The first snowfall in Franklin, Massachusetts this week signaled the official end to fall sports on the Dean College campus. Both men’s and women’s soccer, along with the football team ended their seasons with winning records. Below are recaps of each teams season.
Football
Head Coach Todd Vasey and his staff followed up leading the Bulldogs to the Valley of the Sun Bowl win in 2011 with another strong campaign, as the Dean College football team officially ended their season with 7 wins and 3 losses. The 7-3 record was good for third place in the Northeast Football Conference.
There were too many individual standout performances to list here, though it is worth noting that the Dean College passing attack easily led the conference in total passing yards with 2,404 and passing touchdowns with 21. This vicious attack was led by first year quarterback Trevor Vasey (1,848 passing yards, 15 touchdowns) and Sophmore Wide Receiver Shavarez Smith (43 receptions, 685 yards, 6 touchdowns).
On defense, Dean was second in the conference with 15 interceptions and also second in the conference in sacks with 25 on the season, led by Defensive End Rashard Simmons with 6 sacks on the season. Also worth noting Linebacker Marcus Pittard led the conference in solo tackles with 50.
Team and individual statistics can be seen on the Northeast Conference Football website
by clicking here.
Women’s Soccer
Dean College women’s soccer team made an incredible leap in 2012, as the team officially ended their season with 9 wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie, posting the first winning record for the program since 1998.
Many stellar individual performances contributed to the successful season, and four players were ranked within the top 50 in the country in NJCAA Division I. Sophomore Jessica Gelbman was ranked 6th in saves (147 saves) and 40th in save percentage (.821 percent). Freshman Morgan Mencio led the team in points with 42 (13 goals and 16 assists). She was ranked 9th with assists and 35th in points. Freshman Samantha O’Keefe had 15 goals and 7 assists on the season for 37 points, giving her a ranking of 49th with points and 47th in goals. Freshman Lauren Valdario was ranked 38th with assists, and had 12 goals and 10 assists on the season for 34 points.
As a result of this year’s success, Head Coach Laura Ray was named Region 21 Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year. This award is voted on by all NJCAA Division I and III Programs in Region 21. Dean College not only posted the first winning record since 1998, but tripled their wins from last season, as well as improved their overall goals for and goals against average. Congratulations, Coach Ray!
Men’s Soccer
Dean College men’s soccer team enjoyed quite a ride this season which included being ranked 17th in the nation, a Regional Championship win, and Divisional Championship game participation. Coach Jim Hopkins and his staff led the team to a 12 win, five loss and 2 ties season.
A big story this season which really drove the success of the team was Dean’s ferocious defense and goaltending, as the team held opponents to a 1.29 goals against average. Leading this effort was goaltenders Rafael Urbina (9 games played, 77 saves, 6 shutouts 1.87 goals against average) and Denzel Teleau (6 games played, 23 saves, 2 shutouts, 0.26 goals against average).
Offensively, Dean had a well rounded attack led by Gregory Smedberg (20 points, 8 goals, 4 assists), Paul Rocha Lima (16 points, 6 goals, 4 assists) and Michael Fitzgerald (12 points, 6 goals), along with great effort from Alex Bedrosian and Brandon Vasconcelos.
The team defeated Massasoit Community College in the Region XXI Championship game to advance to the District Championship tournament for the first time in 8 years. Despite a solid effort against #2 Monroe CC, Dean was defeated 4-1.
The bottom line
Dean College is very proud of the effort of all fall team student-athletes. Each and every player put in a tremendous amount of work and was rewarded with being part of a standout fall sports season.
For more about Dean visit their webpage:
http://www.dean.edu/
