Call it a no-brainer, but Western Connecticut’s two All-Americans — Catherine Nathans and Tom McDonald — were named the Danbury university’s Athletes of the Year.

In 2007, Catherine Nathans became the most decorated women’s soccer player to ever put on a Colonials’ uniform. In her second season at WestConn, after transferring from Iona College, she helped lead her team to the Little East Conference regular-season and tournament titles, the NCAA New England Region Championship and Western’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Final Four at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

This past fall, Nathans, of New Fairfield, led the team in scoring with 17 goals, seven assists, for 41 total points. Eight of her 17 goals were game-winning goals. In two seasons, she has the same amount of game-winning goals as the number she wears proudly on her back each game, 14.

And she’ll be back for her senior season this fall.

Her long list of post-season honors are quite impressive. She was named to:

• D3 soccer.com’s All-American First Team and All-New England First Team
• Little East Conference First-team (and Offensive Player of the Year)
• New England Women’s Intercollegiate Soccer Association’s First Team
• National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-New England First Team
• National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American First Team

Like Nathans, McDonald was the first player at Western in a particular sport to be named to an All-America team. And he recently completed his playing career as one of the top left tackles the WestConn football team has ever had.

Game in and game out over the past four seasons, McDonald was the last line of defense on the Colonial quarterback’s blind side.

This past fall, not only his coaching staff, but nearly every coach in the nation recognized him among the elite at his position. The New Jersey Athletic Conference coaches named him to their Offensive All-Star First Team. And the coaches in the Eastern College Athletic Conference named Tom to the Southeast Region All-Star First Team.

In college football, the National Football Coaches Association Division III All-America Team is widely recognized as the pinnacle of football All-America team. There isn’t a Second, Third or Honorable Mention category… Since 1945 the NFCA has recognized the top players nationally and since 1965 if you were not one of the top 11 offensive or defensive players in the United States, you weren’t a true All-American.

I’ve been on ice skates once, as a 4th grader who had sprained his ankle twice in the prior year. Needless to say, I refused to let my father let go of me that day on a frozen Mill River in Fairfield, and that pair of Caldor skates lay useless in my parent’s basement forever.

My floor hockey career ended as a sophomore in high school when I jumped in front of Kevin Arrix, a sophomore on the New Canaan varsity, to block a shot and ended up with something like 30 stitches above my right eye. (Kevin apologizes to this day, even though I take the blame)

But you don’t have to own a stick or know how to skate to understand that FCIAC teams cannot compete at the CIAC Division I level. Read the full story