Christina Gelardi

New Haven
David Thomas
Track and FieldNative of Taneytown, Md., was an All-America honoree in the indoor season while also qualifying for the national meet in the 60-meter dash. Named the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association East Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, the Northeast-10 Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year and the conference’s Most Valuable Athlete at both the indoor and outdoor championship meets. He earned an NCAA berth in the long jump and met provisional standards in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Jason Thompson
Football
From Indiantown, Fla., the All-American hauled in 44 passes for 881 yards, including 16 touchdowns. He ranks in the top five in program history in receptions, receiving yards, touchdown catches and points and recently signed as an undrafted free agent with the Washington Redskins.
Keidy Candelaria
Volleyball
The native of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, was named All-America by two organizations after guiding the Chargers to the NCAA East Region title and the national quarterfinals. She was the AVCA East Region and Northeast-10 Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the East Region Championship. She is one of just seven players to tally 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in the storied history of the program.
Christina Gelardi
Softball
The Derby native was the Northeast-10 Player of the Year and led the nation with a .647 on-base percentage. She ranked in the top 10 nationally in five categories. Gelardi is top five all-time at New Haven in walks, batting average, RBIs, stolen bases, hits, home runs and doubles.
Yale
Elizabeth Epstein
Tennis
The Chicago native helped lead Yale to three Ivy League titles and four ECAC team championships during her career. She is a three-time All-Ivy selection and a two-time winner of the team’s Lisa Rosenblum Award, given to the team’s MVP. In her four years, the Bulldogs posted a 24-4 record against Ivy League foes, including a perfect 7-0 mark in 2012, and made three appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Andrew Miller
Hockey
The captain of the first Yale hockey team to win a national championship, Miller received the William Neely Mallory Award, the most prestigious athletic award given to a senior male at Yale. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime of the national semifinal, had a goal and an assist in the title contest — a 4-0 win over Quinnipiac — and was the Frozen Four Most Valuable Player in Pittsburgh. He signed with the Edmonton Oilers a few days after the national championship game.
Quinnipiac
Eric Hartzell
Hockey
Hartzell led the Bobcats to 30 wins and a Frozen Four appearance — the first in program history. A finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, Hartzell posted a 30-7-5 record, a 1.57 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage, which also included an 8-1 record against teams that competed in the NCAA tournament. He signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins following the Frozen Four.
Nicole Lewis
Field hockey
The senior from East Amherst, N.Y., is the only student-athlete from the Northeast Conference to receive the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Last year, Lewis was honored after finishing her undergraduate degree with the highest grade-point average (3.96) in Quinnipiac’s School of Health Science. On the field she was named the NEC Goalkeeper of the Year after leading the conference with a .812 save percentage and four shutouts. She also ranked third in goals-against average (1.59) and finished with 11 wins on the year for the Bobcats, who qualified for their fifth consecutive NEC tournament.
Albertus Magnus
Stephen Zapata
Soccer
The Hamden product paced the Falcons to their second Great Northeast Athletic Conference title and first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. An all-ECAC selection, he was also named second-team All-American after leading the Falcons with 38 points on 13 goals and 12 assists. He registered a team-high 92 shots, including 43 on goal, while he tallied six game-winners. He was also 4-for-4 in penalty kicks. Zapata finished his career at Albertus with 114 points on 31 goals and 52 assists in 80 games played.
Lianna Carrero
Basketball
The Hamden native was among the nation’s leaders in scoring for most of the season and notched the 1,000th point of her career in a game played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division III Second Team, she scored 46 points in a game against Norwich. The All-GNAC performer led the Falcons in scoring at 20.2 ppg.
SCSU
Paul Ryskowski
Cross country/track
A senior from Bristol, Ryskowski was named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team for the third straight year. A distance runner who ran a 4:19.15 in the 1,500 meters in the outdoor track season, Ryskowski was part of the Owls’ New England championship team and an NE-10 academic honoree.
Jaclyn Sullivan
Cross country/track
The senior from Lisbon was named to the NE-10 indoor and outdoor academic all-conference teams. She is an all-region performer and a former NCAA qualifier in the distance medley. She is a three-time all-conference academic pick.

