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.

The surprises keep on coming in the Northeast-10 Conference softball tournament.
No. 1 seed Southern Connecticut State dropped two games on Friday and is eliminated. The Owls will still earn a berth in next week's NCAA tournament but their top seed is in jeopardy. If SCSU is ranked first or second it will host a tourney site at Yale. If they fall to three they'll be on the road.

As for New Haven, it appears the Chargers need to win the NE-10 tourney to earn an NCAA b berth. They'll play Le Moyne today at 1 p.m.
Despite hitting four home runs, including a pair of blasts from senior Jessica Rosa, the No. 18 nationally ranked Southern was eliminated from the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament on Friday evening with an 8-5 loss to Assumption.
Le Moyne defeated Southern 2-1 in the first game.
The Owls fell to 37-10 on the year and will now wait to learn of their NCAA Tournament opponent when the selections are announced on Monday morning at 10 a.m. Assumption (30-16) advances to play either Le Moyne or New Haven in another elimination game on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Southern fell behind 5-0 in the second game before Kate Hoffman connected for her fifth home run of the year. The next inning, Kristin Whitley started a three-run rally with a solo shot, her third long ball of the year. Then, after a walk to Alyssa Downs, Rosa launched a blast over the center field wall to get the Owls within a run.
However, Assumption scored three times in the sixth to push its lead to 8-4. Rosa homered again in the seventh to close the scoring for the Owls.
In the opener LeMoyne scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on for the win.
No. 7 New Haven moved to the semifinal round with an 8-3 win over Assumption. The Chargers (29-18) will face fourth-seeded Le Moyne today at 1 p.m.

Kelsey Malloy picked up the win in relief of Alana Wesche. She allowed one run in six innings while fanning five.
Jess Spivey and Gilly Childs homered for New Haven and Shannon Angehr had two hits and two RBIs.

The Northeast-10 opened its softball tournament play on Tuesday with a pair of thrillers. Top-seeded Southern Connecticut survived a scare from Stonehill winning 4-3 in 10 innings. Jessica Rosa (pictured) had the game-winning hit for the Owls.

New Haven rallied from a 4-1 deficit to defeat No. 2 seed Adelphi 5-4 in its first-round game. The first round of the tourney is a single-elimination format. After that it becomes a double-elimination tournament.

2012 Northeast-10 Softball Championship Schedule
First Round Single Elimination

Tuesday’s results
#1 Southern Connecticut 4, No. 8 Stonehill 3 (10)
#7 New Haven 5, #2 Adelphi 4
Wednesday, April 25
Game 3: #6 Southern New Hampshire at #3 Assumption – 2:00 p.m.
Game 4: #5 UMass Lowell at #4 Le Moyne – 2:00 p.m.
Games at SCSU

Double elimination format
Friday’s games
Game 5: Southern Connecticut vs. Game 4 winner – 1:00 p.m.
Game 6: New Haven vs. Game 3 winner – 4:00 p.m.
Saturday games
Game 7: Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser – 10:00 a.m.
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner – 12:30 p.m.
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 loser – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday games
Game 10: Game 9 winner vs. Game 8 winner – 11:00 a.m.
Game 11: If Necessary – 30 minutes after conclusion of Game 10