April 17, 2017
Around Friartown
1992 BIG EAST BASEBALL CHAMPS SALUTED
The Department of Athletics honored the 1992 BIG EAST champion PC baseball team with a 25th anniversary celebration in January. All baseball alumni were invited to the occasion, and more than 50 former players and four former coaches attended.
The celebration began with a reception at The Vig restaurant in downtown Providence. The 1992 championship team was acknowledged during a ceremony at halftime of the PC-Creighton men’s basketball game at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. The daylong tribute ended with a team dinner at Fleming’s in downtown Providence. The 1992 Friars, coached by Paul Kostacopoulos ’87, who is the head coach at the U.S. Naval Academy, won the school’s first BIG EAST title in baseball and finished with a 29-23 record.
FEASTER BLAZES A TRAIL
The New York Times and Boston Globe both published feature stories about Theresa Feaster ’14 & ’16G, coordinator of hockey operations for the Friar men’s team. Feaster was named to Nate Leaman’s staff in October, making her one of the first two women (along with Boston University’s Brittany Miller) to take a full-time job on a Division I men’s hockey coaching staff. The daughter of long-time NHL executive Jay Feaster, she started working with Leaman and his assistants as a volunteer during her junior year. Feaster, who earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from PC, brings expertise in video coaching techniques and statistical analysis to the Friar coaching staff, which also includes two full-time assistant coaches.
COACHING AWARD NAMED FOR TREACY
Recognizing his immeasurable contributions to the sport, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has named one of its regional coach of the year awards for Ray Treacy ’82, the Friar men’s and women’s track and cross country coach since 1984. The award bearing Treacy’s name will honor the Northeast region’s women’s coach of the year. He guided the Friar women’s cross country team to a BIG EAST Championship in 2016, and his 1995 and 2013 teams won NCAA championships.
GRESSEL DRAFTED IN MSL FIRST ROUND
Picking up where he left off as one of the all-time great Friar soccer players, Julian Gressel ’17 (Neustadt an der Aisch, Germany) worked his way into the opening day starting lineup for Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC. Atlanta selected Gressel, a First Team All-American who served as captain of Coach Craig Stewart’s outstanding 2016 team, with the eighth overall pick in January’s MLS draft. He is the highest Friar among seven all-time to be selected in the MLS draft.
THREE FALL TEAMS QUALIFY FOR NCAA COMPETITION
The Friar men’s soccer team, ranked 10th in the nation in the final 2016 poll, led the way during an outstanding fall season for PC athletics teams. After winning the BIG EAST regular season championship, the Friars advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal round where they lost a 1-0 double-overtime game to North Carolina. The Friar men’s and women’s cross country teams likewise qualified for NCAA competition, the women finishing 13th in the championship race, the men 24th. The women’s team won the BIG EAST Championship in 2016, while the men finished second to Georgetown.
Thanks to the outstanding performances of all the fall teams, PC finished 23rd (first among institutions that do not have football teams) in the Learfield Directors’ Cup fall standings, which compare the competitive success of Division I athletics programs in NCAA championships.
