St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers

St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers
University St. Francis College
Conference Northeast Conference
NCAA Division I
Athletic director Irma Garcia
Location Brooklyn, NY
Varsity teams 19
Basketball arena Generoso Pope Athletic Complex
Soccer stadium Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5
Other arenas SFC Aquatics Center
Mascot Rocky the Terrier
Nickname Terriers
Colors
     Blue       Red
Website sfcathletics.com

The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers represent St. Francis College in athletics. The Terriers are members of the NCAA Division I and participate in the Northeast Conference, with the exception of the men's and women's water polo teams which compete in the CWPA and the MAAC, respectively. The Terriers field teams in basketball, cross country, soccer, golf, bowling, water polo, volleyball, tennis and swimming and diving. In 2006, St. Francis College added women's bowling, while dropping baseball and softball.[1] St. Francis College previously sponsored a football team, but the program was dropped in 1935.

In 2007, Irma Garcia, '88, became the athletic director of the Terriers replacing longtime director Edward Aquilone, '60. As of 2010, she is the country's only female Latina athletic director in Division I sports.[2][3] Beginning on November 27, 2012, St. Francis College rebranded its Athletics programs from St. Francis (NY) to St. Francis Brooklyn.[4] The College previously came to be known as St. Francis (NY) when the athletics program joined the Division I Northeast Conference in 1981.

Basketball

The men's team was founded in 1896 making it the oldest collegiate program in New York City and the women's program was founded in 1973. Both teams host their home games at The Pope and are members of the Northeast Conference. The fiercest rival of the Terriers are the Long Island University Blackbirds, the men's teams have competed since 1928 and the women's teams since 1973. Both the Men's and Women's Terrier teams play in the Battle of Brooklyn tournament against the Blackbirds, which has been played annually since 1974–75.[5] The Terriers also compete against Wagner College Seahawks, and it is referred to as Battle of the Verrazano due to St. Francis College in Brooklyn being separated from Wagner College in Staten Island by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The Battle of the Verrazano dates back to the 1973–74 season.[6]

Men's

The St. Francis College’s men's basketball program, founded in 1896, is the oldest collegiate program in New York City.[7] The team plays its home games on the Peter Aquilone Court at the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex. The Terriers have an overall record of 1165–1203, 49.2 W–L%, over a 95 year span from the 1920–1921 to the 2014–2015 season.[8] The Terriers best finish was the 1955–1956 season, with a 21–4 record that ranked them at 13th nationally in the AP polls.[8] Throughout their history the Terriers have played as NCAA Division I independents, in the Metropolitan New York Conference (1946–1963), in the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference (1966–1968) and since 1981 in the NEC.[8] In that time span, the Terriers were regular season conference champions 6 times and have had 17 different head coaches, the latest of which is Glenn Braica. Braica was an assistant under Norm Roberts at St. John's University[2] Glenn Braica replaced Brian Nash whom resigned after five seasons, 3 of which his team did not make the postseason.[9]

The Terriers coach with the most wins is Daniel Lynch who from 1948–1969 accumulated a 283–237 record and won 3 regular season conference championships.[8] Lynch also led the Terriers to 3 NIT bids, reaching the first-round in 1963, the quarter-finals in 1954 and the semi-finals in 1956. Second is Ron Ganulin, who over 14 seasons, from 1991–2005, accumulated a 187–206 record along with 2 regular season conference championships.

St. Francis College Terriers Northeast Conference Statistics
Year Head Coach Overall Record (W-L) NEC Record Standing NEC Tournament Record Postseason Tournament Record
1998–1999 Ron Ganulin 20–8 16–4 9th 1–1 Semi-Finals
1999–2000 Ron Ganulin 18–12 12–6 7th 1–1 Semi-Finals
2000–2001 Ron Ganulin 18–11 16–4 3rd 1–1 Semi-Finals
2001–2002 Ron Ganulin 18–11 13–7 2nd 1–1 Semi-Finals
2002–2003 Ron Ganulin 14–16 9–9 4th 2–1 Finals
2003–2004 Ron Ganulin 15–13 12–6 T-1st 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2004–2005 Ron Ganulin 13–14 9–9 7th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2005–2006 Brian Nash 10–17 7–11 T-8th DNQ
2006–2007 Brian Nash 9–22 7–11 T-6th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2007–2008 Brian Nash 7–22 5–12 T-8th DNQ
2008–2009 Brian Nash 10–20 7–11 8th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2009–2010 Brian Nash 11–18 8–10 T-8th DNQ
2010–2011 Glenn Braica 15–15 10–9 5th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2011–2012 Glenn Braica 15–15 12–6 4th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2012–2013 Glenn Braica 12–18 8–10 8th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2013–2014 Glenn Braica 18–14 9–7 T-4th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2014–2015 Glenn Braica 23–12 15–3 1st 2–1 Finals NIT First Round 0–1
2015–2016 Glenn Braica 0–0 0–0 – –

See Also: SFC Terriers Home Page

Women's

The women's team kicked off intercollegiate athletics at St. Francis College in 1973. Since the 1988–89 season the women's basketball team has been apart of the Northeast Conference. From 1973–74 to 2013–14 the Lady Terriers have compiled a 306–764 overall record and since joining the NEC in 1988 a 116–324 conference record.

