05/08/2026
The winner of the 2026 Ed Sayer Memorial Award is Carter Kladstrup.
Those who have played alongside Carter Kladstrup will tell you without hesitation when he walks into a room, the standard of the room rises. In his four years with the Golden Knights, he has demonstrated both humility and an intentional desire to improve. Perhaps the single most defining quality of Carter Kladstrup’s career at Clarkson has been his absolute refusal to treat soccer as an individual pursuit. He has spoken often in team meetings and in casual conversation about the goalkeeper’s unique responsibility to serve as the team’s foundation: not its star, but its anchor, and understanding that a shutout belongs to 11 players and each of their moments and roles in the accomplishment.
There are players who accumulate honors, and there are players who leave programs permanently better than they found them. Carter has done both. He departs Clarkson having rewritten the program’s goalkeeping record books, having earned recognition at every level of the conference and region, and having left behind a culture of accountability, commitment, and resilience that will outlast his time on the field.
We would like to congratulate Carter and all of our nominees for everything they have done and will do that make us proud to call them Clarkson University student-athletes.