NEC Top 12 Games of 2012: The Best of the Rest

The Northeast Conference is home to hundreds of student-athletes and 23 championship sports, equaling thousands of games, events, matches, and meets that have been contested over the course of the past 12 months. As we prepare to flip the calendar forward to 2013, I thought it would be fun to take a look back, and relive some of the top moments of the past year. And so the “NEC Top 12 Games of 2012” list was born.

Making such a list has been quite the task. As mentioned, there are thousands of candidates to choose from. Also adding to the difficulty was the question, what would be the selection process? And once games are selected how to you go about ranking them?  The answer to the first part of the question has been tons of research from the NEC website, individual school websites, video highlights from NEC Front Row, and reaching out to some of those who covered NEC sports over the past year to ask for their opinions. For the second part of the question, it certainly wasn’t an exact science. Everybody has their own favorites, and the debating can be part of the fun. I do believe that whatever the order, the list serves as a great collaboration of moments from the past 366 days (2012 was a leap year), representing just about all NEC sports and all student athletes, which show exactly why the NEC was so special in 2012.

Starting on Monday, December 10^th we’ll begin revealing the NEC Top 12 Games of 2012 list, unveiling and recapping a new moment each day for 12 days, culminating with the #1 game of the past year on Friday, December 21^st. Hopefully you enjoy reliving these special stand-out moments that defined the NEC in 2012 as much as I enjoyed reliving them through the research.

While the Top 12 list will be unveiled starting Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to give a little bit extra. So here are some standout games, performances, and achievements in the Northeast Conference from 2012 that just missed out on the Top 12 list, but still deserve some special end-of-the-year acknowledgement, recognition, and remembrance. In no particular order, I present the NEC 2012 “Best of the Rest”…

FB: Wagner clinches 2012 NEC Football Championship – 11/17/12

For a team that was picked 7^th in the NEC pre-season poll and started the 2012 season 0-3, no one could have foresaw the Wagner Seahawks playing for a conference title on the final weekend of the regular season. But that’s exactly what was at stake as Wagner, winners of 7 straight, hosted Duquesne with the conference crown on the line. The Dukes grabbed the early 3-0 lead on a 51 yard field goal by Charlie Leventry. However, Seahawks stormed back with 14 unanswered points and held a 14-10 lead at halftime. With 12:39 remaining in the fourth, the Dukes found themselves in front 17-14. Wagner drove to the Duquesne nine yard line, but fumbled the ball into the end zone, which was recovered by the Dukes. However, a Duquesne offsides penalty negated the turnover, and two plays later the Seahawks made them pay. Running back Dominique Williams, who ran for 98 yards on the afternoon, punched in his second score of the day for the eventual game winning touchdown. The Seahawks got to celebrate a conference championship on their home field, and used their continuing momentum to knock off Colgate the following weekend in the NCAA playoffs first round.

 

FB: Bryant outlasts Robert Morris, 38-35 – 10/13/12

This game was an offensive football fan’s dream. These two teams combined for over 900 yards of total offense and 73 points. The game was a back and forth, see-saw tilt that featured seven lead changes. Bulldogs quarterback Mike Westerhaus threw for team record 350 yards and 4 touchdowns. The game came down to a 3^rd and 6 from the Colonials 16 with just about five and a half minutes remaining. Westerhaus found Jordan Harris in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead score as the Bulldogs ended a six game slide in thrilling fashion.

 

WLAX: Sacred Heart clinches regular season title, playoff spot vs. CCSU – 4/22/12

With the final playoff spot in the 2012 NEC WLAX Championship going to the winner, the Pioneers had to overcome a 9-5 halftime deficit on a rainy day in Fairfield against rivals, Central Connecticut State, to clinch it. With the Pioneer win and a Quinnipiac loss, the Pioneers also received a bonus prize on this Senior Day, the 2012 NEC regular season title. Trailing by 4 goals at intermission, the Pioneers were able to shutout the Blue Devils over the final 30 minutes of regulation. Sacred Heart punched home five unanswered goals from five different players to overcome the deficit. Senior Alyssa Dorsey, who sung the national anthem to get the Senior Day festivities started for Sacred Hear, recorded the eventual game winning, and championship winning, goal at 15:29.

 

WVB: LIU-Brooklyn soars over Sacred Heart in a five set 2011 title game rematch – 9/22/12

In November 2011, Sacred Heart defeated LIU-Brooklyn at the WRAC in the 2011 NEC Championship match to take home their second straight league championship. When the coaches came out with their pre-season predictions prior to the start of the 2012 campaign, it was no surprise that Sacred Heart and LIU-Brooklyn, in that order, were once again forecasted as the top two teams. Schedule makers wasted no time in matching up these rivals, as their first match against each other was scheduled for the first conference affair of the 2012 season. The Blackbirds came out strong and took the first two sets, but Sacred Heart fought back to take the next two, setting up a winner take all fifth set. In the 3^rd set SHU trailed 23-22, two points away from defeat, and rallied to win three straight points to stay alive and force a 4^th set. In the 4^th, the Pioneers hit .372, building an early lead and never giving it up. In the fifth and decisive set, the Blackbirds led 14-6, but Sacred Heart fought off four straight match points to get to within 14-10. Finally, after a Blackbird timeout, NEC Player of the Year Annika Foit registered the clinching kill to give the Blackbirds the win. This victory started LIU-Brooklyn on the road towards an eventual perfect 16-0 regular season in conference play, and a seventh conference tournament crown.

