunteer at Saint Rose Women’s Soccer Youth Clinics.

Ware was Valedictorian of the APHS class of 2020 and a member of the National Honor Society. Other honors include recognition as a National Merit Scholarship Corporation Finalist, recipient of the Rensselaer Medal Award, New York State Capital District Society of Women Engineers Certificate of Merit, CASDA Capital Region Scholar, NYS Scholarship for Academic Excellence, and Averill Park High School Academic Excellence Awards for 13 courses over the span of her freshman through junior years.

Ware received Rensselaer County Legislature Commendation in her freshman, sophomore and junior years, which is awarded to the top five students per class at Averill Park. She participated in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program, earning High Honors (awarded to the top 30 percent of selected students). 

Ware was a member of the soccer team with Scholar-Athlete honors for three seasons, Varsity member of the track & field team with Scholar-Athlete honors all four seasons, Suburban Scholastic Council All-Star Award in outdoor track, APHS Coach Aldi Athleticism, Leadership, Dedication and Integrity Award, qualifier for NY State Outdoor Championships in the 100m and 200m, APHS outdoor record holder in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relay, APHS Most Outstanding Track Performer Award, indoor record holder in the 55m, 400m, 4x200m, 4x400m, and sprint medley relays, qualifier for  NY State Indoor Championships in the 55m, third place in the NY State Intersectional Relay, Penn Relays Wheel 4x400m, Times Union High School Track & Field All Star, Second Team Suburban Scholastic Council All-Star, APHS Most Outstanding Sprinter, APHS Most Outstanding Scholar Athlete, and APHS Rising Star Award.

Ware’s community service includes Averill Park Student-Athlete Advisory Council, Secretary and co-founder of the APHS Science Club. Camper in Leadership Training and Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program participant at Camp Cedarbrook in the Adirondacks, Music Ministries, Child Nurture Ministries, Vacation Bible School volunteer, and Audio/Visual Ministries at Brunswick Church.

The other high school honorees included Taconic Hills’ Amelia Canetto, Stillwater’s Brooke Pickett joins Rensselaer’s MacKenzie Brown, South Glens Falls’ Lauren Willis, Northville’s Brytney Moore, Galway’s Rachel Wnuk, Middleburgh’s Makenzie Terrell, Lake George’s Rachel Hunsicker and Fort Edward’s Morgan Fish.

Sage’s Megan Flynn and RPI’s Liz Brady were the other collegiate honorees.