— Bill Cloutier

All winners chosen by their respective schools; SCSU chooses scholar-athletes.

MEN'S BASKETBALL GAMEDAYS


QUINNIPIAC AT LONG ISLAND
Where: Wellness Center, Brooklyn
When: Today, 4:30 p.m.
Records: Quinnipiac (15-14, 11-6 Northeast); Long Island (16-13, 11-6)
Radio: WQUN-1220 AM
Internet: www.QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Video: NEC Front Row

What to look for
Scouting Long Island: The Blackbirds held off Sacred Heart in Thursday's crucial penultimate NEC game. The victory leaves the preseason favorites in a four-way tie for second place with Quinnipiac, Bryant and Wagner. A win today guarantees a home game in the first round of the tournament. Robert Morris has locked up the top seed. LIU is 10-4 at home and led by Jamal Olasewere averaging 18.7 points and 8.4 rebounds. Point guard Jason Brickman leads the nation in assists.
Scouting Quinnipiac: The Bobcats rebounded from a tough loss at Central Connecticut State to defeat St. Francis, N.Y., on Thursday. The victory kept Quinnipiac's chances of a No. 2 seed in the NEC tournament alive but they can finish as low as sixth in the regular-season standings with a loss. Quinnipiac beat LIU earlier in the season but the Blackbirds, who knocked Quinnipiac out of last season's NEC tournament played without its top players Olasawere and C.J. Garner. Quinnipiac has won seven of its last eight games and had four players reach double figures against SFNY led by Ike Azotam with 19.

NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT
ALBERTUS MAGNUS AT ALVERNIA

Jefferson Lora

Where: Physical Education center, Reading, Pa.
When: 7 p.m.
Video: albertusfalcons.com
Records: Albertus Magnus (24-4); Alvernia (23-4)

What to look for
Scouting Albertus Magnus: The Falcons are in the tournament for the third time in the last four year. In both of their previous trips they won their tournament opener but lost in the second round. Albertus is a veteran team with six seniors. Darius Watson leads the team in scoring at 23.3 ppg. while both Arshad Jackson and James Jennings are scoring over a dozen a game.
Scouting Alvernia: The Crusaders are making their eighth appearance in the championships and hosting for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Alvernia (23-4) used a 78-68 win over Lycoming on Saturday afternoon in the Commonwealth Conference Championship game to earn an automatic berth into the tournament. Like AMC, Alvernia is receiving votes in the D3 top 25 poll. Kahlil Bennett leads four Crusaders scoring over double figures at 14.3 ppg.

(Records before Friday's games)
YALE AT CORNELL

Where: Newman Arena, Ithac, N.Y.
When: 7 p.m.
Video: cornellbigred.com
Records: Yale (11-15, 5-5 Ivy); Cornell (13-14, 5-5)

What to look for
Scouting Cornell: The Big Red won at Yale earlier in the season as Cornell raced out to an early 11-2 lead, withstood a Yale comeback and held on for a 68-61 victory on Feb. 15. The Bulldogs were hurt by poor foul shooting as they shot just 12-of-26 (46.2 percent) from the line. Shonn Miller had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks to pace Cornell and Johnathan Gray also scored 18. Miller is the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
Scouting Yale: Yale has placed fourth or better in league play in each of the last 12 years and is looking to finish with a winning league record for the third straight year and for the fifth time in the last seven years. The future certainly looks bright as well. There are seven freshmen or sophomores averaging at least 13.9 minutes per game, and players who return next year have scored 1,250 of Yale's 1,804 (69.3 percent) points. Yale's depth has played a big role in the success of this year's team. In the 10 league games, the Bulldogs' bench is averaging 28.3 points.

