St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers

St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers
University St. Francis College
Conference Northeast Conference
NCAA Division I
Athletic director Irma Garcia
Location Brooklyn, New York
Varsity teams 21
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 Royal Blue and Red[1]
         
Website sfcathletics.com

The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers are the 21 teams that 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. In 2006, St. Francis College added women's bowling, while dropping baseball and softball.[2] 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.[3][4] For the 2014–15 academic year, Garcia was named NACWAA D1 (FCS) Administrator of the Year.[5] The award was in part because of the Terriers success in Men's Soccer (NEC Champions and NCAA Tournament Participants), Men's Basketball (NEC Regular Season Champions and NIT Participants) and Women's Basketball (NEC Champions and NCAA Tournament Participants).

Beginning on November 27, 2012, St. Francis College rebranded its Athletics programs from St. Francis (NY) to St. Francis Brooklyn.[6] The College previously came to be known as St. Francis (NY) when the athletics program joined the Division I Northeast Conference in 1981. In 2018 it was announced that women's soccer[7] and men's volleyball[8] would be added as sports programs to the existing 19 teams at St. Francis College. Both teams will begin play in the 2019–20 school year, with women's soccer starting in fall 2019 and men's volleyball in spring 2020.

Teams

A member of the Northeast Conference, St. Francis Brooklyn sponsors teams in nine men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports:[9]

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 LIU Brooklyn 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.[10] The Terriers also compete against the Wagner 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.[11]

Men's

St. Francis vs LIU in the annual Battle of Brooklyn at The Pope on January 31, 2015.

The St. Francis College’s men's basketball program, founded in 1896, is the oldest collegiate program in New York City.[12] The team plays its home games on the Peter Aquilone Court at the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex. The Terriers have an overall record of 1176–1216, 49.1 W–L%, over a 96-year span from the 1920–1921 to the 2015–2016 season.[13] The Terriers best finish was the 1955–1956 season, with a 21–4 record that ranked them at 13th nationally in the AP polls.[13] 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.[13] 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[3] Glenn Braica replaced Brian Nash whom resigned after five seasons, 3 of which his team did not make the postseason.[14]

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.[13] 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
1998–1999Ron Ganulin20–816–49th1–1 Semi-Finals
1999–2000Ron Ganulin18–1212–67th1–1 Semi-Finals
2000–2001Ron Ganulin18–1116–43rd1–1 Semi-Finals
2001–2002Ron Ganulin18–1113–72nd1–1 Semi-Finals
2002–2003Ron Ganulin14–169–94th2–1 Finals
2003–2004Ron Ganulin15–1312–6T-1st0–1 Quarter-Finals
2004–2005Ron Ganulin13–149–97th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2005–2006Brian Nash10–177–11T-8thDNQ
2006–2007Brian Nash9–227–11T-6th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2007–2008Brian Nash7–225–12T-8thDNQ
2008–2009Brian Nash10–207–118th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2009–2010Brian Nash11–188–10T-8thDNQ
2010–2011Glenn Braica15–1510–95th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2011–2012Glenn Braica15–1512–64th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2012–2013Glenn Braica12–188–108th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2013–2014Glenn Braica18–149–7T-4th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2014–2015Glenn Braica23–1215–31st2–1 FinalsNIT First Round 0–1
2015–2016Glenn Braica15–1711–7T-2nd0–1 Quarter-Finals
2016–2017Glenn Braica4–272–1610thDNQ
2017–2018Glenn Braica0–00–0

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 a part of the Northeast Conference. From 1973–74 to 2014–15 the Terriers have compiled a 334–818 overall record and since joining the NEC in 1988 a 116–373 conference record.

As of 2012, John Thurston is the head coach of the St. Francis College Terriers.[15] Thurston replaced Brenda Milano, who coached the Terriers for 9 seasons leading them to the NEC playoffs 3 times.[16] After not making the NEC Tournament for four consecutive seasons, 2008–11, first-year head coach Thurston was able to secure the 7th seed in 2012. The Terriers also won more than 10 games for the first time in 5 years. In the 2012–13 season, 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 CollegeInsider.com Top 25 Mid-Major Poll.[17] 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 St. Francis Brooklyn women's basketball history.

The 2014–15 team was invited to participate in the 2014 Preseason WNIT, the first in the program's history. They are also 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 number 5 seed to take home the championship trophy. This is the first championship for St. Francis women's basketball in program history. The women's basketball team made its first NCAA Tournament appearance and faced eventual champions Connecticut.

