St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers
Logo
UniversitySt. Francis College
ConferenceNEC (1986–2023)
NWPC (men's water polo)
MAAC (women's water polo)
NCAADivision I
Athletic directorIrma Garcia
LocationBrooklyn, New York
Varsity teams21
Basketball arenaGeneroso Pope Athletic Complex
Soccer stadiumBrooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5
Other venuesSFC Aquatics Center
MascotRocky the Terrier
NicknameTerriers
ColorsRoyal blue and red[1]
   
Websitesfcathletics.com

The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers were the 21 teams that represented St. Francis College in athletics. The Terriers were members of NCAA Division I and participated in the Northeast Conference (NEC) except in two sports that the NEC does not sponsor—men's and women's water polo. The water polo teams respectively competed in the Collegiate Water Polo Association and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

The school's mascot was Rocky the Terrier, who was officially introduced in 1933 by the college's athletic association. Previously the St. Francis's student-athletes were referred to as the Boys from Brooklyn. Notably, the St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball program was founded in 1896 and is the oldest collegiate program in New York City.[2] The basketball, volleyball, water polo, and swimming and diving teams for the Terriers competed in the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex. The soccer teams completed at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5.

On March 20, 2023, St. Francis College announced that it would end intercollegiate athletic competition at the close of the spring semester due to financial and enrollment concerns.[3]

History

In 2006, St. Francis College added women's bowling, while dropping men's baseball and women's softball.[4]

St. Francis College previously sponsored a football team, but was dropped in 1935.[5] [6] Their last coach was Julius "Indian" Yablok a former quarterback at Colgate University, who replaced Salvatore "Tut" Maggio.

In 2007, Irma Garcia became the athletic director of the Terriers replacing longtime director Edward Aquilone. When hired in 2010, she was the country's only female Latina athletic director in Division I sports.[7][8] For the 2014–15 academic year, Garcia was named NACWAA D1 (FCS) Administrator of the Year.[9] 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 athletic programs from St. Francis (NY) to St. Francis Brooklyn.[10] 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[11] and men's volleyball[12] would be added as sports programs to the existing teams at St. Francis College. Both teams started play in the 2019–20 school year, with women's soccer starting in fall 2019 and men's volleyball in spring 2020.

On September 30, 2021, the NEC announced it would start a men's volleyball league in the 2023 season (2022–23 school year). The new league was intended to start with SFC as one of six members,[13] but two more schools were announced as single-sport members before the league began play.[14] Before the launch of NEC men's volleyball, SFC had played the 2022 season in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, which it had joined in July 2021.[15]

On March 20, 2023, the school announced all athletics programs would be terminated at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. Students on athletic scholarship will be able to keep them until graduation or transfer to another school.[3][16]

Teams

A member of the Northeast Conference, St. Francis Brooklyn sponsored teams in 10 men's and 11 women's NCAA sanctioned sports:[17]

  1. 1 2 The NCAA treats swimming and diving as a single sport.
  2. 1 2 The NCAA treats indoor and outdoor track as two separate sports, holding indoor championships in its winter season and outdoor championships in its spring season.

Basketball

Both the men's and women's teams hosted their home games at The Pope and were members of the Northeast Conference. The fiercest rival of the Terriers was LIU; the men's teams have competed since 1928 and the women's teams since 1973.[lower-alpha 1] Both the men's and women's Terrier teams played in the Battle of Brooklyn tournament against the Sharks, which was played annually since 1974–75.[18] The Terriers also competed against the Wagner Seahawks, and it was 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.[19] The team played its home games on the Peter Aquilone Court at the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex.

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, was the oldest collegiate program in New York City.[20] The Terriers' best finish was the 1955–1956 season, with a 21–4 record that ranked them at 13th nationally in the AP polls.[21] Throughout their history the Terriers 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.[22] 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.[7] Glenn Braica replaced Brian Nash who resigned after five seasons, 3 of which his team did not make the postseason.[23]

The Terriers coach with the most wins is Daniel Lynch who from 1948 to 1969 accumulated a 282–233 record and won 3 regular season conference championships.[22] 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 to 2005, accumulated a 187–206 record along with 2 regular season conference championships.

Men's basketball yearly record
Year Head coach Overall record (W-L) NEC Record Standing NEC Tournament Record Postseason Tournament Record
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 Braica13–1810–8T-4th0–1 Quarter-Finals
2018–2019Glenn Braica17–169–9T-5th0–1 Quarter-FinalsCIT First round 0–1
2019–2020Glenn Braica13–187–11T-6th0–1 Quarter-Finals

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 was a part of the Northeast Conference. The Terriers coach with the most wins was John Thurston who from 2012 to 2018 accumulated a 73–110 record. Thurston also was the first coach in program history to win a Northeast Conference tournament Championship and participate in an NCAA tournament. Also under Thurston, the 2013–14 squad set the single-season program record with 19 victories. In 2018, Linda Cimino was announced as the head coach. Previously, Cimino was the head coach at Binghamton. In Cimino's first year at the helm, she set the Terrier record for conference wins in a season, 12.

