Rams Rule!

Suffolk fall sports teams notched not one but two conference championships, a coach-of-the-year award, and all-conference honors for more than 20 Ram athletes across seven different teams.

Both the women’s cross-country and golf teams literally brought home the banner, with each squad capturing their Conference of New England (CNE) Championship. The women’s cross-country team won their fifth-straight conference title with five runners in the top 11, with first-place finisher Sofia Moukaddem collecting CNE Runner of the Year honors. They followed up that conference championship with a program-best fourth-place finish at the NCAA Division III Eastern Regionals, earning the program’s first-ever ticket to the NCAA DIII Cross-Country Championships. Meanwhile, the women’s golf team clinched the first-ever CNE women’s golf championship, dominating the five-team field even while playing their second round in a nor’easter. Coach Jay Parker was named CNE Coach of the Year.

The men’s soccer team came within a penalty-kick whisker of winning back-to-back CNE championships, falling to Roger Williams after two hours of neck-and-neck play. The team compiled the winningest season in the last quarter-century with a 13-3-4 record, and three Rams netted top conference honors: Francisco Valck was named CNE’s offensive player of the year; Matthew Belluardo earned both CNE defensive player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year; and Mohamed Mehaya was named CNE rookie of the year. Christian Gardner took home an Elite 21 award as the player with the highest GPA competing in the CNE tournament.

After going 10-3-6 during regular season play, the women’s soccer team upset third-seed Johnson & Wales in post-season play, advancing to the semifinals where they played to a draw with second-seed Endicott before losing on penalty kicks. And while women’s volleyball didn’t see post-season play, setter Aislinn Lanigan secured her 1,000th career assist early in the season, one of just seven Suffolk players to hit that mark. Women’s tennis saw a rebuilding year, welcoming seven rookies to the squad.

Both men’s cross country and golf squads saw strong performances from individual athletes, with cross-country team captain Hayden Green earning all-league honors for the fourth consecutive year—a Suffolk first. Meanwhile golfer Michael Gallagher was named All-CNE after finishing 12th in the conference championship; he also collected an Elite 21 award as the player with the highest GPA competing in the tournament.

And it’s not over till it’s over. On November 22, seven members of the women’s cross-country team travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina to compete in the NCAA DIII national championships. Likewise, the women’s golf team has earned their spot at next May’s NCAA DIII women’s golf championship in Desert Spring, California—the second time in program history the team has qualified for the national tourney.