As of 2012, John Thurston is the new head coach of the St. Francis College Lady Terriers.[10] Thurston replaces Brenda Milano, who coached the Lady Terriers for 9 seasons leading them to the NEC playoffs 3 times.[11] After not making the NEC Tournament for 4 consecutive seasons from, 2008–11, first year head coach Thurston was able to secure the 7th seed in 2012. The Lady Terriers also won more than 10 games for the first time in 5 years.

For the 2013–14 season the Lady Terriers will make a pair of appearances on ESPN3 for the first time in their history.[12] The 2013–14 Lady Terriers improved to 6–2 on the season for the first time since the 1976–77 season.[13] After going 11–2 by winning 5 straight games, the Terriers for the first time in program history were ranked inside the top-25 of a national basketball poll at 25th in the latest CollegeInsider.com Top 25 Mid-Major Poll.[14] The 2013–14 squad set the single-season school record with 19 wins during the year and the Terriers notched 10 conference wins, the most in 41 years of St. Francis Brooklyn women's basketball.

The 2014–15 team was invited to participate in the 2014 Preseason WNIT, the first in the programs history. The St. Francis Brooklyn women's basketball team was the 2014-15 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Champions after defeating Robert Morris 77–62 in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. St. Francis Brooklyn is the first team to go on the road and win all three tournament games to be crowned Northeast Conference Champions. They are also the first #5 seed to take home the championship trophy. This is the first championship for St. Francis Women's Basketball in program history.

St. Francis College Lady Terriers Northeast Conference Statistics
Year Head Coach Overall Record (W-L) NEC Record Standing NEC Tournament RecordPostseason Tournament Record
2003–2004 Brenda Milano 8–19 7–11 9th DNQ
2004–2005 Brenda Milano 10–17 7–11 8th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2005–2006 Brenda Milano 5–22 4–14 T-9th DNQ
2006–2007 Brenda Milano 13–18 1–1 8th 1–1 Semi-Finals
2007–2008 Brenda Milano 10–19 7–11 T-6th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2008–2009 Brenda Milano 4–25 3–15 T-10th DNQ
2009–2010 Brenda Milano 2–27 1–17 12th DNQ
2010–2011 Brenda Milano 2–22 0–18 12th DNQ
2011–2012 Brenda Milano 4–25 3–15 11th DNQ
2012–2013 John Thurston 11–19 8–10 7th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2013–2014 John Thurston 19–11 10–8 5th 0–1 Quarter-Finals
2014–2015 John Thurston 15–19 9–9 5th 3–0 ChampionsNCAA First Round 0–1
2015–2016 John Thurston 0–0 0–0 – –

See Also: SFC Lady Terriers Home Page

Water polo

St. Francis Aquatics Center

Both the men's and women's water polo teams play at the St. Francis College Aquatics Center, located at the College in Brooklyn Heights. The men's team competes in the CWPA and ECAC and the women's team in the MAAC, both participate in Division I leagues.

Men's

The St. Francis College Men's Water Polo club began its program in 1952.[15] In the 1970s, St. Francis helped to form the association of East Coast schools that eventually became the Collegiate Water Polo Association. The Terriers have enjoyed much success in the past 10 years and is one of the better teams on the east coast. In consecutive years from 2004–2008, they've won the ECAC Championships and the CWPA Northern Division Championships.[16][17] The Terriers have finished between 1st and 4th in the Eastern Championships from 1999–2007. In 2005 they finished first and qualified for the NCAA National Championships and finished 4th at the Final Four.[16]

The team was headed by coach Carl Quigley, whom in 1999 was the coach of the year for the CWPA Northern Division.[16] Coach Quigley headed the Terriers for 34 years, 1974–2008, and for many years had compiled a successful and diverse team, composed of Americans, Serbians, Hungarians and Israelis.[18] From 2005–2008 under coach Quigley, the Terriers had a combined 82–25 record with 4 ECAC Championships, 4 CWPA Northern Division Championships, 1 NCAA Final Four berth and have been ranked as high as 11th by the NCAA.

