It’s Dec. 20, 2019. Here’s a recap of what’s been going on lately in Saint Anselm College sports.
Women’s Basketball
The Hawks dropped their second straight contest in Fort Lauderdale’s Cruzin’ Classic, falling 70-63 to Fort Hays State.
Fort Hays State, the 16th-ranked team in NCAA Division II, hadn’t made a three-point basket in nine attempts through three quarters. It was the long-range shot that stoked a Tigers rally in the fourth quarter as two of the three treys put Fort Hays State ahead in the back-and-forth battle.
Senior Shannon Ryan (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) posted her ninth-straight double-double, scoring 18 points with 14 rebounds. Junior Peyton Steinman (Pittsfield, Mass.) had 23 points.
The Hawks (7-2) return to action Thursday, Jan. 2, heading to Mercy (N.Y.) for a game with a start time to be determined.
Football
Senior C.J. Miller (Clinton, Md.) was named as a D2CCA Second Team All-American by the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association on Thursday.
Miller also picked up First Team All-America selection by the American Football Coaches’ Association on Dec. 3 and is the first Hawks student-athlete to earn two such honors from both the AFCA and the D2CCA organizations.
To date, Miller has earned D2CCA First Team All-Region honors and All-New England merits from the New England Football Writers Association. Additionally, the senior has been picked as the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year while earning First Team All-Conference honors after the season.
Miller recorded seven double-digit tackle games in 2019 and registered at least one sack in all but two games on the season. He logged at least six solo tackles in each of his final four career games and notched 30 tackles against perennial NE10-power Assumption across two games on the season.
Miller led the NE10 with 9.7 tackles per game, on average, and finished with 107 to his credit in 2019. He also led the league in sacks with 10.5, racking up a total of 93 yards lost on quarterback takedowns. He also executed 14 tackles for a combined loss of 100 yards while forcing three fumbles and logging two interceptions.
Miller’s 145 assisted tackles stand as the 19th most in the nation among active NCAA Division II student-athletes. His 282 career tackles place him in the top-25. In all-time Hawks history, Miller ranks third all-time in assisted tackles and fourth in total tackles.
Women’s Soccer
Seniors Caly Farina (Southbury, Conn.) and Micaela Pitts (Marshfield, Mass.) were selected to New England Women’s Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) All-New England Teams after wrapping up their collegiate careers.
Farina, who was a Northeast-10 Conference Second Team selection, earned a spot on the First Team for the second consecutive season while Pitts, a Third Team All-NE10 pick, was a Second Team selection by the NEWISA.
She finished her senior campaign with seven goals and two assists, leading the Hawks in goals and point scoring across 15 matches. Farina had a four-game goal scoring streak starting in the 1-1 draw against Saint Michael’s on Oct. 2 and ending with the Hawks 1-0 win over Pace on Oct. 19. Farina scored both goals in a 2-1 overtime victory over Franklin Pierce for the first-ever win by Saint Anselm in Rindge, N.H.
Farina ended her career ranked fifth in career goals with 22 and tied for fourth in career game-winning goals with six.
After earning back-to-back NE10 Third Team honors, Pitts claimed the first NEWISA honor of her career. As a defender, she started all 17 games, recording her first career assist while guiding a backfield that logged four shutouts in 2019. She capped her career with 61 games played on the Hilltop.