-- Bill Cloutier

MEN'S BASKETBALL GAMEDAYS

BRYANT AT QUINNIPIAC
Where: TD Bank Sports Center, Hamden
When: Today, 2 p.m.
Records: Bryant (17-8, 10-4 Northeast Conference); Quinnipiac (13-13, 9-5)
Radio: WQUN-1220 AM
Internet: www.QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Video: NEC Front Row
What to look for
Scouting Bryant: The surprising Bulldogs have hovered around first place in the NEC all season long. They are one of three teams with 10 wins in the conference. The Bulldogs are 4-2 over their last six games, but just 1-2 in their last three. Most recently, five different Bulldogs registered double-digits in points, while junior forward Alex Francis picked up his seventh double-double of the year to lead Bryant over CCSU 88-67 on Thursday night. The win completed the Bulldogs' first season sweep of the 2012-13 campaign and marked Bryant's 17th win of the season, tying the conference mark for the season turnaround in NEC history (15 games).
Scouting Quinnipiac: The Bobcats have won five straight and seven of their last nine to move into fourth place in the NEC standings. Their torrid stretch has left them just a 1 1/2 games out of first place. It is Senior Day and the Bobcats will honor Dave Johnson, Garvy Young and Jamee Jackson before the game. The class has amassed a 76-47 mark in their time with the club. Quinnipiac needs one more win to clinch a playoff spot but have clearly set their sites higher. It beat Sacred Heart on Thursday.

Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship
ALBERTUS MAGNUS AT ANNA MARIA COLLEGE
Where: Fuller Center, Paxton, Mass.
When: 2 p.m.
Records: Albertus Magnus (23-4, 15-3 GNAC); Anna Maria (20-7, 16-2)
What to look for
Scouting Albertus Magnus: The Falcons blew out Johnson & Wales on Thursday to earn their third berth in the title game in the past four years. They won both prior trips. Darius Watson had 27 points in the semifinal win while Arshad Jackson added 21. The Falcons average 85.4 points a game and have spent time in the nation's Top 25 during the season and have an outside shot an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III tournament with a loss but earns the automatic bid with a win. Watson is averaging 22 points and moved into fourth place in the AMC all-time list on Thursday.
Scouting Anna Maria: Senior Anthony Click knocked down six 3-pointers and scored 25 points as the AMCATS trimmed St. Joseph College 75-63 in the semifinals to move into their second straight title game. Click has 1,700 career points. The AMCATS stretched their winning streak to 17 games, tied with Amherst College for the longest current winning streak in NCAA Division III men's basketball. Last year, Albertus Magnus hammered Anna Maria in the title game at Hamden 88-54. But Anna Maria won the only matchup this season, 97-88, at Paxton, Mass.

(Records before Friday's games)
HARVARD AT YALE
Where: Lee Amphitheater
When: 8 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: WYBC-AM 1340
Video: yalebulldogs.com
Records: Harvard (15-7, 7-1 Ivy League): Yale (10-15, 4-4)
What to look for
Scouting Harvard: The Crimson entered the weekend in first place in the Ivy League after cruising past Princeton in a showdown last week at Cambrdige, Mass. Harvard sports an impressive RPI ranking of 97 and is 31-6 over the past three seasons in league play. The Crimson played at Brown on Friday night and are led by Siyani Chambers, a front-runner for the top freshmen award, averaging 13 points and six assists. Slashing forward Wesley Saunders leads the team in scoring at 16 points and proved a difficult player to stop in the team's first matchup.
Scouting Yale: The Bulldogs, who played Dartmouth on Friday, dropped a 67-64 decision at the Lavieites Pavilion earlier in the season. Yale trimmed a big deficit to three points in the final seconds but were unable to get any closer. The Bulldogs have won three of their last four games but dropped three straight against rival Harvard. Senior Sam Martin has hit 9 of his last 13 3-point attempts and freshman Justin Sears is shooting 65 percent from the field in his last three games. Yale leads the Ivy League in rebounding and has outrebounded eight of its last nine foes.
- Bill Cloutier

Michael Spinner has resigned from his position as director of athletics at Albertus Magnus College.
Spinner submitted his resignation on Feb. 1.