From 2009 to 2012, Igor Samardzija was the head coach; he finished his inaugural season at 12–6. At the end of the 2009 season, the Terriers were ranked in the NCAA Top 20 of the nation at #18.[19] In 2010, the Terriers, under Igor Samardzija, finished the season having been ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation and made their second trip to the NCAA Final Four, finishing in fourth place.[20] Also in 2010, the Terriers won the ECAC Championships, the Northern Division Championship tournament and the CWPA Eastern Championship.[21][22][23] In the 2011 season, the Terriers won the CWPA Northern Division Championships, finished third in the Eastern Championships and ended the season ranked at 16th in the nation. For the third time in the programs history, the 2012 Terriers won the Eastern Championships and earned a NCAA final four birth. The Terriers also went on to defeat Air Force to win their first national tournament match for a third-place finish.

As of 2013, Srdjan Mihaljevic an alumnus of St. Francis College and former water polo player is the new head coach.[24] Mihaljevic inherits a team that placed 3rd in the 2012 NCAA Final Four and is ranked 10th in preseason polls. In 2013, the Terriers went on to a record and won the Northern Division and Eastern Championships, in the process qualifying for an NCAA National Championship berth. In winning back-to-back Eastern Championships, St. Francis joins Yale University (1972–74), Bucknell (1977–80), Brown (1983–85), the United States Naval Academy (1986–88, 2006–08) and the University of Massachusetts (1993–96, 1998–99) as the only programs in league history to claim back-to-back crowns.[25] The championship marks the first in the career of first-year head coach Srdjan Mihaljevic as the former SFC assistant coach claimed the Dick Russell Coach of the Tournament award for guiding the Terriers to the program's fourth championship in eight appearances in the Championship Game.[25] The Terriers defeated UC San Diego in the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship play-in game. The Terriers then lost in the semi-finals to top seeded USC and in the consolation game to Stanford, to finish 4th in the NCAA Tournament.

St. Francis College Terriers Statistics
Year Coach Record ECAC Championships CWPA Northern Division Championships Eastern Championships NCAA National Championships End of Year National Rank
1998 Carl Quigley 2nd place – – DNQ
1999 Carl Quigley 2nd place 2nd place 2nd place DNQ
2000 Carl Quigley 1st place 1st place 3rd place DNQ
2001 Carl Quigley 3rd place 3rd place 5th place DNQ
2002 Carl Quigley 6th place 3rd place 4th place DNQ
2003 Carl Quigley 4th place 3rd place 4th place DNQ
2004 Carl Quigley 1st place 1st place 3rd place DNQ
2005 Carl Quigley 20–8 1st place 1st place 1st place 4th place (0–2)
2006 Carl Quigley 22–5 1st place 1st place 4th place DNQ
2007 Carl Quigley 20–6 1st place 1st place 3rd place DNQ 12th
2008 Carl Quigley 20–6 1st place 1st place 3rd place DNQ 14th
2009 Igor Samardzija 12–6 – – – DNQ 18th
2010 Igor Samardzija 23–5 1st place 1st place 1st place 4th place (0–2) 10th
2011 Igor Samardzija 15–9 – 1st place[26] 3rd place DNQ 16th
2012 Igor Samardzija 17–9 – 1st place 1st place[27] 3rd place (1–1)[28] 9th
2013 Srdjan Mihaljevic 23–12 – 1st place 1st place[25] 4th place (0–2) 10th
2014 Srdjan Mihaljevic 16–13 – 2nd place

See also: SFC Water Polo Accolades

Soccer

The St. Francis College Men's Soccer team has an overall record of 405–335–78 spanning from 1968 to 2014.[29] In that time, the Terriers have made 7 NCAA Tournament appearances, won 3 NEC regular season championships and won 6 NEC Tournament Championships. Since joing the NEC in 1985, the team has posted a 115-106-21 record amongst conference teams.[29] The Soccer team plays its home matches at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5, located on the East River in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn.

The current head coach, Tom Giovatto, joined the Terriers in 2007 and has led the team to a 70-55-22 record. In 2009, Giovatto secured a NEC Tournament berth with the second seed and in 2013 he won the NEC Championship with the 4th seed. With the 2013 NEC Tournament Championship the Terriers received an automatic NCAA Tournament bid, where they lost in the first round. In 2014, the Terriers repeated as NEC Tournament Champions and participated in the NCAA Tournament again losing in the first round.

