Reliving 2011 Through The Eyes of a Nighthawk

With just hours left in 2011, this is the time to reflect on everything that has happened in the past calendar year. And for Nighthawks Nation there were a multitude of highlights for Nighthawk Nation to look back on.

JANUARY

Women’s basketball tipped off the New Year with three straight wins to push their win streak to five games. Guard Morganna Machado, who was coming of a career game-high 26 points in their last game of 2010, was instrumental in the Nighthawks win streak, averaging 13 points per game. However it would only be a glimmer of things to come for not just the Attleboro native but Newbury athletics as a whole.

FEBRUARY

Machado continued her outstanding season on the basketball court and helped lead the Nighthawks to a 60-59 upset over second place Mitchell College on February 12th. After receiving the inbound pass at the top of the key with one second remaining on the shot clock – and seven left in the game – she knocked down a Hail Mary trey at the buzzer. The Nighthawks held off the Mariners for the next six seconds to send their two graduating seniors, Amy Chen and Ashley Monteiro, out on a victory. However, that was only the beginning of what would be an exhilarating month of sports.

That same day, in Bennington, Vt., men’s volleyball senior Michael Biuso registered his 1,000th defensive dig in a 3-1 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology. The New York native currently sits atop the Newbury record books with 1,241 career digs and opened the flood gates for a week that Nighthawk Nation would witness two anomalies.

Against a tough North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) opponent, Endicott College, on the road, senior outside hitter James Beck was on fire. Lighting the Gulls up, the Harford County, Md. native notched a career match-high 30 kills en route to a five set, 3-2, victory on February 15th. It was a sign of things to come as a the Nighthawks would down the Gulls once again two months later in the ECAC title match.

However, that was only half of an amazing week. Like a double eagle in golf or a perfect game in baseball, registering 30 points in a game is a tough accomplishment but senior guard Ashley Monteiro attained the elusive feat.

In her last regular season game of her college career, Monteiro registered a two new career single game-highs to guide the Nighthawks to the 87-82 victory over Southern Vermont. The Cambridge native dropped a game-high 30 points on the Mountaineers – all from beyond the arc. It earned her spot on the last D3 Hoops Team of the Week becoming the third Newbury player to earn the national honors.

Victories over Mitchell and Southern Vermont solidified the fourth seed for the Nighthawks in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) post-season with a 9-7 record. While the women were going to host their first playoff game, they would have to share the post-season spot light with their male counterparts. Led by guard Tim Young the Nighthawks claimed the fourth seed with an 8-6 record. In his second to last game of his collegiate career, senior guard John Rowley netted a game-high 18 points in a 68-61 victory over Wheelock College to meet the nationally ranked Becker College in the NECC semifinals.

MARCH

After winning just as six games the past two seasons, the baseball squad was eager to start the 2011 season under first year Head Coach Kraig Kupiec. Under the warm Florida sun, the Nighthawk bats woke up in their second game as they battered Finlandia pitching driving in a new single game-high 21 runs. But it was just the trailer for year where they would obliterate the current record book. Baseball returned from sunny Fort Myers with a 5-5 record – their most wins in the month of March in the history of the program.

Later in the month on a blistery cold evening the Nighthawks rewarded their fans with a thrilling eighth inning comeback against non-conference Albertus Magnus. Trailing since the first inning, the Nighthawks withstood the freezing temperatures and finally got to Falcons pitching.  First baseman Alex Chetelat capped off a five run eighth inning with an infield single to give the 9-6 comeback victory.

Four days later in their second conference series against Lesley University back-stop Patrick Curry became the all-time leader in hits and RBIs. Entering the game one RBI and four hits shy of former Newbury leader William Maddock (’09), Curry went six-for-eight while driving in five runners en route to a double-header sweep of the Lynx. In the process, both he and Chetelat surpassed Maddock in total bases in the record books.

Baseball was back at Newbury but they were not going to overshadow the Nighthawks softball squad.

In a single seven inning game against Regis College, Curry’s female counterpart and classmate Ariel Ross launched her first collegiate career homerun. The roundtripper capped off a seven run bottom of the fifth as the softball team was in the midst of their own comeback but fell short, 12-8 against the Pride.

The men’s volleyball team closed out a record setting month of March with their second consecutive New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Title with a 3-1 victory over Elms on Saturday March 26th. Senior setter Matt Talamantes earned All-Tournament MVP and NECC Player of the Year honors registering 75 assists against Southern Vermont and Elms in the conference championship.