Kristen DeCarli, who is currently assistant director of athletics and sports information director, will serve as acting athletic director during the remainder of this academic year and until the appointment of a new director.
The school will begin interviewing for the position in the spring.
Spinner was named AD on Sept. 1, 2010. He joined Albertus after spending a year and a half as the AD at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
Spinner served previously as associate director of athletics at Yeshiva University in New York and is a 1999 graduate of Pace University.

Cara Ann Cama, a senior at Albertus Magnus College and a member of the women’s cross country team, earned the title of Miss New Haven County 2012, a preliminary to Miss Connecticut of the Miss America Scholarship Program, in the March 10th competition.

Cama, who ran for the Falcons for the first time in the fall of 2011, had been involved in the Miss America organization for the past few years as a volunteer but decided to compete for the first time this year.


“I was very excited to hear Miss Connecticut 2011 Morgan Amarone call my name as the winner!” said Cama. “I immediately began planning events and promoting my platform of Peer Mentoring: Teaching Strategies for Success.”


Since her appointment to Miss New Haven County, Cama has spent her time visiting various educational institutions, speaking to children who are at a transition point in their lives about the importance of finding a mentor, setting goals and striving for educational advancement. During her visits, she is also able to educate others about the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Program and the National Miss America platform of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.


Cama, who will be graduating this upcoming May with a degree in Biology and a minor in Communications, joined the Falcons’ cross country program prior to the 2011 season.


“My favorite part of each race was getting the team together before we began for a group Falcon chant,” said Cama. “I loved encouraging our team and cheering from the sidelines while the men’s team ran. Although we had a small team, our members had a lot of spirit and Falcon pride!”

Next up for Cara Ann Cama? The Albertus senior will compete for the Miss Connecticut title at the Garde Arts Center in New London from June 26-30. She also hopes to continue speaking and helping out at events throughout the area and encourages that an email be sent to her at ccama@albertus.edu with any opportunities.

Albertus Magnus begins the NCAA road Friday night at Middlebury, Vt. The Falcons have won 22 straight games but this will be a major test.

The first night AMC has to face St. Joseph's (L.I.).
The Golden Eagles are a perennial DIII power and start a lineup featuring five seniors, all of whom average double figures.

Here's a quick look at matchup for Game One.

The awards are rolling in for Albertus Magnus.
On Tuesday coach Mitch Oliver was the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year after leading his team to a 24-1 record during the 2011-12 regular-season.

For Oliver, it is his second GNAC Coach of the Year honor after earning the accolade in 2009-10 when he led his Falcons to their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

In five years, Oliver has registered an overall record of 86 wins and 53 losses as he became the all-time winningiest coach in Albertus Magnus men's basketball history.

Also, Ray Askew was tabbed the GNAC Player of the Year.
rtus Magnus senior Ray Askew (Hamden, Conn.) has been named the 2011-12 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year as well as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, as announced by the league office. Askew, who became the Falcons' all-time leader in both points and rebounds this season, joins teammate Darius Watson (New Britain, Conn.) on the GNAC All-Conference First Team as well. Additionally, Arshad Jackson (Hartford, Conn.) earned Third Team honors, while Mitch Oliver was named Coach of the Year.

For Askew, this is the second time in his four-year career that he has earned the Player of the Year honor as he was tagged with the accolade after the 2009-10 regular season. This year Askew dominated play in the GNAC as he not only succeeded on the court individually but led his team to a record-breaking season. The senior became the all-time leading rebounder and scorer in Albertus Magnus men's basketball history, while he was just the second player in league history to register over 1,000 rebounds before becoming the all-time leading rebounder in the GNAC.

He has led his program to a school and league record in wins in a single-season, while the Falcons became the only men's basketball team to ever finish the regular season undefeated in GNAC play.

Askew earned GNAC Player of the Week honors four times this season, including recognition from his efforts last week as he was named Most Valuable Player of the GNAC Tournament after averaging 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game during postseason play. During the regular season, he was named to the D3hoops.com four times, while being named the ECAC DIII New England Player of the Week on three separate occasions.

