After an action-packed first complete month of Red sports in September, The Cornell Daily Sun’s Sports Department has officially selected its players of the month.
Men’s Athlete: Tommy MacPherson – Football
If you wanted to describe what a perfect start to a new season looks like, just look at MacPherson’s performances through the Red’s first two games.
MacPherson could not have begun his senior season with a more packed stat sheet, securing 11 total tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and an interception in the Red’s season opener against Colgate. During the Red’s home opener against Yale the following weekend, MacPherson secured six total tackles and two interceptions.
“Part of being an Ivy League student is the academic portion of it,” MacPherson explained. “I had an internship over the summer, back in Chicago, but football has always been a priority for me as well. So I was waking up at 5 a.m. to get workouts in before work, and then after [work] I did some sort of running or something skill-wise to make sure I was on top of my game.”
Having gotten an interception in the last game of the 2025 season, MacPherson became the first Red player since 2016 to secure an interception in three straight games and the first player to ever have four takeaways through the first two games of the season according to a Cornell Athletics SID.
“Everybody has individual goals, and they want to play well, but if you asked any guy on this team, the goal would be to win an Ivy League championship,” MacPherson responded when asked what his goals this season are.
Women’s Athlete: Ava Bogan – Volleyball
Ava Bogan is a senior middle blocker on the volleyball team and a key contributor to the Red’s success on both offense and defense. To kick off September, Bogan recorded a season high of 21.5 points against Syracuse in the team’s third matchup of the season. Just over a week later, she racked up a season-high of 17 kills against Binghamton before leading the team with 12 blocks against Temple the very next day.
“We really just want to keep getting better. Even though we’re doing really well in Ivy so far, we’re not complacent, and we want to keep improving on all our weak points that we may have,” Bogan said. “Our ultimate goal … is getting that championship ring.”
Bogan’s defensive accomplishments extend even beyond the Ivy League. Currently, she is ranked No. 2 nationally for blocks per set across NCAA Division I, averaging 1.84.
For Bogan, success does not stop there. She aims to finish out her senior season by refining her own game while continuing to show up for the team.
“I really just want to leave an impact. We talked in our class about leaving the program better than we found it, and we all kind of made that commitment together to just give everything that we can to this program and really buy in,” Bogan said.
She looks forward to the rest of the season and will continue to be a key player for the Red as they take on tough opponents and vie for the chance to host the Ivy League Championship.
Matthew Leonard is a member of the Class of 2028 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a sports editor of the 144th Editorial Board and was previously the assistant sports editor for the 143rd Editorial Board. He can be reached at mleonard@cornellsun.com.
Grace Reuben is a member of the Class of 2028. She is a sports editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at greuben@cornellsun.com.
