Athletics Fall Season Wrap-up

Pictured: Members of the NYIT women’s soccer team celebrate a goal.

NYIT Athletics ended the fall season on a high note. Read on to find out how women’s tennis, volleyball, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, and cross country fared this season.

Cross Country
Sophomore Noah Simatei continued to dazzle this season winning four men’s cross country meets during the fall. Simatei placed first at the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championships in Rochester, posting an 8K time of 25:48.9. As a result, Simatei earned the ECC’s Runner of the Year award as well as first-team All-ECC honors. On the women’s side, Irene Chepleting was NYIT’s top finisher at the ECC Championships, placing ninth in the 5K race at 20:00.4 to earn second-team All-ECC honors.

Women’s Soccer
Thanks to a goal from Nikki Bermudez in the final minute of the season finale against Caldwell, the women’s soccer team tied the program record for wins in a single season. NYIT went 10-5-2, matching the win total from 2003. The Bears nearly qualified for the first-ever postseason in program history, but fell one-point shy. Bermudez, Jess Hawley, and Casey Luongo received second-team All-ECC honors, while Hannah Franco and Maggie Thibault were third-team All-ECC selections. Goalkeeper Jessie Sabal set the program record for shutouts in a single season and career.

Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer team had a streak of four straight ECC postseason appearances snapped, but nonetheless posted an 8-7-1 record. Graduate student Bernd Schlüter led the Bears with 14 goals earning him ECC Rookie of the Year. He also finished as the runner-up for the league’s Player of the Year award.

Women’s Tennis
For the seventh straight year, NYIT women’s tennis won the ECC title and earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. Freshman sensation Barbie Quagliardi won the decisive match as the Bears defeated Queens, 4-3, in the finals. Quagliardi was named ECC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. In September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Quagliardi won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s East Region singles and doubles titles, the latter teaming with sophomore Diana Baumgartnere.

Volleyball
NYIT volleyball had a streak of three straight NCAA Tournament appearances snapped with a 13-18 season, but the Bears had several individual highlights. Freshman Jamie Yonker set the program’s single-season digs record with 666. And senior outside hitter Tiffany Verni, who began her career at Dowling College before it ceased operations, completed her three-year NYIT career with 1,508 kills (fifth in program history), 4,367 attack attempts (third), and 281 total blocks (eighth). She also set the program’s single-season attack-attempts record with 1,586, topping the mark she established as a junior in 2017 (1,486).