Women's basketball yearly record
YearHead coachOverall record (W–L)NEC recordStandingNEC Tournament recordPostseason Tournament record
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 Thurston13–179–9T-3rd0–1 Quarter-Finals
2018–19Linda Cimino18–1312–63rd0–1 Quarter-Finals
2019–20Linda Cimino8–214–1410thDNQ

Water polo

St. Francis Aquatics Center

Both the men's and women's water polo teams played at the St. Francis College Aquatics Center, located at the college in Brooklyn Heights. The men's team competed in the CWPA and ECAC and the women's team in the MAAC, both participated in Division I leagues.

Men's

The St. Francis College Men's Water Polo club began its program in 1952.[24] 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 and are one of the better teams on the east coast. In consecutive years from 2004 to 2008, they've won the ECAC Championships and the CWPA Northern Division Championships.[25][26] The Terriers have finished between first and fourth in the Eastern Championships from 1999 to 2007. In 2005 they finished first and qualified for the NCAA National Championships and finished fourth at the Final Four.[25]

The team was headed by coach Carl Quigley, whom in 1999 was the coach of the year for the CWPA Northern Division.[25] 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.[27] From 2005 to 2008 under coach Quigley, the Terriers had a combined 82–25 record with four ECAC Championships, four CWPA Northern Division Championships, 1 NCAA Final Four berth and have been ranked as high as 11th nationally 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.[28] 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.[29] Also in 2010, the Terriers won the ECAC Championships, the Northern Division Championship tournament and the CWPA Eastern Championship.[30][31][32] 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 an 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.[33] Mihaljevic inherited a team that placed third in the 2012 NCAA Final Four and was ranked tenth 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.[34] 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.[34] 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 fourth 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, alumnus Bora Dimitrov, the youngest head coach in NCAA varsity men's water polo at the time of his hiring.[35]

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 (0–0)–––DNQ18th
2010Igor Samardzija23–5 (16–3)1st place1st place1st place4th place (0–2)10th
2011Igor Samardzija15–9 (5–0)–1st place[36]3rd placeDNQ16th
2012Igor Samardzija17–9 (4–2)–1st place1st place[37]3rd place (1–1)[38]9th
2013Srdjan Mihaljevic23–12 (9–2)–1st place1st place[34]4th place (0–2)10th
2014Srdjan Mihaljevic16–13 (10–2)–2nd place
2015Igor Zagoruiko17–13 (8–4)–3rd place
2016Igor Zagoruiko13–14 (5–5)–
2017Bora Dimitrov10–5 (8–3)–
2018Bora Dimitrov9–15 (7–3)–
2019Bora Dimitrov19–14 (5–5)–4th place
2020Bora Dimitrov0–0 (0–0)–

Soccer

View of Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5, home of the Terriers, from the East River. The field is located on the lower right portion of the image.

Both the Men's and Women's soccer teams played their home matches at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5, located on the East River in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn.

Men's

The St. Francis College Men's Soccer team had an overall record of 455–365–88 spanning from 1968 to 2019.[39] 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 137–117–26 record against conference teams and leads the conference with the most tournament championships.[39]

The final head coach, Tom Giovatto, joined the Terriers in 2007 and led the team to a 120–85–32 record. In 2009, Giovatto secured a NEC Tournament berth with the second seed and in 2013 he won the NEC Championship with the fourth 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.

Men's soccer yearly record[39]
YearCoachOverall record %NEC RecordPointsFinishPostseason
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
2018T. Giovatto7–10–041.2%4–4–012T-5thDNQ
2019T. Giovatto7–6–253.3%3–5–110T-6thDNQ

Women's

Women's Soccer at St. Francis College was founded in 2019. The programs only head coach was Justine Lombardi.[40] In their inaugural season, the Terriers did not win a game and posted a 0–17–0 record.

Women's soccer yearly record
YearCoachOverall record %NEC RecordPointsFinishPostseason
2019Justine Lombardi0–17–00%0–10–0011thDNQ
2020Justine Lombardi0–0–00%0–0–00DNQ

Rocky the Terrier

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

Notable alumni

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Before the 2019–20 school year, the rivalry involved Long Island University's Brooklyn campus, known athletically as "LIU" or "Long Island" before 2013 and "LIU Brooklyn" from 2013–14. LIU merged the Brooklyn athletic program with that of its Post campus in 2019, creating the current LIU Sharks.

