The Liberty Conference has selected their All Conference 1st and 2nd XV, along with honorable mentions and individual award recipients.
Entering their second year at the D1A level, Liberty was looking for a year of marked improvement, and that’s exactly what they saw. Iona, was the stand out performer, as the only team left in the Top 20 rankings at the end of the Fall season. It wasn’t only Iona who saw improvement, the Empire and New England divisions, saw new champions crowned. Syracuse won the Empire Division after finishing 3rd in the division last year; while UMass won New England, after coming in 4th last year. New comers, American International College (AIC) made a strong first impression, rising to claim the title in their first year. All of these remarkable team efforts have been reflected in the All Conference Team selections.
In the first team there were a total of eight institutions represented: Iona (4), AIC (3), Syracuse (2), UMass (2), Colgate (1), Fordham (1), Northeastern (1) and UConn (1). In the second team there was even wider representation, with ten teams having players selected: Syracuse (3), Binghamton (2), Delaware (2) UMass (2), Albany (1), Boston College (1), Colgate (1), Fairfield (1), Iona (1), Rhode Island (1).
The individual awards, unsurprisingly, were given to mostly Iona players. Freshman of the year went to Iona’s Cam DiGiorgio, who was a menace around the field all season long. DiGiorgio had an ability to cover large amounts of ground, throughout games- creating a constant and irritating presence at the breakdowns.
Forward of the year went to his fellow Iona back-rower, Santi Mascolo. Mascolo has had an impressive 2018 and will be sad to see it end. Along with this accolade, Mascolo also featured in the Junior All-American side this summer. Mascolo featured massively in Iona’s attack this season. Over the course of the Fall campaign, Mascolo was responsible for over 100 of Iona’s points. The impressive number eight scored eight tries on the season and slotted over 30 conversions. However, his work off the scoreboard was equally as important; as he was key component is helping create the up-paced tempo which Iona looks to play.
Another key part of the Iona attacking system was back of the year, Connor Buckley. Through strong support play and an ability to wriggle through the smallest of gaps, Buckley made sure that defenses always had to be on their toes. His excellent distribution skills helped get good quick clean ball to the Gales consistently and allowed them to sling the ball from sideline to sideline.
Liberty’s Most Valuable Player, however, did not come from Iona; rather it came from conference champions AIC. Tommy Clark the big second rower from Washington was voted, by the coaches as the MVP for 2018. Clark is as close to an all round player as you will find. His ability to work on and off the ball and to continuously dominant the point of contact were both major reasons behind AIC’s championship run in their debut D1A season.
Entering their second year at the D1A level, Liberty was looking for a year of marked improvement, and that’s exactly what they saw. Iona, was the stand out performer, as the only team left in the Top 20 rankings at the end of the Fall season. It wasn’t only Iona who saw improvement, the Empire and New England divisions, saw new champions crowned. Syracuse won the Empire Division after finishing 3rd in the division last year; while UMass won New England, after coming in 4th last year. New comers, American International College (AIC) made a strong first impression, rising to claim the title in their first year. All of these remarkable team efforts have been reflected in the All Conference Team selections.
In the first team there were a total of eight institutions represented: Iona (4), AIC (3), Syracuse (2), UMass (2), Colgate (1), Fordham (1), Northeastern (1) and UConn (1). In the second team there was even wider representation, with ten teams having players selected: Syracuse (3), Binghamton (2), Delaware (2) UMass (2), Albany (1), Boston College (1), Colgate (1), Fairfield (1), Iona (1), Rhode Island (1).
The individual awards, unsurprisingly, were given to mostly Iona players. Freshman of the year went to Iona’s Cam DiGiorgio, who was a menace around the field all season long. DiGiorgio had an ability to cover large amounts of ground, throughout games- creating a constant and irritating presence at the breakdowns.
Forward of the year went to his fellow Iona back-rower, Santi Mascolo. Mascolo has had an impressive 2018 and will be sad to see it end. Along with this accolade, Mascolo also featured in the Junior All-American side this summer. Mascolo featured massively in Iona’s attack this season. Over the course of the Fall campaign, Mascolo was responsible for over 100 of Iona’s points. The impressive number eight scored eight tries on the season and slotted over 30 conversions. However, his work off the scoreboard was equally as important; as he was key component is helping create the up-paced tempo which Iona looks to play.
