August 03, 2020
News from Around Friartown
Basketball ends on a roll
What if?
No Friar winter sports team was left asking that question more agonizingly when the coronavirus pandemic struck in mid-March than the men’s basketball team. PC was approximately an hour away from taking the Madison Square Garden floor for its opening, quarterfinal BIG EAST Tournament game against Butler when the conference pulled the plug on the tourney. Not long thereafter, the NCAA Tournament was canceled.
The Friars (19-12) entered the BIG EAST Tournament as hot as any team in the country and were projected to be a No. 7 seed in the NCAAs. Ed Cooley’s team had won six straight games to close the regular season with an NET ranking of 37 and a team-record 12 BIG EAST wins (12-6). It was an incredible about-face for a team that, heading into February, didn’t appear to have a post-season shot.
Guided by veteran guard Alpha Diallo ’20 (New York, N.Y.) and the slick, determined backcourt play of Luwane Pipkins (Chicago, Ill.), a graduate student who had played for the University of Massachusetts, PC salvaged the season — much to the delight of its faithful fans. Diallo ended up earning Second Team All-BIG EAST honors for the second consecutive year, leading the team in scoring (14.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.8).
Another fan favorite, sixth-year forward Emmitt Holt ’19 (Rochester, N.Y.), who battled back from multiple abdominal surgeries, became the first Friar to win the BIG EAST Sportsmanship Award. He finished his last season averaging 4.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Jack Dugan ’22 powers men’s hockey
Like its basketball counterparts, the men’s hockey team had its postseason end before it began. Nate Leaman’s squad had qualified for the quarterfinals of the HOCKEY EAST Tournament for the ninth consecutive year under his direction. The Friars finished with a 16-12-6 record, including 10-11-3 in conference play.
Featuring a youthful team with only three seniors, the Friars were led by two sophomores who finished among the top three scorers nationally. NCAA scoring champion Jack Dugan ’22 (Rochester, N.Y.) racked up 52 points, including 42 assists, while Tyce Thompson ’22 (Milford, Conn.) ended up third in NCAA scoring with 44 points on 19 goals and 25 assists.
Dugan was named a First Team CCM/AHCA All-American and, along with defenseman Michael Callahan ’22 (Franklin, Mass.), earned First Team Hockey East All-Star honors. Thompson, who was chosen a Hobey Baker Award candidate with Dugan, was selected a Second Team Hockey East All-Star.
Two women’s teams compete in tourney
The women’s ice hockey team advanced to the Women’s Hockey East Tournament quarterfinals, falling in a series with the University of New Hampshire. PC compiled an 18-14-4 record, including 15-10-2 in Hockey East. Whitney Dove ’20 (Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada), who played defense, was selected to the Hockey East Second Team, while another defender, Lauren DeBlois ’23 (Lewiston, Maine), made the conference’s All-Rookie Team.
The women’s basketball team won its First Round BIG EAST Tournament game, defeating Georgetown, thereby winning a conference tourney game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1994-95. PC finished 13-19 overall and 3-15 in BIG EAST play.
On an individual basis, Abbey Wheeler ’20 (Elmira, N.Y.) qualified for the 5,000-meter run in the NCAA Women’s Indoor Track Championship — which was canceled by the pandemic — and claimed the first two BIG EAST titles of her career. Wheeler won the 3,000 (9:25.32) and 5,000 (15:49.65) races in the conference meet. She was named the USTFCCCA Northeast Region Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for the 2020 indoor Track Athlete of the Year for the 2020 indoor season.
Jenn O’Meara ’93 earns Clarke Award for hockey program support
Jennifer E. (MacCallum) O’Meara ’93, a Friars’ men’s hockey fan since her first year at PC, received the team’s annual Penny Clarke Award during a reception before a home game against Merrimack in February. Named in memory of Mrs. Clarke, the award is given to an alumnus, supporter, or friend of the program who has made a significant impact on the lives of the team’s student-athletes.
An avid fan, Mrs. Clarke worked with the team’s players as a registered nurse from 1987 until she retired in 1994. She was the husband of Cortlandt Clarke ’67. O’Meara, who lives in Whitinsville, Mass., has followed the Friars at Schneider Arena, all over the Northeast, and as far away as Northern Ireland and Las Vegas, Nev., for tournaments. She and her late husband, Benjamin G. O’Meara ’93, became season ticket holders in 2002. She continues to attend games and socialize with a small group of season ticket holders, “The Band of Friars.”
“It is always fun to cheer on the Friars, but since Coach (Nate) Leaman started coaching in 2011, it has been a thrill to be a Friars fan,” said O’Meara. Her most memorable event was being in attendance at the TD Garden in Boston to see the Friars win their first NCAA Championship in April 2015, when they defeated Boston University.
Soccer cracks NCAA Round of 16
Coach Craig Stewart’s men’s soccer team turned in another outstanding season in fall 2019, finishing 16-7 overall and 6-3 in the BIG EAST. The Friars advanced to the conference championship game, losing to Georgetown — the eventual national champion — 3-1. NCAA Tournament wins over New Jersey Institute of Technology and Penn State brought the team to the Round of 16 for the third time in six seasons. The season ended with a heartbreaking 2-1 double-overtime loss at Clemson.