 

MBB: LIU-Brooklyn goes overtime to defeat Sacred Heart, 103-91 – 2/16/12

The Pioneers led this game by as many as 11 points with 10:33 remaining, however the Blackbirds staged a comeback to eventually take the lead in the final minutes. After an Olasewere free throw put LIU-Brooklyn up 81-78 with 15 seconds remaining, the Pioneers saw themselves with an opening for some dramatics. Shane Gibson drained a three with ten seconds to go to send the game into overtime. Once the game got into the bonus session, it was all Blackbirds. From the opening tip, they raced out a 10-0 run and never looked back. The Pioneers were one of the few teams in 2012 to give the Blackbirds a challenge on their Brooklyn-based home court, as this marked the 23^rd straight home victory for LIU-Brooklyn. Both teams shot over 50% from the field on the game. Sacred Heart had Gibson and Swidowski score over 20 points, while Olasewere, Boyd, and Culpo netted over 20 for LIU-Brooklyn.

 

MLAX: Colonials clinch the 2012 regular season title with win over nationally ranked Bulldogs – 4/28/12

Robert Morris clinched the regular season conference crown and the top seed in the 2012 NEC Men’s Lacrosse Championships with a thrilling 13-12 win over 20^th ranked Bryant. With the game tied 11-11 midway through the fourth quarter, Dave Morton and Kiel Matisz scored goals two minutes apart for Robert Morris to give the Colonials a 13-11 lead. Bryant was able to close within one, 13-12, with 19 seconds left, and won the ensuing faceoff. However, the Bulldogs last gasp effort to tie missed well off the mark, high of the cage, to seal the win and the regular season title for Robert Morris.

 

WGOLF: Blackbirds rewrite record books in championship comeback – 4/29/12

LIU-Brooklyn freshman golfer Cristina Felip shot a three round score of 215 that shattered the NEC’s 54-hole record and topped the individual field by whopping 11 strokes to help lead the Blackbirds to the 2012 NEC Women’s Golf title. This marked the third straight season LIU-Brooklyn fielded the individual champion, but was the first season since 2005 that they captured the team crown. Entering the final day, FDU led the team competition by nine strokes. As a team, LIU shot a 10-over 298 while FDU carded a 25-over 313 to complete the Blackbirds comeback.

 

TENNIS: Knights sweep the 2012 NEC tennis championships – 4/21/12

For the first time since 2006 a team swept the NEC tennis championships, as the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights took both the men’s and women’s brackets at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, New Jersey. Under the guidance of head coach Ira Miller, the Knights swept Monmouth 4-0 in the men’s final, marking the program’s first championship since 2008. The ensuing women’s final between FDU and defending champion Quinnipiac went down to the wire. The Knights grabbed a 3-1 lead when junior Egzona Morina came back from one set down to win at 5^th singles. The Bobcats fought back to get within 3-2 thanks to a three set win by Lavinia Cristescu. With two matches left out on the courts, the Knights needed just one win to claim the title, while the Bobcats needed to take both. While Jacqueline Raynor and Elmine Botes were engaged in a grueling three set marathon at 2^nd singles, FDU clinched the tournament title with an Irina Dementyeva comeback win at 4^th singles, 0-6, 6-2, and 6-3. 

 

BASE: It’s Deja-vu for Pioneers baseball – 5/19/12

For the second straight season, the Sacred Heart Pioneers rode three complete game victories from Troy Scribner, Nick Leiningen, and Kody Kerski to a NEC Baseball Championship. Over the past two seasons, the trio has combined to go 6-0 in NEC Tournament play, going the distance in all six games, with just seven runs allowed.

 

 

 

 

BOWL: McEwan rolls a 300 game at Qubica AMF World Cup – 11/27/12

FDU bowling senior superstar Danielle McEwan bowled a perfect 300 game while competing in the 2012 Qubica AMF Bowling World Cup in Poland.

 

WBB: Mariyah Laury lights up the scoreboard on Rivalry Week – 2/11/12

FDU senior guard Mariyah Laury poured on a career high 42 points en route to a 72-64 victory over inter-state rival Monmouth in West Long Branch during Rivalry Week.

 

MBB: Velton Jones beats the buzzer and beats Sacred Heart – 2/23/12

Robert Morris held a 47-42 lead with 7:22 to go, but only received seven points, all from the free throw line, the rest of the way. That is, until the final shot. With SHU on top by a single digit, Velton Jones drained a game winning three from the right side as the final buzzer sounded to steal a key win on the road for the Colonials.