Classroom Success

To begin, the 2002 graduation rates for our NU student-athletes stand at 65%, compared to 51% for the general student body. The breakdown on our academic programs by quarter is as follows:

Fall quarter
• 153 student-athletes earned a GPA above 3.0 (60 student-athletes GPA above 3.5).
• The cumulative GPA for all student-athletes was 2.85.
• Five NU teams earned cumulative GPAs above 3.0 (baseball, women's crew, swimming, women's soccer, volleyball).
• 46 Huskies made the America East's fall academic honor roll and five football players received Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team honors.
• Four student-athletes earned a 4.0: Shannon Brooker (volleyball), Matthew Morizio (baseball), Kara Forgues (women's crew), and Milena Ninkovic (women's basketball).

Winter quarter
• 150 student-athletes earned a GPA above 3.0 (46 student-athletes earned a GPA above 3.5).
• The cumulative GPA for all student-athletes was 2.94.
• Eight NU teams earned cumulative GPAs above 3.0 (swimming, field hockey, women's soccer, women's crew, men's soccer, volleyball, women's hockey, women's track).
• Six student-athletes earned a 4.0: Dan Belcher (track & field), Shannon Brooker (volleyball), Aaron Hill (track & field), Milena Ninkovic (women's basketball), Cassandra Rossetti (track & field), and Jamie Williams (women's crew).

Our student-athletes are committed to Classroom Success, as a precursor to Community Involvement and Competitive Excellence.

Community Involvement

Within this area, so many can take their cues from Head Track & Field Coach, Sherman Hart (click here to read the full story on Coach Hart, who was recently named NCAA Division I Northeast Coach of the Year).

Coach Hart stands as a tremendous example of the difference we can make in our world through attitude and enthusiasm, and by applying a set of endearing values to our life’s work. Coach Hart is a particularly fine embodiment of the three C’s. In Coach Hart’s case, he began as a student at Northeastern, progressed full circle through Classroom Success, Community Involvement, and Competitive Excellence, and now serves as a catalyst for generations to follow.

Community involvement reaches across our teams, and creates a culture of giving back within NU Athletics. Listed below are just some of the activities in which our Huskies participate:

• Men's and women's hockey teams and the National Hockey League hosted an ice hockey clinic with children from S.C.O.R.E. Boston, an NHL Diversity program.
• Student-Athlete Auction, sponsored by the Student-Athlete Advisory Board, raised money for the Home for Little Wanders, which supports the healthy development for at-risk children.
• The football and men's hockey teams both visited Children's Hospital.
• The women's basketball team hosted a basketball clinic for local Girl Scouts troops.
• The men's and women's cross country/track & field teams hosted the Department of Social Services holiday party for foster children, hosted the Annual Turkey Giveaway with the Boston Celtics, participated in Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and hosted clinics for local youth groups.
• The swimming and diving team hosted clinics for local Girl Scouts troops and an elementary school from Chinatown. In addition, they participated in the Walk for Hunger.
• The men's basketball team volunteered in an after-school program at John D. O'Bryant High School, volunteered at a soup kitchen, and worked with the Boston Police Department in youth programs.
• The field hockey team hosted clinics for local youth groups, donated time and equipment to inner-city youth field hockey programs, participated in and volunteered at the Race for the Cure.

Competitive Excellence

Rounding out our three C’s with Competitive Excellence, below is a team-by-team recap from our fall and winter sports seasons:

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETICS HIGHLIGHTS 2002-03

FALL SPORTS

Field Hockey
• America East regular-season and tournament champions, reached NCAA quarterfinals, 18-5 record.
• Head Coach Cheryl Murtagh, Northeast Region Coach of the Year.
• Sarah Broderick and Fior Arrindell both named All-Americans.

Football
• Atlantic 10 Champions, NCAA Div. IAA Tournament participants, 10-3 record most wins in school history, ranked 10th in final ESPN/USA Today Div. IAA Poll -- highest final ranking in school history.
• Head Coach Don Brown, Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, New England Coach of the Year, AFCA Regional Coach of the Year.
• 10 players received All-Atlantic 10 honors.
• Steve Anzalone and Liam Ezekiel both named Div. IAA All-Americans.

