MILTON, Mass. – On Sunday, December 2, the women's soccer Colonel Troop had their end of season banquet to recap the 2018 season.  The Colonel troop was joined by family, friends, and special guests who we wanted to express our gratitude to for being part of our troop family. It takes an army to organize a troop, so the banquet was our opportunity to thank those who go above and beyond for our troop in and outside of our bunker.

On behalf of the women's soccer program we wanted to recognize the following people:

• President Quigley and his support of athletics in leading the College.
• Vinnie Eruzione, our Athletic Director, for everything he does in the bunker to advocate for our student-athletes to be successful in all aspects of their lives.
• Teresa Robinson, Administrative Assistant, for everything she does in the bunker to keep our athletic department organized and marching in a positive direction.
• Bruce Weckworth, Student-Athlete Recruiting and Welfare Coordinator, to make sure we keep earning our team academic award.
• Chris McKeon, Sports Information Director, for getting in early, staying up late, and keeping our stats and website up-to-date not just for our team but all of the "CURRY COLLEGE COLONELS!"
• Coach Tim Murphy and Marcus Dennis for being our strength and conditioning coaches to get our troop fitter, faster, stronger.
• Kelly Melville, Mariah Hanson, and Ashley Hartwell, our athletic training staff, for working with our walking wounded, injured reserve players, and the team not just in the recovery from injury process but also in injury prevention. 
• Tom Joyce with his assistance in game day management.
• George Garcia, the student-athlete admissions representative, bringing in the best and brightest future Colonels.
• Tony Fabrizio, our faculty athlete representative, who works with any academic-athletic conflicts and also advocates for our student-athletes with his fellow faculty.  

Additional appreciation to our families and super trooper fans for their support throughout the entire season. We have an incredible group of positive, polite, and fun families and the apple does not fall far from the tree.  They have raised incredible children and I feel very blessed to be educating, mentoring, and coaching such a special group of Colonels. All of our parents when above and beyond the call of duty but special thanks to Lucy and Paul Lima for their leadership in our tailgates.  Win, lose, or draw this is bigger than the game itself and our tailgates provide an opportunity to be part of an entire Colonel Troop family on and off the field. 

At the banquet, we recognized our incredible coaching staff who have been labeled as the "Coolest Coaches Crew" in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC). My goal is to surround myself with the best and the brightest and I feel very blessed to have been surrounded by such a passionate group of coaches in my first season.

We commemorated our 2018 season captains, junior Megan Ladner (Bourne, Mass.) and seniors Haley Wells (Whitman, Mass.) and Shae Breslin (Bridgewater, Mass.), who did a phenomenal job leading our troop. These ladies balanced each other well in their leadership styles and because of it really created a healthy team atmosphere. Additionally we celebrated our two seniors Shae Breslin and Haley Wells with a slideshow created by our junior class.

At the conclusion of the 2018 season, the players and coaches voted on team awards, future leadership core, and also reflected on the season.

Award Recipients

Most Improved: Jillian McRoy (Fall River, Mass.)

This award goes to someone who the troop has seen significant improvements in and when we talk about improvements that can be in her development as a player but could also be in the development in her role in the Troop. What impressed us most about Jill was her ability to stay positive, support her teammates, believe in the troop in every way shape and form for the entire season. She stayed positive, supportive, and believed wholeheartedly in the troop independent of playing time which is an intangible trait that did not go unnoticed.

Unsung Hero: Jocelyn Dimond (Weare, N.H.)

The Unsung Hero Award goes to someone in our troop that might not get the recognition she deserves for various reasons. It could potentially be because of the position she might play or what she does off the field that might go unnoticed. In line with the goal of division III to instill a life of balance, Jocelyn has really demonstrated to our troop how you can be successful both on and off the field, you do not have to compromise your academic pursuit with your passion of sport (or in this case sports). She is a dual-sport athlete and in our nursing program and has figured out the key to success in how she optimizes her time. She is a hero in the academic world, but her tenacity made a mark in our conference as she was named to the All-CCC Third Team as a defender.

Super Soldier: Isabella Shields (Lakeville, Mass.)

