This year the New England College athletic teams made their first appearance in the Great Northeast Atlantic Conference (GNAC). As NEC’s fall athletic team’s approach the end of their regular season, some teams are in a strong position to make an appearance in the GNAC playoffs. There are a couple of teams that can find themselves a home playoff spot, while others are either battling to get in or battling for seeding.
“I think all of our fall teams have adjusted very well,” said Dave Decew, NEC’s Athletic Director. “It’s been a new challenge knowing that now we have as many as 15 conference games, but all of our teams have a lot of wins. We have a bunch of teams that are looking forward to the playoffs. It’ll be fun to see how that goes because I think we have learned a lot of lessons this fall so far; it’ll be fun to see how we compete in the postseason,” he said.
Men’s Golf
The Men’s Golf team won the GNAC Championship, not only in their first season in the GNAC, but also in only their third season as a program. It does not stop there for the team, who took home several awards. Timothy Carlson and Graham Hassan were voted All-GNAC First Team. Both players were consistently the team’s top performers, as Carlson placed second in the GNAC Championship Tournament. Lastly, Sophomore Kam Hellman was chosen for the GNAC sportsmanship team and Coach Travis Banga was voted Coach of the Year.
Men’s Soccer
The Men’s Soccer team had a lot of ties to start the season and have shown they can compete in the new conference being in playoff contention at seventh place in the conference. Logan Cassin has been the team’s top offensive player this season with four game winning goals, also leading the team in points and in goals scored. Another huge offensive help for the team has been Darren Mota, leading the team in assists. The goalkeeper, Hayden Walker, has been there for the team defensively with 96 saves on the season. All players are also top two in the GNAC for the categories they are mentioned in.
Women’s Soccer
The Women’s Soccer team had some struggles during this season. It is a rebuilding year for them as they lost a good number of players from last season. They did not get their first win until the end of September and finished the season with only five wins, leaving them out of the GNAC playoffs. The goalkeeper, Stephanie Bronowicki, had a great season with 107 saves, which was third in the conference. Bronowicki also had a saving percentage of 0.823 which is tied for third in the conference.
Volleyball
Women’s Volleyball had a strong start to their season. They had a few midseason struggles but still have a chance to fight for a playoff spot. They are currently led by senior middle blocker Tatiana Sampson, who set the record for career blocks last year and is still doing very well for the team this season. One player that has made a big step from last season is sophomore hitter Lily-Anne Heywood, she leads the teams in total kills and in total points. Junior hitter Torrance Robertson who transferred this year is also helping lead the offense this year, she is second on the team in total points.
Field Hockey
Field Hockey had an outstanding season. The beginning of the season was a little slow as they lost a couple of games early on. The season picked up and they ended by winning the last five games. One huge highlight from this season was defeating Johnson and Wales University 1-0 in an overtime game. This marked JWU’s first in-season conference loss since 2021. They sit in fifth place in the conference but have done well enough to prove themselves in the new conference. The team is led by grad student Drea Chin, who leads in goals, and Mickayla Vincent, who is second in goals and leads the team in assists and total points. Chin also is fourth in the conference in total goals while Vincent is second in the conference in total assists.