Another key part of the Iona attacking system was back of the year, Connor Buckley. Through strong support play and an ability to wriggle through the smallest of gaps, Buckley made sure that defenses always had to be on their toes. His excellent distribution skills helped get good quick clean ball to the Gales consistently and allowed them to sling the ball from sideline to sideline.
Liberty’s Most Valuable Player, however, did not come from Iona; rather it came from conference champions AIC. Tommy Clark the big second rower from Washington was voted, by the coaches as the MVP for 2018. Clark is as close to an all round player as you will find. His ability to work on and off the ball and to continuously dominant the point of contact were both major reasons behind AIC’s championship run in their debut D1A season.
Liberty will now look to 7s in the Fall and look to continue their gradual improvement from season to season.
Full team selections and honorable mentions are listed below.
1st XV:
| Position | Name | School |
|---|---|---|
| Prop | Michael Rasmussen | Colgate University |
| Hooker | Alex Nanai | University of Connecticut |
| Prop | Nandipha Dube | Iona College |
| Lock | Tommy Clark | American International College |
| Lock | Timmy O’Connor | UMass Amherst |
| Backrow | Dermot Heavey | Syracuse University |
| Backrow | Terry Cullen | UMass Amherst |
| Backrow | Santi Mascolo | Iona College |
| Scrumhalf | Connor Buckley | Iona College |
| Flyhalf | Fermin Moraiz | Fordham University |
| Wing | Chandler (CJ) Cotton Jr. | American International College |
| Center | Nic Franklyn | American International College |
| Center | Michael Scarcella | Iona College |
| Wing | Ryan Connolly | Northeastern University |
| Fullback | Jean-Eric van der Elst | Syracuse University |
2nd XV:
| Position | Name | School |
|---|---|---|
| Prop | Kyle Gref-Mott | Syracuse University |
| Hooker | Billy Bingo | Colgate University |
| Prop | Michael Sweetman | Fairfield University |
| Lock | Andrew Burdsall | Syracuse University |
| Lock | Anthony Rapposelli | Univeristy of Delaware |
| Backrow | William Cusack | Binghamton Univeristy |
| Backrow | Duncan Kelly | Boston College |
| Backrow | Cam DiGiorgio | Iona College |
| Scrumhalf | Luke Persanis | University of Delaware |
| Flyhalf | David Buchanan | UMass Amherst |
| Wing | Xavier Rolando | Binghamton Univeristy |
| Center | Dallas Haskins | Syracuse University |
| Center | Joe Duffy | Univeristy at Albany |
| Wing | Clayton Minnich | University of Rhode Island |
| Fullback | Archibald Brydon | UMass Amherst |
Honorable Mention:
| Position | Name | School |
|---|---|---|
| Prop | Connor Robinson | Boston College |
| Prop | Jack Brennan | Fordham University |
| Prop | Sam Weaver | Tufts University |
| Hooker | Sean McElhinney | Northeastern University |
| Hooker | Stephen Ambrosino | Binghamton Univeristy |
| Lock | Bruce Park | Univeristy at Albany |
| Lock | John Kilkenny | SUNY Oswego |
| Backrow | Barrett Lyons | UMass Amherst |
| Backrow | DeJohn Williams | Univeristy at Albany |
| Backrow | Michael Polanco | Rutgers University |
| Backrow | Jeremy Parker | SUNY Brockport |
| Backrow | Steven Kopcho | Stony Brook University |
| Backrow | Alex Parciak | Northeastern University |
| Backrow | Sean Loughlin | SUNY Oswego |
| Scrumhalf | Demi Ajeigbe | American International College |
| Scrumhalf | Shane Palmer | University of Connecticut |
| Flyhalf | Sam Baker | SUNY Oswego |
| Flyhalf | Brandon Healy | Binghamton Univeristy |
| Flyhalf | James Carney | Tufts University |
| Center | Adrian Heath | Colgate University |
| Center | Riley Curtin | Boston College |
| Center | Darren Chan | Northeastern University |
| Center | Justin Lopez | Univeristy of Delaware |
| Fullback | Ryan Wilson | SUNY Cortland |