Currently in his career, Askew has tallied 2,262 points and 1,169 rebounds.

Askew's First Team All-Conference accolade makes him the only Albertus Magnus men's basketball player ever to earn All-GNAC Conference honors all four years of his career. Askew was named to the Second Team as a freshman in 2009 and since has earned a spot on the First Team every season.

Watson, who is averaging 19 points per game this season, was named to the GNAC All-Tournament Team for his efforts last week during the league's postseason play. As a sophomore, his First-Team selection is the first in his career. Last season, Watson was named the GNAC Rookie of the Year but did not earn a spot on an All-Conference squad.

The New Britain, Conn. native was tagged as GNAC Player of the Week once this season, while currently in his career he has 819 points and is shooting 37.9-percent from three-point land.

Junior Arshad Jackson (Hartford, Conn.) was also recognized among the conference's elite this season as he was named to the GNAC All-Conference Third Team. Jackson is leading the Falcons and is among the top players in the GNAC with 152 assists and 57 steals this season. He averages 12.5 points per game, which is third-best for the Falcons on the year.

In addition to the individual honors of these three players, fifth-year head coach Mitch Oliver was named the 2012 GNAC Coach of the Year after leading his team to a 24-1 regular-season outing. Oliver guided his program to a perfect 18-0 showing in GNAC regular-season play as the Falcons became the only men's basketball program in league history to go undefeated.

Freshman DJ Griffin was named to the 2012 GNAC Men's Basketball Sportsmanship Team as well.

Check back daily for news on the as Albertus Magnus begins their quest for the NCAA Division III men's basketball title.

Click on links below for more tournament information.

The Division III bracket

Selection show

Regional rankings

Here is Ray Askew on the NCAA pairings:



Here is video of the team watching the pairings:

NEW HAVEN – Mitch Oliver had just completed his first season at Albertus Magnus.
Despite going 3-21, the former assistant coach at Quinnipiac had visions of turning the Falcons into a Division III power. He also had the ambition to pursue the course. He just needed some key components to take him there. He needed talent, leadership, and guile. He ended up getting them all in one player.

