Seahawk sports awards ceremony honors athletes on 19 teams
NEWPORT, R.I. - Salve Regina University held its annual Seahawk sports awards ceremony on Sunday, May 1 in Bazarsky Lecture Hall at the O'Hare Academic Center.
The evening began with the presentation of all-conference, all-region, and all-academic certificates to honorees from each of Salve Regina's 19 athletic teams. From there, 30 student-athletes were inducted into the National College Athlete Honor Society, also known as Chi Alpha Sigma.
The first award of the evening, the Seahawk Spirit Award, was presented to senior Vin Testa, a member of the SRU Dance Club who is one of the more vocal and supportive fans of all Salve Regina athletic teams. During his four years at Salve Regina, Testa has been instrumental in organizing student groups to attend Seahawk home and road contests.
The Sister Philemon Banigan Award was then presented to Lenny Mercier for his efforts and dedication behind the scenes which make a positive contribution to the athletic department. Mercier is the head of the groundskeeping crew at Salve Regina which works tirelessly to keep the Seahawks playing fields in tip-top shape. Additionally, he has never shied away from lending a helping hand to coaches and administrators, whether it be hanging windscreens on the tennis courts or helping move benches and equipment around the various fields.
The Meghan E. Strathman Award was presented to junior Ian Jentgen (Columbus, Ohio) of the men's soccer team. The award is presented annually to the student-athlete who demonstrates a commitment to academics and athletics and is actively involved in athletic department leadership opportunities, community service, and other campus activities. Jentgen is one of four chairs on the Salve Regina University Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) which recently traveled to Western New England for The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) leadership convention. He also helped organize youth soccer clinics in Newport and Middletown as well as last week's trash pickup around Newport for SRU Service Day. On the field, Jentgen was a First Team All-TCCC selection who also garnered a spot on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) College Men Scholar All-East Team.
The Brother Michael Reynolds Award was presented to seniors Brittany Lopes (Lexington, Mass.) and Charles Matarazzo (Montville, N.J.). The award is given to a male and female student-athlete who demonstrates a commitment to academic and athletic excellence and who has contributed to the overall development of the athletic program.
A senior captain on the field hockey team, Lopes led head coach Jen Eldridge's squad with 12 points (4-4-12) and provided solid leadership both on the field and off. She is a nursing major with a 3.77 GPA who has been a Dean's List student all four years. Last summer, Lopes participated in a nursing service learning trip to Belize and helped organize a coat drive this past fall.
Matarazzo is a perfect 6-0 with 36 strikeouts in 42.1 innings of work and is batting .265 with two home runs and 18 RBI heading into TCCC playoffs this week. Head coach Steve Cirella has used him both at second base and on the mound during his four years as a member of the baseball team, often times starting him at one position in game one of a doubleheader before switching him to the other in game two. Away from the diamond, Matarazzo has served as one of the public address announcers at Salve Regina football games the last two seasons. Matarazzo will attend the Temple University School of Dentistry this fall.
The 2010-11 Distinguished Senior Scholars were Blair Kelley (Lee, N.H.) and Kendra Andrie (Muskegon, Mich.). A four-year member of the women's ice hockey team and a three-year member of both the women's soccer and women's track & field team, Andrie holds a 3.85 GPA as a double major in biology and chemistry. Kelley, meanwhile, is a four-year member of the men's lacrosse program, a four-year Dean's List student, a member of the International Business Honor Society, and a three-year academic all-conference selection. Kelley is an accounting major who will attend graduate school in the fall.
The Sportsmanship Award is presented to the male and female student-athlete who have earned the respect of fellow athletes, coaches, and administration for continually demonstrating those qualities associated with good sportsmanship. This year, the award was presented to senior Christina Walsh (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) and Dan Royce (Mahwah, N.J.).
Walsh is a four-year member of the softball team and also works tirelessly on the basketball game management staff, with the intramurals department, and also at the front desk at the Rodgers Recreation Center. More importantly, Walsh is an outstanding role model for her teammates, respectful to coaches, officials, teammates, and opponents. She played the majority of the season with a broken thumb and still led the team in hitting (.421 avg.).
Royce, meanwhile, was asked to take on more of a leadership despite a reduction in minutes in 2010-11 after earning Second Team All-TCCC honors as a junior. Head coach Sean Foster brought in 10 freshman and explained to Royce that his main role would be to mentor those student-athletes. Royce excelled in his revised role and helped guide a team that won four games last season all the way to The Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game. In the biggest game of his career, Royce scored 11 points and snared five rebounds in the Seahawks 68-58 overtime win at Wentworth to capture the program's first conference crown since the 1994-95 campaign.
The Female Athlete of the Year award was presented to senior Erin Phillips (Morristown, N.J.) of both the women's tennis and women's basketball teams. On the basketball court, the 2010-11 TCCC Player of the Year ranked third in scoring (17.0 ppg), fourth in blocked shots (1.7 bpg), fifth in steals (2.7 spg), and eighth in rebounding (8.4 rpg) to lead the Seahawks to a 25-4 record. A two-time All-TCCC First Team selection (2009-10, 2010-11), Phillips helped the Seahawks post a perfect 13-0 conference record and advance to their sixth NCAA Tournament with wins over Curry, Regis (Mass.), and University of New England in the championship playoffs. She finished her career No. 2 all-time in scoring at Salve Regina with 1,498 points. On the tennis court, Phillips garnered All-TCCC First Team - Singles honors for the third-consecutive season after posting an 8-1 mark at No. 1 singles. She was also tabbed an All-TCCC First Team - Doubles selection, along with freshman Ana Gwozdz, after the duo notched a 9-1 record.
The Male Athlete of the Year award was shared by junior Sean McAllister (North Arlington, N.J.) of the men's soccer team and senior Alex Melcher (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) of the baseball team. McAllister led TCCC in goals (16), assists (13), and points (45), and tied for second in game-winning goals (five). He recorded at least two points in 14 of the Seahawks 22 matches - including eight of the Seahawks 13 conference matches - and received TCCC Offensive Player of the Week honors on four occasions. McAllister tallied his first career hat trick against Suffolk (Sept. 16) and scored twice against Roger Williams (Sept. 22), Endicott (Oct. 23), and Framingham State (Nov. 10). A First Team All-TCCC selection as well as an NSCAA Division III All-New England Region East First Team selection following the season, McAllister established Salve Regina single-season records for assists and points, and his goal and game-winning goal totals both rank as the second-best single-season totals in program history.
Melcher, meanwhile, was a First Team All-TCCC selection as a junior in 2010 as well as a New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) All-New England Division III Second Team selection and an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Baseball All-Star Second Team selection. Melcher led the Seahawks in average (.419), hits (65), runs (35), and stolen bases (13), and was a key cog in Salve Regina's run to the conference championship game. Against TCCC foes, Melcher led the Seahawks in average (.459), hits (34), runs (18), and stolen bases (seven), and ranked amongst the league leaders in each of those categories. He was third in both average and total bases (53), tied for third in triples (three), fourth in on-base percentage (.506), fifth in hits, and eighth in stolen bases in TCCC. Melcher also belted two home runs and recorded 16 RBI, which was second on head coach Steve Cirella's squad. This season, he's hitting .371 and leads the team in hits (53), doubles (12), RBI (37), and stolen bases (12) heading into the conference playoffs, which begin Tuesday at Wentworth.