APRIL

New England weather in April is less than ideal but that did not stop baseball’s bats from hammering non-conference Rivier College pitching in a 16-5 rout on April 7th. Chetelat slammed the door on the Raiders with his first collegiate grand slam, launching a high, towering shot over the 30-foot fence in deep centerfield. The first baseman from Farmington, Conn. was three-for-four with five RBIs in the ballgame.

The next day sophomore power pitcher Rebecca Roach fanned 11 Mariners in a 10-4 victory over conference foe Mitchell College to split the double-header on Friday April 8th. It was the first of four times Roach would strike out 11 batters in game in 2011.

On Sunday April 10th, Curry closed out the weekend with his 100th base hit of his collegiate career as baseball too the season series against Elms College, 2-1, with the 5-4 victory in Chicopee, Mass. The previous day shortstop Russell DeMatties lined a laser in to the left-centerfield gap to drive home Chetelat in the bottom of the eighth for the walk-off win in game-one of the double-header against the Blazers. The Nighthawks went on to split the twin bill, losing game two, 10-6.

Men’s volleyball seniors James Beck, Max Daley, Michael Biuso and Matt Talamantes closed out outstanding four year careers on the hard-court with bookend ECAC Division III North Titles. The Nighthawks followed up baseball’s record breaking weekend against Elms with a 3-1 upset victory over number one seeded Endicott College in Beverly.

After a slow start to the season, the softball team closed out the month of April with a seven game win streak. Newbury sealed the fifth spot in the conference championship tournament on the final day of the regular season with a double-header sweep of Southern Vermont College. Freshman first baseman Joanna Robie went six-for-eight in two games against the Mountaineers as she helped the Nighthawks set new team game-highs with 18 and 17 hits.  

MAY

After upsetting fourth seeded Becker College in the first round of the playoffs, Newbury advanced to the double elimination portion of the conference tournament. Despite falling to regular season champion Lesley University in the first game and Mitchell College in game two, sophomore Rebecca Roach and Teressa Farioli were selected to the NECC All-Tournament Team.

When the post-season awards were announced the Nighthawks spring teams were heavily represented on the All-Conference Teams. While Curry’s .402 batting average and team-high 29 RBIs earned him a First Team selection, five softball players were named to the All-Conference team for their seven game win streak to close out the season. Robie was softball’s lone representative on the First Team while Brittany Stracher and Samantha Rios were named to the Second Team and Farioli and Theresa Hylinski earned Honorable Mention honors.

In his first year as a Head Coach, baseball’s Kraig Kupiec was tabbed as the 2011 Coach of the Year by the six other coaches for the Nighthawks’ impressive turnaround. The NECC Coach of the Year Award comes weeks after Kupiec was named by his colleagues as Newbury’s Coach of the Year at the annual awards banquet in April.

Women's soccer forward Briana Tomaselli got the chance of a life time when she was one of 15 players in the nation to be selected to the national, 2011 D-3 Soccer All-Star Squad that competed on a week long tour in Brazil in the middle of May.
 
JUNE

Former Regis College Assistant Coach, Jelani Townsell was named the new Head Men’s Basketball Coach after spending two season as a Graduate Assistant with UConn. Serving as an academic advisor, Townsell helped the Huskies to the 2010-11 NCAA Division I National Championship.

AUGUST

For the second consecutive year, Newbury College was represented at the 18th Annual Old Time Baseball game at St. Peter’s Field in North Cambridge, Mass. Starting in centerfield and wearing the 1901 Baltimore Orioles all black uniform, junior Kyle Schiavone made the play of the night, robbing former Red Sox utility infielder Lou Merloni of extra bases, tracking down a laser into the left-centerfield gap.

On Comcast New England's “The Baseball Show” the following Saturday, Merloni had this to say about the Nighthawk outfielder: “This kid came out of nowhere. It was a like a blur. Read that thing, I thought it was an easy double in the gap.” (To watch the clip, click here).

SEPTEMBER

When the student-athletes returned for the 2011-12 academic year, it also brought a ton of success on the playing surfaces as well. Women’s volleyball middle blocker Sydney Fish grabbed the first NECC Rookie of the Week honors of the season with an impressive performance at the two day, Gordon Invitational.

The women’s soccer team continued to make great strides in their three years under Head Coach Bobby Desilets. For the first time in the history of the program the Nighthawks registered back-to-back shut-outs against Pine Manor College (9/12) and Lyndon State College (9/14).

However, women’s soccer was not the only team on the rise in the fall of 2011, both cross country teams and the men’s golf squad each showed they were growing exponentially. At the inaugural Mt. Ida Mustang Invitational on September 15th Solange Thomas and Ryan Maliff swept medalist honors. Thomas crossed the finished line with a time of 22:16 in the women’s race while Maliff finished 18 seconds ahead of Mt. Ida runner Sean Slattery.