Searching for the cornerstone for his program Oliver went to see Hamden’s Ray Askew play in an area Summer League game. There were several other coaches in attendance but Oliver predicted what was going to happen.
“I was with (then junior) Byron Reaves and I told him, ‘Watch, they’re going all going to leave,’” Oliver recalled. Just as he predicted the other coaches, unimpressed, filed out of the gym long before the game was over. Oliver shook his head and stayed there, just to talk to Askew.
“Just to let him know I’m still here,” Oliver said. “I saw him play as a junior at Career and I knew he what he could do. He was a very good student and I knew how talented he was. ”
He was the only one.
Askew finished a solid but unspectacular time at Career Regional with not one collegiate offer. Not one Division I or Division II program wanted him. Not even the Division III.
“My career was over,” Askew said. “I never was going to play again. I was just looking for a college to go into accounting and basketball had nothing to do with it.”
Askew, however, listened to Oliver’s visions of how the two of them could turn around AMC. Four years later the duo has accomplished just about all of their goals.
Askew will take a curtain call today as Albertus Magnus recognizes its seniors on the final game of the regular season against St. Joseph’s (Maine) at 3 p.m. He already holds the school’s all-time rebounding mark and needs just 46 points to become its all-time leading scorer.
But the personal marks take backstage to the Falcons’ team accomplishments during his four years. Albertus Magnus is nationally ranked for the first time in the school history and riding an 18-game winning streak. The Falcons have locked up the Great Northeast Athletic Conference regular-season title and are a lock for an NCAA berth whether they win the conference postseason tournament or not.
It’s just what Oliver had envisioned. While the throng of coaches who abandoned Askew, perhaps thinking that at 6-foot-6, he was undersized to dominate inside, or too inconsistent to play from the perimeter wipe the egg off their collective faces, Askew will go down as one of the all-time finds.
He is the Division III version of Jeremy Lin, a superstar than no one else could have predicted.
“I’ve always known that he’s athletically superior to just about everyone he faces,” Oliver said.
Askew’s ascent was meteoric. He helped AMC to a double-overtime win over top 10-ranked Trinity in just his second collegiate start and went on win conference Rookie of the Year as the Falcons finished 14-13. As a sophomore Askew paced the Falcons to a 23-7 mark and the second round of the NCAA DIII tournament.
But last season the Falcons went 18-10 and did not earn an NCAA berth.
“That was a definitely the wake-up call,” Askew said. “After winning the (GNAC) championship we just thought we could turn it on whenever we wanted. We felt that we’d win when we really needed to. That didn’t happen and we learned from it.”
Ready to graduate in May with a major in business administration he is finishing his business on the court with a flourish. He scored 52 points in a recent 76-73 win over Lasell while grabbing 10 rebounds. His season’s numbers, 25.0 ppg and 11.8 rebounds a game could be even gaudier if AMC wasn’t pounding teams so badly that in some games that he’s played as little as 15 minutes.
Albertus is 23-1 on the season and Askew truly believes the Falcons can win the national title.
“The rest of the guys don’t know what it was like,” Askew said. “I’ve been here since Day One. It’s good to get that type of respect but we’re still not done. I just do whatever the team needs me to do. Whether it’s getting every rebound or shooting a hundred 3’s I’ll do it. I just want my team to win and I know we have the ability to win it all.”
And then the sky’s the limit. Askew will graduate in May with a major in business administration. Oliver believes he can play professionally overseas.
“He should see where it takes him,” Oliver said. “Even if he plays for two years overseas, experiences that culture, and earns enough money for a down payment on a house. He can do it. He can no doubt play overseas.”
Said Askew: “I feel that I can play at any level. I just need to get that opportunity. I want to be able to prove everyone wrong.”
Askew said he wants to be remembered mostly as a great teammate while Oliver added that his best attribute is his persona.
“The most impressive thing about him is his demeanor,” Oliver said. “You see these guys all the time when they hit a 3-pointer and how they celebrate running down the court. They spend more time getting their handshake in at the beginning of the game. Ray doesn’t care about any of that and he gets hammered in games.
“He gets double and triple-teamed and he just plays. He doesn’t even change his expression. I’m just so fortunate to have a kid like that to start a program. He’s a great kid and a great student who has taken advantage and we’ll be linked here forever.”
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Hamden's Ray Askew, a senior at Albertus Magnus became the team's all-time rebounding leader.
Here are the details from the AMC site and a photo from Ron Waite.


Ray Askew (Hamden, Conn.) of the Albertus Magnus men’s basketball team pulled down nine rebounds in Saturday’s Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest to become the program’s all-time leader in rebounds with 1,042.

At the 10:07 mark of the first half against Anna Maria, Askew recorded his fourth rebound of the game and the 1,037th of his career to surpass the previous Albertus Magnus men’s basketball rebounding record of 1,036 held by Jason Crockett ’98.
Askew, who broke the GNAC record on Tuesday, Jan. 10, is only the second player in league history to earn over 1,000 rebounds. In the Falcons win at Rivier, he surpassed the league’s previous rebounding record of 1,001 held by the Raiders’ Jeff Carpenter.

HOSTING — The Albertus Magnus women’s soccer team will have a home playoff game for the first time in school history when it hosts Simmons College on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Falcons earned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament, the highest ranking the team has ever had.

Amanda Roke (Cheshire) leads the Falcons with team-high six goals and 13 points. Sophomore goalkeeper Christina Dineson (Foran) has a goals against average of 1.00 and senior Krystal Quinones has three goals and is the program’s second-leading all-time scorer with 24 points.

HONORED

♦University of New Haven sophomore volleyball player Keidy Candelaria was named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week for the third time. Candelaria helped the Chargers to a perfect week with three wins over NE-10 opponents, collecting 45 kills in 91 attempts with four errors in three matches. Candelaria recorded 22 kills against Saint Anselm and added 16 digs, three aces and three blocks during the week.