References

  1. ↑ 2015–16 MBB Media Guide (PDF). Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Names Brian Nash Men's Basketball Coach". NEC. 2005. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Reyes, Lorenzo (March 20, 2023). "St. Francis College (N.Y.) announces elimination of entire Division I athletic program". USA Today. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  4. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Softball Program Comes To Close". NEC. 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  5. ↑ "ST. FRANCIS ELECTS 6 TO HALL OF FAME". The New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Fordham Set for Boston College; Columbia Will Open With V.M.I.; Rams Meet Old Rival and Lions Start With Three 1934 Regulars Today -- N.Y.U. on Edge for Bates, While Manhattan Faces Brooklyn College and C.C.N.Y. Plays St. Francis". The New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  7. 1 2 "St. Francis AD had a vision for her future". ESPN.com. 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
  8. ↑ Wassef, Mira (December 4, 2007). "Unheralded heights: St. Francis AD Irma Garcia is Division I pioneer". Daily News. New York. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Irma Garcia Named NACWAA D1 (FCS) Administrator of the Year". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ "St. Francis College Athletics is Now St. Francis Brooklyn". SFCathletics.com. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Women's Soccer to Become Terriers 21st NCAA Division I Team". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  12. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) announces the addition of men's volleyball program". ncaa.com. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Northeast Conference Announces Men's Volleyball as 25th Championship Sport" (Press release). Northeast Conference. September 30, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  14. ↑ "NEC Welcomes Daemen & D'Youville as Men's Volleyball Associate Members" (Press release). Northeast Conference. May 19, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  15. ↑ "St. Francis College Brooklyn Men's Volleyball Accepted into EIVA" (Press release). St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers. May 6, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  16. ↑ "St. Francis College Restructures to Further Advance SFC Forward; COO Tim Cecere Appointed Acting President". St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers. Retrieved March 20, 2023. [T]he Board of Trustees recently approved a strategic realignment plan which includes the elimination of the College's NCAA Division I athletics program, effective at the conclusion of the Spring 2023 semester.
  17. ↑ "ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN ATHLETICS". ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE ATHLETICS. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ Bill Bradley (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. ESPN. p. 241. ISBN 9780345513922. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  19. ↑ "BATTLE OF THE VERRAZANO PART 1; 4 PM& 7 PM DOUBLEHEADER AT THE SPIRO CENTER". StFrancisCollege.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  20. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Names Brian Nash Men's Basketball Coach". NEC. 2005. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  21. ↑ "St. Francis (NY) Terriers AP Poll History". sports-reference.com. 2005. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  22. 1 2 "St. Francis (NY) Terriers School History". sports-reference.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  23. ↑ "BRIAN NASH RESIGNS AS ST. FRANCIS MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH". StFrancisCollege.edu. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  24. ↑ d'Antonio, John; Randazzo, Michael (December 2012). "At N.C.A.A. Tournament, a Splash From Brooklyn, by Way of Europe". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  25. 1 2 3 "St. Francis College Accolades". SFC.edu. 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Men's Water Polo". ECACSports.com. 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  27. ↑ Robinson, Joshua (September 19, 2007). "St. Francis Spices Up Water Polo Team With Europeans". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  28. ↑ "NCAA Polls and Rankings". ESPN. 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  29. ↑ "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.
  30. ↑ "2010 Men's Northern Division Schedule". collegiatewaterpolo.com. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  31. ↑ "#13 ranked Men's Water Polo Squad Captures ECAC Championships: Defeat Brown 13–8 in Finals". StFrancisCollege.edu. 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Plavsic & No. 13 St. Francis Handle No. 18 Navy 8–4 for 2010 CWPA Eastern Championship". Collegiate Water Polo Association. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  33. ↑ "Former Terrier Srdjan Mihaljevic Named Head Men's Water Polo Coach". sfcathletics.com. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  34. 1 2 3 "Back-to-Back: Men's Water Polo Claims Second Straight CWPA Championship; Defeat Princeton 11-9". SFCAthletics.com. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  35. ↑ "New St. Francis Brooklyn Men's Water Polo Coach Exudes Confidence". swimmingworldmagazine.com. August 30, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  36. ↑ "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.
  37. ↑ "Gencic No. 12 St. Francis College Edges No. 15 Bucknell University, 10-9 OT, to Claim 2012 CWPA Eastern Championship". collegiatewaterpolo.org. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  38. ↑ "<< Men's Water Polo News Title: St. Francis (N.Y.) wins first national tourney match for third-place finish". ncaa.com. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  39. 1 2 3 "St. Francis College Terriers All-Time Results (1968–2009)" (PDF). StFrancisCollege.edu. 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  40. ↑ "St. Francis College Brooklyn Women's Soccer Unveils Inaugural Schedule".
  41. ↑ "Red Bulls II's Bezecourt Signs MLS Deal". uslsoccer.com. August 11, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  42. ↑ "Kasey Koslowski- Coach". hometeamsonline.com. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  43. ↑ GARY KLEIN. "BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Picketts Finds Niche With Southern Oregon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  44. ↑ "Draft Results". apbr.org. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
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