News & Notes

By+Dylan+Balsamo

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By Dylan Balsamo

Dylan Balsamo, Assistant Sports Editor

Soccer Honored for Academics
Both Fordham Men’s and Women’s Soccer were honored with the United Soccer Coaches’ annual Team Academic Awards for the 2018-19 academic year. This is the tenth consecutive year both Rams teams have made the list of ten schools honored on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Award was given to 992 individual collegiate soccer programs (345 men, 647 women) that earned a grade point average as a team of 3.0 or higher, and Fordham was one of 258 schools that received the honor for both their men’s and women’s programs. There were additionally 20 Atlantic 10 programs honored.

Swimming & Diving Name Assistant
The Fordham Swimming & Diving program has a new addition to its coaching staff, as head coach Steve Potsklan announced this past week that Hayley Masi had been hired as an assistant coach. Masi previously served as a head coach and as the aquatics director at Maine Maritime Academy, leading the Mariners in their inaugural NCAA season last year. The University of Massachusetts graduate coached five swimmers into the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association Championship in 2018–19. In her time at UMass, she competed in the Atlantic 10 Championship all four years.

Softball Sets Academic Record
This past week saw the release of the Easton 2019 All-America Scholar-Athletes, an annual list of collegiate softball players with a cumulative 3.5 GPA or higher for the past academic year, and the list included nine members of the Fordham Rams’ squad, a program record. The nine honorees were Madie Aughinbaugh, Kelly Bright, Julia Martine, Brianna Pinto, Anne Marie Prentiss, Chelsea Skrepenak, Gigi Speer, Jordy Storm and Maria Trivelpiece. Trivelpiece graduated having been on the list all four years of her career, with her fellow graduate Skrepenak earning it twice.

Cocozza Gets ROW Award
On Monday, the Atlantic 10 Conference announced its weekly soccer awards, among them the Women’s Soccer Rookie of the Week, and Fordham freshman Kristen Cocozza was given this past week’s co-honors, alongside Jessica Sheldon of Dayton. Cocozza was essential in Fordham’s 3-2 overtime victory over VCU on Saturday afternoon, as she earned a secondary assist on the Rams’ first goal and then scored the game-winner in overtime to seal the Fordham win. This is Cocozza’s first weekly honor.