The Super Soldier Award is an award that I created because of how important our team culture is to our success on and off the field. Every player receives a team binder that explains what it means to be part of the troop, our guidelines, expectations, and the standards we hold each other to. The individual who earns the "Super Soldier" honor is viewed as the person who represents Curry College Women's Soccer the best on and off the field in every way, shape, and form  Bella is a talented soccer player in her technical ability and power, but this award is more than just talent. At practice she is the first one to help get equipment, no questions asked, and her positive energy is contagious. She is an excellent student with a 3.85 GPA and is also a leader on campus as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

Rookie of the Troop: Maddie Wilson (Millbury, Mass.)

The Rookie of the Troop award goes to the first-year player who had a massive impact in our program.  If you look at the breakdown of our team with two seniors, four juniors, eight sophomores, and 10 first-years. We have a very young team. Our rookies all had a massive impact in their first season with 6 of 10 working their way into the line-up by the end of the season.  Maddie Wilson made an impact playing right away.  She stood out in our very first training session of preseason despite the unbearable heat. Maddie trained like a senior in our very first session and more impressively consistently trained and played like a senior every session and game afterward whether we were winning 8-0 or losing 5-0. The weather, training session vs game, the score-line in the game, none of these outside factors impacted how this individual performed day in and day out.  Consistency in her play was a massive factor in her impact but also her ability to play anywhere the coaches put her with no questions asked. As a first year playing like a senior, we did not want to take her off the field, so instead moved her to different positions to keep her out there.  She came in fit, technically sharp, and had the mindset of a senior to make every practice and every game matter regardless of the score.

MVP: Tayla Randall (Walpole, Mass.)

The Most Valuable Player award is an award that everyone knows and goes to the player who had the greatest impact in our program, who this team could rely on to come up big. Tayla Randall, her stats don't lie. She started in the 18 games she attended and certainly impacted the scoreboard scoring nine goals and two assists for a total of 20 points this season. She had 60 shots and more than half on goal and scoring three game-winning goals, against Rhode Island College, Northern Vermont – Lyndon, and Eastern Nazarene College. She started the season strong with five goals in the first half of the season and ended the season stronger with her most notable goals against the #1 and #2 seeds of the CCC conference, and from 30 yards out. This team could rely on her to score major goals not only in the games we expected but also when the games were on the line. Because of her undeniable stats, she made a mark in conference and was named to the All-CCC Second Team as a forward.

Future Leadership Core

Although the troop did not name future captains, we identified a leadership group to develop future leaders within our program. This group will be utilizing Jeff Janssen's "The Team Captain's Leadership Manual" to undergo leadership training led by Coach Brigi. The entire junior class, Ladner, Courtney Lima (New Bedford, Mass.), Katelyn DeMaio (North Andover, Mass.) and Amanda DeMaio (North Andover, Mass.) has been selected to participate in the training. The following sophomores Dimond, Shields, Randall, Alyson Hampton (North Easton, Mass.), and Sarah McGrath (North Dartmouth, Mass.) will be participating in the training. The following first-years: McRoy, Wilson, Samantha Borges (Somerset, Mass.), and Courtney Cushing (Gorham, Maine) will also be participating in the training. These trainings are meant to build positive leadership skills across class years to educate that you do not need a captain's band to be a leader.

 2018 SEASON REFLECTIONS

 Describe a highlight or highlights of the 2018 season:

-tied Gordon (#2 seed) in unexpected back-to-back games

-beating tough non-conference foe Clark

-going into double overtime with the #1 seed Endicott

-going into double overtime with Wentworth

-competing against Roger Williams

-Jimmy Fund Walk

 Describe a moment or moments during the season in which the Troop demonstrated resiliency:

-Hit a rut in our season but found our way out of it even despite having unexpected injuries

-Not giving up even when faced with adversity.

-Every conditioning drill and every game that we took teams into OT and double OT

-Losing streak did not have us lose our focus and actually made us stronger

-Adapting to a new coach

-Playing as a team

 What do you like best about being part of the Colonel Troop?

-Being part of a family, family away from home

-Being part of a team and our team chemistry

-United as a team

-How much everyone gets along and supports each other

-These are my people

-My teammates "these are the best I have ever had"

Highlight Reel

 Please feel free to check out our 2018 season highlight reel on YouTube HERE. 

Photos

To view photos from the banquet, click HERE. 

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