Fall 2008
Volleyball
The Neumann College volleyball team, led by Head Coach Deana Jespersen, continued their dominance by going undefeated in conference matches. Coach Jespersen, who received her fourth consecutive Coach of the Year, is in her fifth season at the helm of the volleyball program. She led her team to win their second consecutive conference title, defeating Cabrini in four sets, 3-1. Jarrae Robinson was named Championship MVP, she had 11 kills and 4 aces.
The Knights fell to former conference foe Eastern University, 3-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Juniata College. Neumann finished its season 18-18 after qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.
Kristen Verone was named Colonial States Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Verone became the first Neumann volleyball player to reach the 1,000 dig and 1,000 assist plateau in her career. She holds the record for most assists three categories: career (4,338), season (1,245 - 2006) and match (56).
In addition to Player of the Year, Verone was also named first-team all-conference. Four more Knights also garnered first all-conference honor: seniors Julia Tarloski and Meghan Wilson, junior Emilee Gruse and sophomore Ashley Mathis. Rachael Sokolovich was honorable mention and Caitlin Iacobacci was the CSAC Sportsmanship Award Recipient.
Field Hockey
Coach Sarah Kurpel led her team to an 11-11 overall record and an outstanding 8-1 conference record, winning their first conference title defeating Cabrini College, 3-0.
In the first round of the NCAA tournament at, Neumann fell to Trinity College, 7-0, at Hartford, Conn.
DiCicco was named CSAC Player of the Year and 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Field Hockey Team. DiCicco led the team with 20 goals this season, of which five are game-winners. She also has three assists for 43 points.
In addition to being named the Player of the Year, Dicicco was also named to the first team all-conference. Junior Kaitlyn Murphy was named to the second team all-conference. Senior Diane Bergman, junior Lauren Hood, sophomore Theresa Yurick and freshman Megan Scott were all honorable mentions. Junior Lindsey Graham received the CSAC Sportsmanship Award.
Men’s Soccer
The Neumann College men’s soccer team finished 9-10 overall and 6-2 conference record. Head Coach Kevin Sloan led his team to a six game winning streak to the conference championship game, but fell to Cabrini College, 2-0.
Zach Sell was named to the first-team all-conference and 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Men’s Soccer team. Sell played in all 21 games this season, starting in 20. The mid-fielder netted two goals and three assists in 2008.
Seniors Jesse Urquhart and Chuck Rudolph, sophomore Ryan Bushbeck and freshman Andrew Raimundo were all named to the second-team All-CSAC. Freshmen Frank Dancey and Bob Mastrillo were honorable mention and junior Josh Steer was the CSAC Sportsmanship Award Recipient.
Women’s Tennis
Under the guidance of Head Coach Christian Gosseaux, the Knights made their first conference playoff appearance Neumann fell to Gweyndd Mercy College, 5-0, in the first round.
The Knight were 12-9 overall and 7-3 in conference play.
Four Knights made it into the CSAC individual tournament: Courtney Hartel at third singles, Lindsey Ravior at fourth singles, Michelle Steward at fifth singles, and Rachel Colandanto at sixth singles. One doubles team made the draw, Steward and Ravior at 3rd doubles.
Women’s Soccer
The Knights finished 4-15 overall and 2-8 in conference games, under first year Head Coach Jeremy Brodovsky.
Colleen Rush and Alyssa Collazo earned Honorable Mentions. Collazo led the team with five goals and two assists.
The Neumann College women’s soccer team was awarded the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Ethics Gold Award for the 2008 season.
There were seven gold winners, 43 silver winners (10 of which only had one yellow card) and 16 bronze winners this year. Any team that receives zero red cards may be nominated for the Team Ethics Award. The Gold Award is given to teams that accumulate no cards at all (red or yellow). A total of 66 teams from all three NCAA divisions met the requirements for the award this year, up 11 percent from 2007.
Cross Country
Neumann College restarted the Cross Country program, which has been dormant since 2001, under the new Head Coach Ronald Whiting. I
n the CSAC Championships, Kelly Rehder led the Knights, finishing in 14th out of 66 runners a time of 21:44.4 in the 5K.
