With the regular seasons wrapping up and postseason play underway, the University of Bridgeport fall athletic teams have enjoyed unprecedented success in 2004. All three teams qualified for their respective NYCAC Tournaments, making UB the only school out of the 13 NYCAC member schools to place a team in each of the three tournaments. Below is a summary of each of our teams and how they have fared until this point in the season (Nov. 8th).Men’s Soccer – Under head coach Brian Quinn, the Purple Knights have compiled an overall record of 12-7 and are hoping for the opportunity to capture a third straight ECAC Championship when the ECAC field is announced on Tuesday morning. The program has been ranked regionally all season and was ranked as high as 17th in the country at one point. The team placed five players onto the NYCAC All-Conference teams, with leading scorer Cheikh Diop earning a First Team selection after posting a team-high 17 goals and seven assists for 41 points. Joining him on the First Team were midfielder David Tuesta and goalkeeper Javier Decima. On the Second Team were midfielders Jorge Tuesta and Sana Sarr, the NYCAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Women’s Soccer – The Purple Knights, ranked as high as 21st in the nation this season, have compiled another impressive season and are currently 12-6-1 overall. The Purple Knights look for their third-straight ECAC bid when the field is announced on Tuesday morning. Ranked regionally throughout the entire season, the Purple Knights again played one of the toughest schedules in the program’s history and came away with a number of hard-fought wins. The most historical win so far was the win over 18th-ranked Adelphi by a 1-0 final in Garden City, N.Y. The team placed four athletes on the NYCAC All-Conference teams, led by First Team midfielder Annika Robertsson, who was also named the NYCAC Rookie of the Year. On the Second Team were forwards Lilja Valthorsdottir and Rut Bjarnadottir, as well as sophomore goalkeeper Allison Verobel. Lilja and Rut currently have 13 goals each to tie for the team lead. Verobel has set a single-season record for shutouts with nine and at one point had a scoreless streak that stretched more that 350 minutes. She has a 0.89 goals against average and was a one-time NYCAC Player of the Week this season. Valthorsdottir also earned NYCAC Player of the Week and ECAC Division II Player of the Week honors once this season.
Women’s Volleyball – A lot of teams would have struggled when faced with playing under a new head coach just two weeks before preseason. Not the 2004 UB volleyball team though as the program has thrived under first-year head coach Valerie Steen, an assistant with the Purple Knights in 2003. This year’s team is currently 18-8 overall, 7-4 in the NYCAC and will face top-seeded Queens College on November 12th in the semifinals of the NYCAC Tournament. UB has been ranked regionally all season, the first regional ranking for the team in the program’s history. The 18 wins is the most in the history of the program and the home NYCAC Tournament win over Adelphi is their first postseason NYCAC victory. The Purple Knights are still in the mix for the NCAA Tournament as they battle in the NYCAC’s final four tournament this weekend. Senior Jessica Herrman has led a solid group of returning players this season. Herrman was named to the Purple Knight Invitational and Stinger Classic All-Tournament Teams, as well as being a one-time NYCAC Player of the Week. Sophomore Amy Neussl has been ranked among the NYCAC and national leaders in blocks for much of the year, and junior setter Sinead Quirk has compiled a remarkable 968 assists in 26 matches. The NYCAC All-Conference awards will be announced on Friday, November 12th at a luncheon that preceeds the NYCAC semifinals.