Towards the tail-end of September the Rookie of the Week honors on the links resided in Brookline. In his first collegiate tournament first year David Hart fired a 79 to earn co-medalist honors against Becker. The following week classmate Stephen Peltier came within one stroke of the leader at Emmanuel’s three team tournament as he helped lead the Nighthawks to a second place finish carding 79.

Hart took home the weekly honors for a second time after he finished 10th in the 68 player field at the Elms Invitational, turning in a scorecard of a 79 at the 68 player. It was the Keene, N.H.’s second straight score of 79 – third on the season – after he helped the Newbury Gold squad to a first place finish over Suffolk the previous day with an all-time low team score of 323.

OCTOBER

After the women’s soccer team recorded back-to-back shut-outs their male counterparts did not want to be outdone. Senior goalkeeper William McNally helped guide the Nighthawks to back-to-back shutouts over Regis College (10/13) and Mitchell College (10/15) for the first time in six years.

Women's tennis junior Jennifer Swafford earned NECC Honorable Mention honors after finishing the season with a 6-3 singles record against conference foes.

NOVEMBER

Sophomore forward Briana Tomaselli opened the 11th month of year by becoming the first player in the history of the women’s soccer program to earn ECAC Offensive Player of the Week. The Nighthawks leading scorer registered back-to-back hat-tricks against Anna Maria College and Bay Path College. It was the first of many awards Newbury would receive in November.

Tomaselli led the Nighthawks to their third consecutive post-season appearance and in the process earned All-NECC First Team honors with conference leading 48 points. Freshman defender Kristina Almeida and senior goalkeeper Rachel Wyszynski joined their teammate as their iron-tight defense set new program records in goals against. Almeida was selected to the All-Conference Second Team while Wyszynski earned Honorable Mention honors in her first season in goal.

On the men’s side, junior forward Shaundize Moosavizadeh was tabbed as the NECC Men’s Soccer Player of the Year, setting single season career-highs in goals and points with 13 and 28, respectively, to help the Nighthawks to their third straight NECC post-season appearance.

Three time women’s volleyball Rookie of the Week recipient, first year Sydney Fish guided Newbury to the semifinals for the second consecutive season. Fish and the Nighthawks earned the two seed in the NECC Playoffs with a 6-2 record and made their second trip to the finals in three years. The Kalamazoo native was tabbed as the NECC Rookie of the Year and Second Team honors while classmate Lauren Watson and senior Tricia Corriveau earned Honorable Mention accolades. A week later Corriveau was one of 12 seniors across the New England region to earn New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA) Honorable Mention honors.

Leading the Nighthawks with 288 digs in 2011, Corriveau surpassed the 1,000 defensive dig milestone. She finished a decorated four-year career with 1,128 digs placing her second in the Newbury record books behind only 2008 graduate Courtney LeDoux.
 
In their first game under new Head Coach Jelani Townsell the Nighthawks men’s basketball team picked their first victory against Framingham State University with a 76-72 victory.

A week later, right before everyone broke for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Nighthawks returned to .500 on the season with a dramatic comeback victory on the road against Eastern Nazarene College.

After junior guard Tim Young knotted up the contest at 78 with under a minute left to play, he forced a Lions turnover on their next possession leading directly to sophomore guard Eric Watson’s game-winner with 18 seconds remaining for the 82-78 victory.

DECEMBER

Flipping the calendar to the last month of the year was like a clean slate for the women’s basketball team after an offensive slow start to the 2011-12 season. Once they picked up that elusive first victory on the first of the month against Lasell they were on a roll.

For the first time in school history, Newbury swept home-and-away meetings against nearby rivals Lesley University. While freshman guard Milciades Carrasco paved the way to a 67-50 victory at home, draining a game-high 18 points on the Lynx, the women were going to town down the road. Registering her first double-double of her collegiate career, sophomore forward Katie Haney teamed up with junior center Catherine O’Connell to dispose of the Lynx, 52-26.

In their last game before the winter break, O’Connell became the all-time leading rebounder in a 69-61 victory against Becker College – the team that knocked them out of the playoffs 10 months prior. O’Connell led four Nighthawks in double figures tallying 13 points while ripping down 18 boards. Senior guard Kendra Bannister tied an individual game-high pulling down 14 boards in addition to tying O’Connell and classmate Morganna Machado with 13 points.

Closing the books on a successful 2011 in Newbury athletics, the year 2012 appears to be just as successful.