2010-11 CUA Athletics Year-In-Review

It was another strong year for the CUA athletic department, with a number of impressive performances on and off the playing field.  During the course of the academic year the Cardinals captured four championships, played in three NCAA Tournaments, and were honored with countless awards for their athletic and academic prowess.

Following an up-and-down start to the 2010 season, CUA’s men’s soccer team caught fire in mid-October, reeling off nine straight matches without a loss to qualify for the Landmark Conference Tournament.  From there the Cardinals earned a road win over Susquehanna in the semifinals and then defeated Merchant Marine Academy in a penalty shootout to earn the program’s second consecutive conference crown.

Head Coach Travis Beauchamp and his team were then awarded a date with the nation’s second-ranked team, Ohio Wesleyan, in the NCAA Tournament.  The Cardinals hung tough with the Bishops before falling 2-1, proving that CUA can play with anyone in the nation. 

“At times this season we weren’t sure we could get to this point,” Beauchamp said.  “We set small goals for ourselves, starting with getting into the conference tournament. Once we accomplished that we started to believe we could win the whole thing.”

On the same weekend in which CUA’s soccer team played in the NCAA Tournament, the Cardinals field hockey team was hard at work winning its first-ever ECAC Championship.  CUA’s win over Drew in the championship game put the finishing touches on a historical season for Gia Cillizza’s team. “It felt awesome to finish a great season with a win,” Cillizza said.  “To have the best record in school history and finish it off with a championship was the best way to end our season.”
 
The Cardinals won a school-record 17 games this year, including seven straight to begin the season.  CUA, which was nationally ranked for the final seven weeks of the season, hung its hat on its defense all year, holding opponents to less than a goal a game, while posting a school-record 11 shutouts.

Another highlight from the fall was the first-ever night football game played on CUA’s campus, which took place on October 29 vs. Washington & Lee in front of a packed Cardinal Stadium crowd.  The Cardinals will host two more night games during the 2011 season.

Fall quickly turned into winter and with it came an impressive season of accomplishments from CUA’s student-athletes.  The men’s basketball team got things rolling with a trip to South Bend, Indiana in early November to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  The exhibition, which was the start of the 100th season of CUA basketball, was attended by a large number of alumni and supporters, including University President John H. Garvey.  Steve Howes’ team rode the momentum of that trip to its 11th 20-win season in the last 14 years in addition to an appearance in the Landmark Conference and ECAC championship games.

Not to be outdone, the CUA women’s basketball team posted its best season since 2005-06 with 19 victories and its first-ever appearance in the Landmark Conference Tournament.  The Cardinals also advanced to the ECAC title game for the first time in school annals.

Over in the pool, Paul Waas and the CUA swimmers put together quite a season of their own, culminating with a terrific performance at the conference championship meet.  Waas and his staff were named the Landmark Conference Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year, while freshmen Caleb Capozella and Joanna Ladas were both named swimmer and rookie of the year for their efforts.

To cap off the winter season Kelly Carioto of the track and field team captured the Landmark Conference and ECAC indoor shot put championships.  It marked the first time in over a decade a CUA student-athlete won an ECAC track championship.

Springtime produced two more team championships for CUA, including a fourth straight Landmark title for Meghan McDonogh’s women’s lacrosse squad.  Facing a daunting schedule that was littered with nationally ranked opponents, the Cardinals went 15-4 this past season and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

CUA won seven straight games near the end of its season, including both contests in the conference tournament and a NCAA Tournament game vs. Mary Washington.  The Cardinals finished the year ranked tenth nationally and eight members of the team received All-American recognition.

In early May, Head Coach Ross Natoli’s baseball team did something that had not been done at CUA since the 1970’s.  The Cardinals earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time that has happened at CUA since the 1977 Cardinals won the ECAC championship and advanced to the tourney. 

Natoli and the Cardinals defeated Scranton, Moravian and Scranton again to claim their third Landmark Conference championship in the last four years.  It was a remarkable turnaround considering they entered the tournament on a nine-game losing streak.  Following its championship run, CUA headed to Lakewood, N.J. for the NCAA Regional.

CUA made quite a first impression in the tournament, downing the country’s third-ranked team Kean, by a score of 3-2.  Senior Ron Esposito was terrific on the mound for the Cardinals, going all nine innings and allowing just a single earned run, while striking out seven.  Natoli called it “one of the best pitching performances I’ve seen in my 26 years as head coach at CUA.”

Also during the spring, the men’s lacrosse, softball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis teams qualified for their respective Landmark Conference Tournaments.

Overall during the 2010-11 academic year, CUA produced 65 All-Landmark Conference performers, 10 All-Region honorees, and 10 All-Americans. 

Off the field, there were 130 student-athletes named to the conference Academic Honor Roll and four student-athletes received Academic All-District honors.