Albertus Magnus was picked first in the 2011 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men’s soccer Preseason Poll as announced Tuesday evening.

Suffolk University, the reigning GNAC Champion, and Lasell College round out the top-three programs in the preseason rankings, while Norwich University and Emerson College were picked fourth and fifth, respectively.

“We are honored to be selected first in the GNAC preseason poll,” said head coach Jim Bernardo. “But we realize we still have a lot of work to do. We need to improve as the season progresses in order to reach our ultimate goal of winning the GNAC Tournament title and receiving the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.”

Albertus Magnus earned numerous accolades in 2010, led by Bernardo being named GNAC Coach of the Year as he guided his program to a second-place finish in the GNAC regular-season standings as well as a 15-6-1 overall record. The 2010 Falcons also earned an ECAC Tournament bid as a fifth seed.

The 15-win season in 2010 marked the best in program history, while six student-athletes earned GNAC postseason honors. The Falcons’ 2011 roster returns five of those six athletes, including NSCAA/Performance Subaru Men’s NCAA DIII All-New England Region Second Team member Jamal Howard (West Haven, Conn.).

The Falcons are currently 1-1 on the year after a 4-1 dominating win at Mount Saint Mary College on Sept. 3 and a season-opening 2-1 heartbreaker at Western Connecticut State on Sept. 1.

Bernardo and his 2011 squad return to action on Wednesday, Sept. 7 as they travel to Westfield State to take on the Owls in a 4:00 p.m. non-conference match-up. Conference play for the Falcons begins Saturday, Sept. 10 at Suffolk in Boston, Mass.

On the pitch on Wednesday, freshman Dallas Aminzadeh (Silver Springs, Md.) tallied the game-winning goal with just 1:48 remaining in regulation to send the Southern Connecticut State University men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory at Saint Rose on Wednesday evening. Aminzadeh's first collegiate goal came on a header off an assist from Francisco Lara (Laredo, Texas) and sent the Owls to their first win of the year.

Southern Connecticut is now 1-1, 1-0 in Northeast-10 Conference play. Saint Rose is 0-3, 0-1 in league action.

The Owls outshot the Golden Knights by a 14-4 margin for the game, including a 7-0 tally in the first half. However, the game seemed destined for extra time until some late heroics by the Owls.

SCSU was awarded a corner kick with just under two minutes left in regulation, and Aminzadeh cashed in on the play with the game-winner.

Keeper Andrew Esposito (East Haven, Conn.) stopped one shot to earn the shutout for the Owls.

Southern Connecticut is back in action on Saturday for a home game against Bloomfield.

Here is a story from Jim Fuller on the new playing surface at Albertus Magnus:

