LOOKING BACK #3: SIX SJC SKIPPERS EARN COACH OF THE YEAR HONORS

LOOKING BACK #3: SIX SJC SKIPPERS EARN COACH OF THE YEAR HONORS

STANDISH, Maine - For the third installment of our "Looking Back" series we will direct our attention to the Monks' coaching staff, which featured six Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Coach of the Year honorees during the 2018-19 campaign.

Last season, Rupert Lewis (field hockey), Jenelle Harris (w. soccer), Adrian Dubois (m. soccer), Mike McDevitt (w. basketball), Bill Cosentino (m. lacrosse), and Tom Dann (outdoor track & field) were named, by a vote of their peers, as GNAC Coach of the Year in their respective sport.

Boasting one of the best coaching staffs in the region, the Monks' 12 skippers have combined to coach for 174 collegiate seasons while posting a collective 2538-1359-21 (.648) overall record with 61 championships during their time as a college clipboard carrier.

With 31 'Coach of the Year' honorees since joining the GNAC in the fall of 2007, Saint Joseph's has garnered more top coach awards than any other institution in the conference over the last 12 years.

2018-19 COACH OF THE YEAR HONOREES:

Rupert Lewis garnered GNAC Coach of the Year honors for the second time in the last three years after leading the Monks to the best season in program history last fall. With a 19-2 overall record and a 7-0 mark in GNAC play, the Monks claimed their third-consecutive GNAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in as many years. Playing at Endicott College in the first round, the Monks suffered a 3-1 season-ending loss.

The 2018 team set new SJC single-season records for wins, goals (95), assists (76), points (266), shots (487), shutouts (13), and goals-against average (0.66) and finished the year as the NCAA DIII leader in assists per game (3.57), penalty corners per game (14.10), points per game (12.62), and scoring margin (3.81). St Joe's also ranked third in the country in goals per game (4.52) and scoring average (4.47), fourth in winning percentage (.905), eighth in save percentage (.841), and ninth in goals-against average (0.66).

The winningest coach in program history, Lewis is 175-89 (.663) over 14 seasons.

Jenelle Harris earns the third GNAC Coach of the Year honor of her career after leading the Monks to a 16-4 overall record, including a 10-2 mark in conference play, en route to claiming the #2 seed in the GNAC Tournament.

Under her watch, claimed the first GNAC Championship in program history with a 1-0 upset victory at top-seeded Lasell College on Sunday, November 25, 2018 4th. The Monks faced #12 Swarthmore College in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Pennsylvania and fell to the Garnet on their home turf, 5-1, on November 10th.

In six years at the helm, Harris owns a 71-39-7 (.607) career record and ranks second in team history in victories. She was also named as the GNAC Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2016.

Adrian Dubois was chosen as the GNAC Coach of the Year for the third-consecutive season after leading Saint Joseph's to a 21-1-0 record, including an 11-0 mark in conference play, and the team's third straight GNAC Championship last fall.

The 2018 SJC men's soccer team set new program records for wins (21), winning streak (21), goals (81), assists (64), points (226), and shots (513) and, with a loss to Amherst College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, saw a 42-game undefeated streak – the fifth-longest in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer history – come to a close.

Going into the NCAA Tournament ranked fifth and eighth in the D3soccer.com and United Soccer Coaches polls, respectively, the Monks capped the season ranked 14th and 19th in the nation.

In five seasons at the helm, Coach Dubois posted a 70-24-9 (.680) overall record with a 37-9-2 (.771) mark versus GNAC opponents. With a 1-0 victory over Bowdoin College on September 9th, Dubois became the program's all-time wins leader, surpassing former Head Coach Steve Babineau (54-40-6).

Dubois accepted an Assistant Coach position at the University of Vermont in January.

Mike McDevitt claimed his fourth GNAC Coach of the Year award (2014, 2017, 2018, 2019) after leading the Monks to a 28-2 record, including a perfect 12-0 mark in conference play, last season.

Under his watch in 2018-19, the Monks won 27-consecutive games and extended their home winning streak to 51 contests before suffering a one-point setback in the GNAC Championship. For McDevitt, who owns a 556-195 (.741) all-time record, the postseason coaching accolade was the 14th of his career.

Ranked in the top 10 nationally in the WBCA and D3Hoops.com polls and fourth in the NCAA DIII Regional rankings, Saint Joseph's earned the program's first-ever at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament and defeated MIT, 68-61, in the opening round of the national tourney before falling to pod-host Ithaca College, 74-63, the following day.

The 2018-19 women's basketball team led the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.40) and ranked in the top 10 in eight statistical categories overall, including winning percentage (.933, 4th), three-pointers made (284, 4th) and attempted (784, 6th), fewest turnovers per game (12.5, 7th), and total points (2,322, 10th).

Head Coach Bill Cosentino, now in his third year as the Monks' skipper, has been selected – by a vote of his peers - as the 2019 GNAC Men's Lacrosse Coach of the Year. Cosentino, who inherited a team that went 5-11 in 2016 and had missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, has steadily improved the program with a tireless recruiting approach and a well-rounded coaching staff.

In his first season, the Monks went 6-9 and again missed the playoffs but in 2018, with a stable of talented recruits on the roster, Cosentino guided the Royal Blue to a winning season (10-9) for the first time in seven years as well as the program's second-ever GNAC Tournament victory. This spring, the Monks set new team records for victories (12), winning percentage (.706), and longest winning streak (10).

Under Coach Cosentino's watch this season, the Monks also broke the team records for goals (210), assists (136) and points (346).

Head Coach Tom Dann has been chosen, by vote of his peers, as the GNAC Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year. Under his watch, the SJC men finished as the runner-up and the women finished fourth in the 2019 GNAC Championship at Regis College on April 28th

For Coach Dann, the top conference-coaching award is the third of his career and first since 2008 when he was selected as the GNAC Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year. He was also named as the 2007 GNAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year.

Dann has served as a coach for the SJC cross country and/or track & field programs as either the head coach or assistant since the fall of 1992 when he assumed control of the Monks' men's and women's cross country programs. He was named as the Monks' track & field head coach prior to the 2018 outdoor season.

 

During the last few weeks of summer we looked back at incredible academic year that was 2018-19. Collectively last year, Saint Joseph's won four GNAC Championships with five NCAA Tournament appearances and an overall record of 180-83 (.684) and 86-30 (.741) mark in conference play. The Monks' 354 athletes combined to earn nearly 460 individual accolades (including 115 GNAC All-Academic honors) and, statistically speaking, five Saint Joseph's College teams and 17 individual athletes finished in the top 25 in various NCAA stat categories for their respective sports. Two teams - men's soccer and women's basketball - were nationally ranked virtually all season and both reached the top 10 in the polls while two other programs - field hockey and baseball - received votes in the national rankings. 

 

 

 

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Founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine, Saint Joseph’s College is Maine’s Catholic liberal arts college in the Mercy tradition. We are inclusive of all faiths, including no faith. The 474-acre campus, located on the shore of Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and a Division III athletic program to a population of approximately 1,000 on-campus students. A pioneer of distance education since the 1970s, the College also provides online certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees for thousands more working adults who reside in more than 20 other countries. In 2015 the College was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive its Community Engagement Classification, highlighting the College’s focus on community service throughout its mission and daily interactions within local, regional, and global communities. In 2018, Princeton Review recognized SJC as one of its “Green Colleges” for its sustainability initiatives. Learn more at www.sjcme.edu.