Winter 08-09
Men’s Ice Hockey
The Neumann College men’s ice hockey team won the Division III Men’s Ice Hockey NCAA Title with a 4-1 win over Gustavus Adolphus, at the Herb Brooks Arena Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y.
It is the first NCAA National Championship for any sport at Neumann. The Knights also clinched their first ECAC West Championship with an 3-2 win over Hobart College.
In his first season as Head Coach Dominick Dawes led Neumann to a 21-9-2 season and its first conference championship. He was also name 2009 American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) Men’s Division III Coach of the Year.
Neumann goaltender Ross MacKinnon was named the Most Outstanding Player for the NCAA Tournament. He was also named to the All-Tournament team along with teammates Matt Ward, Jesse Cole and Charles Paterson.
Eleven members of the Neumann College men’s ice hockey team were named to the ECAC West All-Academic team for the 2008-09 season, Jeff Rodell, Sean Bianchini, Charles Paterson, Kyle Casey, Mike Hedden, Jesse Cole, Erik Stoyanovich, Ryan Heickert, Donovan Hall, Lincoln Schrock, and Brock Van Slyke.
Women’s Ice Hockey
The Neumann College Women’s Ice Hockey team, led by Head Coach Matt Kennedy, had another successful season with a 16-11 overall record and 12-6 conference record. The Knights hosted their first ECAC West playoff game against Utica College. Fourth seeded Knights defeated fifth seeded Pioneers, 6-1.
The Knights lost in the semifinals of the ECAC West Playoffs, to the eventual conference champion Elmira College, 8-1.
Thomson, was named the ECAC West Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie West honors. Thomson leads the conference freshmen with 33 points this season, which is also good for second on the Knights. She netted 14 goals, two on the power play, and 19 assists. She was named Rookie of the Week three times and player of the week once.
Schroeder was named ECAC West honorable mention and 2008-09 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Women’s At-Large Team. Schroeder lead Neumann with 34 points, 13 goals and 21 assists, this season. She also has tallied four game winning goals.
Freshman Kayla Dubowski earned All-Rookie West honors. Dubowski had 22 assists this season, good to lead the team. She also has 25 points this season, which is the most in the conference by a defenseman and second overall by a freshman.
Seven Knights Earned 2008-09 ECAC West All-Academic Team, Jessica Schroeder, Holly Williams, Carly Fitzsimmons, Jenelle Marier, Tabatha Schury, Vicki Scott, and Robyn Armstrong.
Women’s Basketball
The Neumann women's basketball season advanced to the semifinal of the CSAC Championship before falling to Gwynedd Mercy College, 76-68. The team posted a solid 18-10 (12-4 CSAC) record for the season.
The team received an invitation to the ECAC Tournament, where they faced number one seed Alvernia University; they fell to the Crusaders, 88-66.
Brittany Whetts was name CSAC Player of the Year and d3hoops.com first team all-region team for the 2008-09 season. Whetts was also named first team All-Conference. Whetts has notched 19 double-doubles this season. The junior scored her 1000th career point at Rosemont earlier this season.
Krista DiRomualdo was named honorable mention. Caitlin Agnew received second Sportsmanship Award.
Men’s Basketball
The Neumann College men’s basketball team ended the season 11-14 overall and 7-9 in conference games.
Eli Hitchens was named the Sam Cozen-Philadelphia Small College Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Week.
The senior led the team, averaging 13.2 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Spring 09
Softball
Head Coach Bill Saar led the Knights to their second consecutive conference title defeating Immaculata University, 10-0, and Centenary College, 2-0. Kim Kirkpatrick was named the Tournament MVP.
The Knights travelled to Salisbury University for the NCAA tournament, where they faced Salisbury first round. Neumann defeated host Salisbury University, 3-0, and then went on to play Emory University and fell 6-0. The team ended the season losing to Salisbury 8-0. Neumann finished the season 31-12 overall and 20-2 in CSAC play.
Angela Sebasto was named CSAC Player of the Year. Sebasto was also named to the first team All-Conference as a pitcher. Joining her on the first team was Jenn Goslin (first base) Caitlin Hanrahan (catcher) and Gabrielle Lulias (outfield).