Men's Soccer
• America East tournament champions for the first time and earned first NCAA bid, reached NCAA second round.
• Head Coach Ed Matz, America East Coach of the Year.
• Atha Kirkopolous named America East Player of the Year, America East tournament MVP, All-New England.

Women's Soccer
• First appearance in America East tournament, 8-8-4 record; second-most wins in school history.
• Jen North, Regional All-American.

Volleyball
• America East runner-up (18-15 overall, 10-2 America East).
• Larissa Adomat, America East Rookie of the Year; Kristin Ursillo, America East Setter of the Year.

Overall FALL SEASON Summary
After its most successful fall season ever, Northeastern listed 27th in the NACDA Directors' Cup Division I standings, a ranking system designed to reflect the overall quality of an institution’s athletics program. It was NU's highest mark ever in the NACDA standings through completion of the fall season. For the first time, the Huskies had three different teams advance to NCAA play in the fall season. The football team set a school record with 10 wins, won a share of its first Atlantic 10 title and earned a Div. IAA NCAA berth for the first time. The field hockey team made the NCAA’s for the 12th time, winning its second straight America East crown and advancing all the way to the national quarterfinals before losing in penalty strokes to Michigan State. The men’s soccer team won the conference tournament title for the first time and defeated Lehigh in its first-ever NCAA game before losing to Boston College in the round of 32.
• NU finished its fall season ahead of many prominent universities in the NACDA standings, including Texas, Florida State, Tennessee, Clemson, Florida, Arizona, Boston College and Miami.

WINTER SPORTS

Swimming & Diving
• Won fourth straight America East championship.
• Head Coach Roy Coates named America East Coach of the Year.
• Diver Adela Gavozdea advanced to the NCAA meet; placed 16th of 21 entrants in the platform diving event, 33rd of 38 divers in the one-meter competition and 36th of 41 divers in the three-meter event at the 2003 NCAA Championship. Gavozdea was the only competitor from America East.

Women's Indoor Track & Field
• America East champions, New England champions, runner-up at ECAC's (best finish in school history).
• Head Coach Sherman Hart, Northeast Coach of the Year.
• Zara Northover, 15th in shot put at NCAA Championships (America East, New England and ECAC champion); Ahndraea Allen (400), Joane Merlain (800), Jordine Kimbrel (200), and Janel Kozlowski (high jump) New England champions.

Men's Indoor Track & Field
• Third at America East and New England championships.
• Vinny Tortorella seventh in weight throw at NCAA Championship, earning All-America honors (America East and New England champion); Derek Anderson (shot put), Idris Payne (200/400) and Aaron Hill (pole vault) America East champions.

Men's Basketball
• 16-15 record, nine-win improvement from 2001-02, reached America East semifinals, beat NCAA-bound Boston College 72-67 and NCAA-bound Vermont 76-59.
• Jose Juan Barea, Sylbrin Robinson and Javorie Wilson, America East All-Conference.

Women's Basketball
• Melissa Kowalski, America East All-Conference; Katarina Andersson, America East All-Rookie Team.

Men's Hockey
• Broke single-season attendance record (50,078).
• 2002 National Capital Tournament Champions (hosted by University of Ottawa).
• Earned two ties against Hockey East regular-season and tournament champion and NCAA runner-up New Hampshire.
• Mike Morris, Hockey East All-Rookie Team; Mike Ryan, Walter Brown Award finalist (top American-born college hockey player in New England) and New England Hockey Writers Association Unsung Hero Award recipient.

Women's Hockey
• Chanda Gunn, Patty Kazmaier Award finalist (most outstanding women's college hockey player), Humanitarian Award finalist (college hockey's finest citizen), and member of 2003 Team USA.
• Chanda Gunn, Brooke White and Kim Greene, Hockey East All-Stars; Rebecca Paul and Theresa Ella, Hockey East All-Rookie Team.