 St. Francis College Terriers Statistics[29]
Year Coach Overall Record % NEC Record Points Finish Postseason
1998 S. Carrington 15–6–1 70.5% 7–1–1 22 1st NEC Champions
1999 S. Carrington 5–13–2 30% 4–5–1 13 5th NEC Semi-finals
2000 S. Carrington 10–6–1 61.8% 7–2–1 22 2nd NEC Semi-finals
2001 S. Carrington 5–10–1 34.4% 4–6–0 12 7th DNQ
2002 C. Aquista 3–11–3 26.5% 3–5–2 11 7th DNQ
2003 C. Aquista 1–14–2 11.8% 0–9–0 0 5th DNQ
2004 C. Aquista 8–9–1 47.2% 5–4–0 15 7th DNQ
2005 C. Aquista 4–11–2 29.4% 1–8–0 3 10th DNQ
2006 C. Aquista 2–13–2 17.6% 2–5–2 8 7th DNQ
2007 T. Giovatto 4–9–5 36.1% 2–5–2 8 8th DNQ
2008 T. Giovatto 11–4–3 69.4% 4–3–2 14 5th DNQ
2009 T. Giovatto 10–6–2 61.1% 7–2–1 22 2nd NEC Semi-finals
2010 T. Giovatto 5–9–3 38% 3–6–1 10 T-8th DNQ
2011 T. Giovatto 10–5–3 63.9% 5–3–2 17 6th DNQ
2012 T. Giovatto 7–10–1 41.7% 4–6–0 12 8th DNQ
2013 T. Giovatto 12–6–1 65.8% 4–3–0 12 4th NEC Champions
NCAA First Round
2014 T. Giovatto 11–6–4 61.9% 4–1–2 14 3rd NEC Champions
NCAA First Round
2015 T. Giovatto 0–0–0 – 0–0–0 – –

See Also: SFC NEC Soccer History SFC Soccer Record Book

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Softball Program Comes To Close". NEC. 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "St. Francis AD had a vision for her future". EPSN.com. 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
  3. ↑ Wassef, Mira (December 4, 2007). "Unheralded heights: St. Francis AD Irma Garcia is Division I pioneer". Daily News (New York). Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  4. ↑ "St. Francis College Athletics is Now St. Francis Brooklyn". SFCathletics.com. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  5. ↑ Bill Bradley. ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. ESPN. p. 241. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  6. ↑ "BATTLE OF THE VERRANZANO PART 1; 4 PM& 7 PM DOUBLEHEADER AT THE SPIRO CENTER". StFrancisCollege.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  7. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Names Brian Nash Men's Basketball Coach". NEC. 2005. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "St. Francis (NY) Terriers Index". sports-reference.com. 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  9. ↑ "BRIAN NASH RESIGNS AS ST. FRANCIS MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH". StFrancisCollege.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  10. ↑ "New Women's Basketball Head Coach John Thurston Introduced on Monday". St. Francis College Athletics. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  11. ↑ "2004–05 Women's Basketball Season Preview". StFrancisCollege.edu. 2004. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Men's & Women's Hoops To Make Seven Television Apperances [sic] This Season" (Press release). sfcathletics.com. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Terriers Tame Lions; 73-47; on Wednesday Evening First 20+win since 2007; First 6-2 Start since 1976-77 season". SFCAthletics.com. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "Women's Mid-Major Top 25". collegeinsider.com. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "At N.C.A.A. Tournament, a Splash From Brooklyn, by Way of Europe". NewYorkTimes.com. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "St. Francis College Accolades". SFC.edu. 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Men's Water Polo". ECACSports.com. 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  18. ↑ Robinson, Joshua (September 19, 2007). "St. Francis Spices Up Water Polo Team With Europeans". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  19. ↑ "NCAA Polls and Rankings". ESPN. 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  20. ↑ "National champion USC Tops the Nation in Final 2010 Men's Varsity Water Polo Top 20 Poll". Collegiate Water Polo Association. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
  21. ↑ "2010 Men's Northern Division Schedule". collegiatewaterpolo.com. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  22. ↑ "#13 ranked Men's Water Polo Squad Captures ECAC Championships: Defeat Brown 13–8 in Finals". StFrancisCollege.edu. 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Plavsic & No. 13 St. Francis Handle No. 18 Navy 8–4 for 2010 CWPA Eastern Championship". Collegiate Water Polo Association. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Former Terrier Srdjan Mihaljevic Named Head Men's Water Polo Coach". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 "Back-to-Back: Men's Water Polo Claims Second Straight CWPA Championship; Defeat Princeton 11-9". SFCAthletics.com. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  26. ↑ "No. 20 St. Francis College Escapes No. 17 Brown University 10–9 OT Sudden Death For Northern Division Title". collegiatewaterpolo.com. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
  27. ↑ "Gencic No. 12 St. Francis College Edges No. 15 Bucknell University, 10-9 OT, to Claim 2012 CWPA Eastern Championship". collegiatewaterpolo.org. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  28. ↑ "<< Men's Water Polo News Title: St. Francis (N.Y.) wins first national tourney match for third-place finish". ncaa.com. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 "St. Francis College Terriers All-Time Results (1968–2009)" (PDF). StFrancisCollege.edu. 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  30. ↑ "Kasey Koslowski- Coach". hometeamsonline.com. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  31. ↑ GARY KLEIN. "BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Picketts Finds Niche With Southern Oregon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Draft Results". http://www.apbr.org. Retrieved November 9, 2011.

External links