St. Francis College Terriers Northeast Conference statistics
YearHead coachOverall record (W–L)NEC recordStandingNEC Tournament recordPostseason Tournament record
2003–04Brenda Milano8–197–119thDNQ
2004–05Brenda Milano10–187–118th0–1 Quarter-finals
2005–06Brenda Milano5–224–14T-9thDNQ
2006–07Brenda Milano13–187–118th1–1 Semi-Finals
2007–08Brenda Milano10–207–11T-6th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2008–09Brenda Milano4–253–15T-10thDNQ
2009–10Brenda Milano2–271–1712thDNQ
2010–11Brenda Milano2–270–1812thDNQ
2011–12Brenda Milano4–253–1511thDNQ
2012–13John Thurston11–198–107th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2013–14John Thurston19–1110–85th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2014–15John Thurston15–199–95th3–0 ChampionsNCAA First Round 0–1
2015–16John Thurston7–224–149thDNQ
2016–17John Thurston8–226–12T-7th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2017–18John Thurston0–00–0

See also: SFC 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.[18] 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.[19][20] 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.[19]

The team was headed by coach Carl Quigley, whom in 1999 was the coach of the year for the CWPA Northern Division.[19] 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.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23] Also in 2010, the Terriers won the ECAC Championships, the Northern Division Championship tournament and the CWPA Eastern Championship.[24][25][26] 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.

From 2013 to 2014, Srdjan Mihaljevic an alumnus of St. Francis College and former water polo player was the head coach.[27] Mihaljevic inherited a team that placed 3rd in the 2012 NCAA Final Four and was ranked 10th in preseason polls. In 2013, the Terriers went on to a 23–12 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.[28] 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.[28] 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. During the 2014 season, the Terriers under-performed and finished at 16–13. After the season head coach Srdjan Mihaljevic announced that he was resigning.

Former Olympian Igor Zagoruiko was named Head Coach for the 2015 season. At the beginning of the 2016 season, the Terriers were ranked at 20th in the CWPA's preseason poll. Under Zagoruiko, the Terriers were a mediocre 28–26 and did not win any postseason tournaments. For the 2017 season, the Terriers hired, former alumnus Bora Dimitrov, the youngest head coach in NCAA varsity men’s water polo at the time of his hiring.[29]

St. Francis College Terriers Statistics
YearCoachRecordECAC ChampionshipsCWPA Northern Division ChampionshipsEastern ChampionshipsNCAA National ChampionshipsEnd of Year National Rank
1998Carl Quigley2nd place––DNQ
1999Carl Quigley2nd place2nd place2nd placeDNQ
2000Carl Quigley1st place1st place3rd placeDNQ
2001Carl Quigley3rd place3rd place5th placeDNQ
2002Carl Quigley6th place3rd place4th placeDNQ
2003Carl Quigley4th place3rd place4th placeDNQ
2004Carl Quigley1st place1st place3rd placeDNQ
2005Carl Quigley20–81st place1st place1st place4th place (0–2)
2006Carl Quigley22–51st place1st place4th placeDNQ
2007Carl Quigley20–61st place1st place3rd placeDNQ12th
2008Carl Quigley20–61st place1st place3rd placeDNQ14th
2009Igor Samardzija12–6–––DNQ18th
2010Igor Samardzija23–51st place1st place1st place4th place (0–2)10th
2011Igor Samardzija15–9–1st place[30]3rd placeDNQ16th
2012Igor Samardzija17–9–1st place1st place[31]3rd place (1–1)[32]9th
2013Srdjan Mihaljevic23–12–1st place1st place[28]4th place (0–2)10th
2014Srdjan Mihaljevic16–13–2nd place
2015Igor Zagoruiko15–12–3rd place
2016Igor Zagoruiko13–14–
2017Bora Dimitrov10–5–

See also: SFC Water Polo Accolades

Soccer

The St. Francis College Men's Soccer team has an overall record of 441–349–86 spanning from 1968 to 2017.[33] In that time, the Terriers have made nine NCAA Tournament appearances and have won five NEC regular season championships and eight NEC Tournament Championships. Since joining the NEC in 1985, the team has posted a 130–108–25 record against conference teams.[33] 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 116–69–30 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. In 2016, Giovatto won NEC Coach of the Year, after leading his team to an NEC Regular Season Championship, he then proceeded to win the 2016 NEC Tournament and participate in the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship. In 2017, Giovatto repeated the feat of winning Coach of the Year, the NEC Regular season championship and the NEC Tournament championship.