Overall WINTER SPORTS Summary
After completing another successful winter season, Northeastern achieved its highest ranking in the history of the NACDA Directors' Cup Division I winter standings, coming in at 63rd. The Huskies were the second-highest America East school in the standings and are ahead of many prominent national programs, including Kansas, Providence, Clemson, and Georgia Tech. Through the winter season, NU has more conference titles this season (four) than any school in America East. NU won the championship in field hockey, men's soccer, swimming & diving and women's indoor track. The Huskies have compiled 230 points in the annual Commissioner's Cup race for the conference's best overall institution in all America East sports, five points behind leader UNH (235).

SPRING SPORTS (in progress)
Though these teams are still competing, listed below are some of the spring teams’ accomplishments to date:

Baseball
• After starting the season 7-16, the Huskies have won 12 of 15 games and are very close to securing another America East playoff berth. NU has never missed the conference tournament since it first was played in 1993.
• Freshmen Chris Emanuele and Arman Sidhu, both from Mississauga, Ontario, have had great first seasons. Emanuele is hitting .353 and Sidhu .315.
• Junior pitcher Justin Hedrick is 5-1 with an ERA of 3.12 and 62 strikeouts in only 49 innings pitched.

Men’s Crew
• Defeated Boston University to win Arlett Cup.
• Also defeated Brown and Rutgers
• Placed second at the prestigious Windermere Cup in Seattle
• Won the petite final and finished seventh overall at the Eastern Sprints.

Women’s Crew
• Varsity has wins over Rutgers, Navy and Boston College (twice).
• Novice boat is ranked third in the nation and has won five of six races.
• Hired a new assistant coach, Kate Maloney, a graduate of the University of Washington who competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia as a member of the sixth-place American team. She is one of the most accomplished American oarswomen.

Men’s Track & Field
• Finished second at the America East Championship.
• Vinny Tortorella, who won the hammer and discus last year, defended his hammer title and took sixth in the javelin and then finished second in the discus and third in the shot put to earn the America East meet's Most Outstanding Field Performer.
• Derek Anderson won both the shot put and discus and took fourth in the hammer. Idris Payne had a strong meet, winning the 200 and taking fourth in the 400. Adam Crossman defended his crown in the javelin. Ryan Cahill won the pole vault for a second straight season.
• The Huskies competed at the 109th Penn Relays in Philadelphia April 24-26. Senior Vinny Tortorella took fourth in the championship hammer with a throw of 202'0. Derek Anderson placed fifth in the championship discus with a toss of 175'2 and was 10th in the championship shot put. The 4x400 relay team finished fourth in its heat with a time of 3:14.27 and the 4x100 relay team took sixth in its heat in a time of 3:14.27.
• Lieutenant Ray Youngs, a former Northeastern distance runner, was chosen to hold the finish tape for the women's race at the 107th Boston Marathon on April 21. He recently returned from active duty in Afghanistan and won the first ever Minefield Marathon last fall.
• Vinny Tortorella named All-America in the weight throw at the NCAA Championship. Tortorella won seven out of nine weight throw competitions this season, picking up Greater Boston, America East and New England titles.

Women’s Track & Field
• Northeastern successfully defended its America East outdoor championship with 183.5 points, well ahead of second-place Albany’s 135.
• Ahndraea Allen was named Most Outstanding Female Track Performer of the America East meet after posting wins and meet-record times in the 200 and 400.
• Coach Sherman Hart and his staff named Coaching Staff of the Year.
• Nicole Parker set the NU and America East records in the heptathlon and won the high jump, while Joane Merlain won the 800. Zara Northover took first in the shot put. Jordine Kimbrel took second in the 200 and third in the 100. Joanelle Bailey-Chandler led NU with a second-place performance in the pole vault.
• Northeastern competed at the 109th annual Penn Relays in Philadelphia. The 4x800 relay team set a new NU record of 9:00.74 to place fifth out of 14 teams.

Overall, we expect that our teams will end the year with the highest NACDA ranking ever. We anticipate this to be in the top 100.

Not only are the three C’s alive and well at Northeastern, they are embodied by those involved in transforming these ideals into realities in everything they do. I hope you share in my excitement over these accomplishments, and I hope you will continue to follow your teams as we forge ahead on our mission of excellence.

For those student-athletes who are graduating this spring, thank you for your contributions to our success.

Go Huskies!

Dave O’Brien
Director of Athletics