Earning second team All-Conference status were Lauren Strack (second base), Kim Kirkpatrick (shortstop) and Megan Mazur (third base). Stephanie Marrone was named to the All-Sportsmanship team.
Sebasto was 16-3 overall this season with a 1.74 ERA. In 116.1 innings pitched, the senior has struck out 170 batters. She also has two perfect games.
Men’s Tennis
Head Coach Christian Gosseaux and the Knights had another successful season, 17-4 overall, 6-0 in conference games. The Knights won their second consecutive conference title in historic fashion. En route to the title, the team did not drop one point to the title. At CSAC tennis championships, Neumann defeated Gwynedd Mercy College, 5-0.
The Knights headed to Williams College, for their second NCAA Tournament appearance. Neumann fell to Corsair’s of University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 5-2.
The Knights won all three double flights. David Pfister and Brian Crispin defeated Scott Campbell and Eric Trinkle of Gwynedd-Mercy in the No. 1 doubles slot 8-4. At second doubles, Chris Brown and Dan Harnos defeated Tim Franzone and Dan Reynolds of Marywood, 8-1. The duo of Steve Klenk and Greg Bridgeman won No. 3 doubles by default.
Neumann also received all three season honors. David Pfister was named Rookie of the Year. He was 6-0 overall in singles, and 5-0 doubles record in the conference. Pfister also clinched the CSAC Team Title for the Knights, defeating Gwynedd-Mercy’s Scott Campell in the finals.
Chris Brown earned Player of the Year. He went 6-0 in both singles and doubles for the Knights in conference play. Brown earned the fourth point for the Knights, in the conference finals en route to capturing the team title.
Coach Christian Gosseaux received Coach of the Year. This is the second time Coach Gosseaux has received this honor, while coaching the Knights. He led Neumann to their first ever conference title last season in school history, and repeated this season in historic fashion. The Knights dominated the conference by going undefeated to earn the CSAC title.
Baseball
Under first year Head Coach John Fleming, the Knights went 22-20-1 overall and 7-7 in conference play to advance to the CSAC Playoffs. Neumann lost in the championship game to Keystone College 12-1.
As the conference runner-ups, the Knights were invited to the ECAC South Region Tournament. They went on to beat Delaware Valley College 12-5 in the first round. In the semifinals, the Knights fell 5-4 to Penn State-Altoona.
The Knights tied the all time school record for wins, 22, in season with the 1999 team.
Five Neumann Knights were named to the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) All-Conference team.
Matt Grossi was named to the first team, while Kevin Flanigan, Kevin Lengyel, Matt Gallagher and Bobby Callan all earned honorable mention. First year head coach was also named Co-Coach of the Year.
Grossi is batted .397 in 36 games this season. He led the team with 50 hits. The sophomore also had 31 RBI, 11 doubles and three homeruns.
Women’s Lacrosse
The women’s lacrosse team ended the season 6-11 overall and 5-2 in conference. The Knights fell to Cabrini College, 25-12, in the CSAC semifinal match-up. Neumann entered the game as the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.
Senior Gabby D’Ambrosio was named CSAC Player of the Year and first team all-conference. D’Ambrosio led the team this season with 66 goals and 11 assists for 77 points in 16 games. She scored her 200th career goal against Swarthmore.
Kerri Sinclair made first team all conference. Sinclair has played in 14 games and led the team in ground balls with 49. The senior was the defensive anchor for the team.
Freshman Alex Bohen was named second team All-Conference. Bohen has played in all 16 games. She was the second leading scorer on the team with 43 goals and 10 assists.
Seniors Tiffany Baker and Rachael DiCicco, junior Colleen Finnegan and sophomore Kathleen Sinclair all received honorable mention.
Golf
Neumann finished fourth overall this season.
The Knights placed first at the Tom Riggierei Invitational.
Men’s Lacrosse
Neumann College men’s lacrosse finished the season 2-13 overall and 0-6 in conference play.
Bryan Capone received the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) All-Sportsmanship award for the 2009 season.
Capone played in all 15 contests this season, scoring five goals and notched 10 assists for 15 points. The senior also picked up 22 ground balls.
Math Toth led the team with 26 tallies and 13 assists. Kyle Garnder led the team with 16 assists and 18 tallies.