St. Francis College Terriers Statistics[33]
YearCoachOverall Record%NEC RecordPointsFinishPostseason
1998S. Carrington15–6–170.5%7–1–1221stNEC Champions
1999S. Carrington5–13–230%4–5–1135thNEC Semi-finals
2000S. Carrington10–6–161.8%7–2–1222ndNEC Semi-finals
2001S. Carrington5–10–134.4%4–6–0127thDNQ
2002C. Aquista3–11–326.5%3–5–2117thDNQ
2003C. Aquista1–14–211.8%0–9–005thDNQ
2004C. Aquista8–9–147.2%5–4–0157thDNQ
2005C. Aquista4–11–229.4%1–8–0310thDNQ
2006C. Aquista2–13–217.6%2–5–287thDNQ
2007T. Giovatto4–9–536.1%2–5–288thDNQ
2008T. Giovatto11–4–369.4%4–3–2145thDNQ
2009T. Giovatto10–6–261.1%7–2–1222ndNEC Semi-finals
2010T. Giovatto5–9–338%3–6–110T-8thDNQ
2011T. Giovatto10–5–363.9%5–3–2176thDNQ
2012T. Giovatto7–10–141.7%4–6–0128thDNQ
2013T. Giovatto12–6–165.8%4–3–0124thNEC Champions
NCAA First Round
2014T. Giovatto11–6–461.9%4–1–2143rdNEC Champions
NCAA First Round
2015T. Giovatto10–3–470.6%3–2–2114thNEC Semi-finals
2016T. Giovatto12–5–367.5%6–0–1191stNEC Champions
NCAA First Round
2017T. Giovatto14–5–172.5%6–0–1191stNEC Champions
NCAA First Round

See Also: SFC NEC Soccer History SFC Soccer Record Book

Rocky the Terrier

The mascot of St. Francis Brooklyn is Rocky the Terrier. The mascot was officially adopted in 1933 by the College's athletic association.


Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ "2015–16 MBB Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Softball Program Comes To Close". NEC. 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "St. Francis AD had a vision for her future". EPSN.com. 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
  4. ↑ Wassef, Mira (December 4, 2007). "Unheralded heights: St. Francis AD Irma Garcia is Division I pioneer". Daily News. New York. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Irma Garcia Named NACWAA D1 (FCS) Administrator of the Year". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "St. Francis College Athletics is Now St. Francis Brooklyn". SFCathletics.com. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "Women's Soccer to Become Terriers 21st NCAA Division I Team". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) announces the addition of men's volleyball program". ncaa.com. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN ATHLETICS". ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE ATHLETICS. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  10. ↑ Bill Bradley. ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. ESPN. p. 241. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  11. ↑ "BATTLE OF THE VERRANZANO PART 1; 4 PM& 7 PM DOUBLEHEADER AT THE SPIRO CENTER". StFrancisCollege.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Names Brian Nash Men's Basketball Coach". NEC. 2005. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "St. Francis (NY) Terriers Index". sports-reference.com. 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  14. ↑ "BRIAN NASH RESIGNS AS ST. FRANCIS MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH". StFrancisCollege.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  15. ↑ "New Women's Basketball Head Coach John Thurston Introduced on Monday". St. Francis College Athletics. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  16. ↑ "2004–05 Women's Basketball Season Preview". StFrancisCollege.edu. 2004. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Women's Mid-Major Top 25". collegeinsider.com. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  18. ↑ "At N.C.A.A. Tournament, a Splash From Brooklyn, by Way of Europe". NewYorkTimes.com. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  19. 1 2 3 "St. Francis College Accolades". SFC.edu. 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Men's Water Polo". ECACSports.com. 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  21. ↑ Robinson, Joshua (September 19, 2007). "St. Francis Spices Up Water Polo Team With Europeans". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  22. ↑ "NCAA Polls and Rankings". ESPN. 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  23. ↑ "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.
  24. ↑ "2010 Men's Northern Division Schedule". collegiatewaterpolo.com. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  25. ↑ "#13 ranked Men's Water Polo Squad Captures ECAC Championships: Defeat Brown 13–8 in Finals". StFrancisCollege.edu. 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Plavsic & No. 13 St. Francis Handle No. 18 Navy 8–4 for 2010 CWPA Eastern Championship". Collegiate Water Polo Association. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  27. ↑ "Former Terrier Srdjan Mihaljevic Named Head Men's Water Polo Coach". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  28. 1 2 3 "Back-to-Back: Men's Water Polo Claims Second Straight CWPA Championship; Defeat Princeton 11-9". SFCAthletics.com. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  29. ↑ "New St. Francis Brooklyn Men's Water Polo Coach Exudes Confidence". swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  30. ↑ "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.
  31. ↑ "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.
  32. ↑ "<< 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.
  33. 1 2 3 "St. Francis College Terriers All-Time Results (1968–2009)" (PDF). StFrancisCollege.edu. 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  34. ↑ "Red Bulls II's Bezecourt Signs MLS Deal". uslsoccer.com. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  35. ↑ "Kasey Koslowski- Coach". hometeamsonline.com. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  36. ↑ GARY KLEIN. "BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Picketts Finds Niche With Southern Oregon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  37. ↑ "Draft Results". apbr.org. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
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