A year ago, the thoughts of having one of the varsity soccer teams practice on Celentano Field after a weekend of wet and wild weather would have been an absolute impossibility.
But here was the Albertus Magnus College women’s soccer team going through drills on Wednesday afternoon with not even a passing
See AMC, E6
concern about the conditions of the field. There were no puddles of water to avoid, no risk of accidentally finding ankle-busting holes on the field. Yes, Wednesday was a day for the ages in the world of Albertus Magnus athletics.
A couple hundred students, officials and dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the unveiling of the artificial turf field which replaces years of dealing with wear and tear on the natural grass surface at Albertus’ main outdoor athletic facility. A process that started shortly after Michael Spinner was hired last September as the new athletic director culminated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
“We had a great athletic program before today but my vision is that this is a start of something special,” Spinner said. “I am just thrilled for our student-athletes, thrilled for our community.
“We had a situation with the prior field (surface) that, for a lack of a better term, held us back. I think this field is going to really help us take off. Students are naturally interested in this college because of its location, because of the size. Now we have a world-class facility to go with the world-class campus and college.”
In order to sell the idea of redoing the field, Albertus Magnus added men’s and women’s lacrosse to its list of sports the Division III college competes in. The lacrosse teams will compete at the club level in 2012 before playing varsity schedules beginning in 2013.
“We realized one of the needs was for a resurfaced turf,” Spinner said. “A big challenge is that our soccer teams practice and play games on this field on this field so by the second week of the season, the field was all torn up. The conversation turned to this doesn’t have to be for just one sport, we can add men’s and women’s lacrosse as well.”
Krystal Quinones, a senior on the Falcons’ women’s soccer team, won’t be attending Albertus when the lacrosse teams make their varsity debuts. However, she knows the turf field will benefit Albertus Magnus athletes beginning this fall.
“It was a work in progress,” Quinones said of the challenges of playing on the grass field. “We had ditches everywhere. If it rained, we couldn’t practice because it was so horrible. Having this is so much better. It is beautiful.”
Quinones and her teammates will play its first five games on the road beginning with today’s season opener at Coast Guard before playing its first official game on the turf on Sep. 14 against St. Joseph College. The men’s soccer team will christen the field with a Sept. 12 home game against Regis College.
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Hurricane Irene has claimed its first victim in the area as the Quinnipiac University women’s soccer team’s game against Army, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 28 at 2 p.m., has been cancelled.
The game will not be re-scheduled. Bobcat fans should refer to the Official Website of Quinnipiac Athletics, www.QuinnipiacBobcats.com, for up-to-the-minute schedule changes as well as the latest news, scores and highlights.

Quinnipiac tips off the Fall college sports season Friday when the field hockey team plays host to Holy Cross. The game is slated for a noon start.

Albertus Magnus will unveil its new turf field on Aug. 31 in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on campus. The Falcons will play men's and women's soccer on the new field and begin lacrosse teams.

SCSU men’s soccer tabbed third: The Southern Connecticut State men’s soccer team has been selected third in the Northeast-10 Conference preseason poll, as it was announced earlier today. Previously, the Owls were stationed at No. 12 in the NSCAA National Preseason poll.
Southern Connecticut received two first place votes in the poll.
The Owls are coming off another successful season (14-2-4) in which they reached the NCAA Tournament second round. The 2011 season opener will be Sept. 3 against Bridgeport.
New Haven was picked 10th.
Also, the SCSU women’s cross country team has been ranked No. 2 in the region in the preseason rankings released by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The men’s team was ranked third.
Yale field hockey gets votes: In each of the past two seasons, the Yale field hockey team has utilized a mid-season hot streak to earn a spot among the teams receiving votes in the national poll. In 2011, the Bulldogs are starting the year there. They earned four points in the 2011 Kookaburra/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll.
Yale returns 13 letterwinners for Pam Stuper’s seventh season as head coach. That includes the top seven scorers and nine players who started seven or more games. The 2010 squad went 11-6 overall (5-2 Ivy League, tied for second place).
AMC names captains: Albertus Magnus men’s soccer head coach Jim Bernardo has announced that Jamal Howard, Nick Hamasian and Stephen Zapata will serve as team captains for the 2011 season.
Howard, of West Haven, was a captain last year for the Falcons, earned NSCAA/Performance Subaru Men’s DIII All-New England Region Second Team honors in 2010. He led the Falcons in goals (12) last season.
Hamden’s Hamasian joined Howard on the GNAC First Team as he was tagged as the 2010 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year. Zapata, also of Hamden, also earned First Team honors in 2010 as he led Albertus Magnus with 29 points and 13 assists. His 13 assists were good enough for second place in the conference rankings.
Gagne feted: University of New Haven graduate student-athlete Shannon Gagne has been selected as one of the top 30 honorees for the NCAA Woman of the Year. The association announced the top 30 women, 10 from each NCAA membership division, Tuesday.
After her record-setting season, Gagne continues to earn prestegious honors from the NCAA and the USTFCCCA.
The top 30 honorees were nominated by conference and independent members and represent multiple sports. Three finalists will be chosen from each division to form the nine finalists for the Woman of the Year award.