Pair picked in MLS draft
Standout soccer players Austin Aviza ’20 (Medway, Mass.) and Danny Griffin ’20 (Wethersfield, Conn.) were selected in January’s Major League Soccer SuperDraft. Orlando City selected Aviza, a goalkeeper, in the second round, just five picks before Columbus Crew SC took midfielder Griffin, also in the second round. Senior redshirt midfielder Tiago Mendonca ’19 (Faro, Portugal) signed a professional contract with New England Revolution II of the United Soccer League in January.
Hockey East Founders Medal to Kathleen Wynters ’82
Hockey East honored long-time conference official Kathleen (Walsh) Wynters ’82 in March, awarding her the prestigious Hockey East Founders Medal. She is the first woman to receive this recognition.
Wynters’ work with Hockey East dates to its 1983 founding and her collaboration with its first commissioner, former Friar coach Lou Lamoriello ’63 & ’01Hon. She was away from the conference for most of the 1990s but returned in 2000. She served as associate commissioner for most of the time until June, when she stepped down as Hockey East’s longest-serving staff member after nearly three decades.
“She is extremely intelligent, a tireless worker, and without question has been a decided asset to the success of Hockey East from the founding days to the prominence of where the conference stands today in the world of hockey,” said Lamoriello, who is president and general manager of the NHL’s New York Islanders.
In addition to numerous financial and operational responsibilities, Wynters served as the conference’s primary event manager. She was tournament manager of two NCAA Frozen Fours and 29 men’s and 18 women’s Hockey East championships.
Wynters, who is remaining in the sport as business manager of College Hockey, Inc., is a loyal alumni volunteer. She has served on the National Alumni Association Council and earned the Service to the Alumni Association Award in 2017.
High-grade grad rate
Providence College athletics has achieved a 95% Graduation Success Rate, according to the most recent NCAA data, released in October. The PC rate is six points higher than the national average of 89%, which is the highest level ever. Nine Friar teams posted 100% graduation rates for this reporting period: men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, field hockey, women’s cross country/ track, softball, tennis, and volleyball.
Athletics directors, Ithaca College honor Driscoll
Providence College Vice President and Athletics Director Robert G. Driscoll, Jr. has earned two milestone recognitions. In April, the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association honored him with its 2020 Builders’ Award. The award committee called Driscoll “a transformational leader” who, in his nearly 20 years at PC, has developed “a national championship-caliber athletics department while always focusing on student-athlete development.”
Under Driscoll, the athletics program has recorded NCAA championships in women’s cross country and men’s hockey and sharply upgraded its facilities, highlighted by Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium and the Ruane Friar Development Center — both constructed in the past five years. Also, the College’s student-athletes posted a 95% Graduation Success Rate in the most recent data released by the NCAA in October.
Driscoll also was enshrined in the Ithaca College Hall of Fame on Oct. 11, 2019. A 1974 Ithaca graduate, he was a two-sport athlete in his college days. He starred in ice hockey for the Bombers, serving as captain for three years and leading the team in scoring each of those seasons. He played baseball for two seasons.
Cooley enters Stonehill Hall of Fame
Friar men’s basketball coach Ed Cooley was one of four alumni student-athletes — along with the 1999 women’s soccer team — inducted into the Stonehill College Athletic Hall of Fame on Nov. 1, 2019. Cooley was a three-year captain at Stonehill, graduating in 1994. He helped lead the Skyhawks to four Northeast-10 Tournament appearances, including a semifinal berth his senior year. He recently finished his ninth season as PC’s coach.
More fame for Ernie D
Ernie DiGregorio ’73, the legendary Friar men’s basketball player who led PC to the 1973 NCAA Final Four and later became NBA Rookie of the Year, headlined the eight-member National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2019. He was inducted on Nov. 24, 2019, in Kansas City, Mo. DiGregorio also is the author of a new book, A Star with a Broken Heart, a memoir focusing on his relationships with former teammate, the late Marvin Barnes ’73, and their coach, the late Dave Gavitt ’89Hon.
Nate Leaman, Theresa Feaster ’14 & ’16G join U.S. National Junior Team staff
USA Hockey named Friars’ men’s coach Nate Leaman and Theresa Feaster ’14 & ’16G, director of men’s hockey operations at PC, as head coach and video coach, respectively, of the 2021 U.S. National Junior Team.
The team will compete in the 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship from Dec. 26, 2020, to Jan. 5, 2021, in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. Ten nations will compete for the gold medal.
Leaman, who led PC to its first NCAA title in 2015, was an assistant coach with the U.S. junior team twice previously — in 2007, when it won the bronze medal in Sweden, and in 2009, when the tournament was held in Ontario.
As video coach, Feaster will be the first woman to serve on the coaching staff of a U.S. National Junior Team. She served as a graduate assistant with the Friars for two years before Leaman offered her a full-time opportunity in 2016
