Eastern Florida Year In Athletics: National Tournament Appearances
By Mark DeCotis, Eastern Florida State College // May 19, 2015
eastern florida state college sports news
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — Eastern Florida’s 2014-2015 year in athletics was highlighted by three teams participating in their respective national tournaments, seven of the college’s nine teams qualifying for the postseason and five teams winning conference, regional or district championships.
Also, Eastern Florida teams earned national rankings and five Titans earned first-team All-America recognition.
On the NJCAA Division I national tournament level Eastern Florida’s golf team made its 13th consecutive appearance, finishing second, its best finish in the last 13 seasons; the women’s soccer team made its third consecutive appearance reaching the semifinal round; and men’s basketball went to venerable national championship site Hutchinson, Kansas for the first time since 2001, losing in the first round.
Men’s soccer lost in the district final, one step away from its second straight national tournament appearance.
Mickey Demorat, Drew Cooke & Kerry Sweeney. (Eastern Florida image)
On the state level Eastern Florida’s softball team made its 11th straight NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament appearance and women’s basketball reached the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
Baseball reached the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament play-in game for the second straight season.
Women’s soccer won its fourth straight NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA championship; men’s basketball won its third consecutive FCSAA Southern Conference title; golf won its second District 4 title in three seasons and its fifth in the last 13 seasons; men’s soccer won its second regional title in its two years as a program; women’s basketball won its first Southern Conference title since 2002.
Men’s basketball tied the school record for victories in a season finishing 29-5, extended its Titan Field House winning streak to 47 games and gave head coach Jeremy Shulman his 100th victory as a Titan.
Golf won three tournaments and two one-day matches this spring and won one tournament in the fall. The Titans also recorded five runner-up finishes combined in the fall and spring.
Eastern Florida’s resurgent volleyball team under first-year head coach Andrea Rasmussen finished 16-16, falling just short of a postseason berth.
Remarkably the six teams – baseball, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s soccer – that played home games on the Melbourne Campus had a home field/court record of 68-10-2.
Men’s basketball was 16-0; baseball 24-6; women’s basketball 11-1; volleyball 5-3; men’s soccer 6-0; and women’s soccer 6-0-2 at home.
honorees Kyle Carr and Abbie Camargo. (Eastern Florida State College)
Women’s basketball finished at 22-8 overall after finishes of 3-27 and 7-23 the previous two seasons.
Women’s soccer finished 13-1-2, giving head coach Jeff Carr his 50th victory. Men’s soccer finished 13-3-1. Baseball finished 30-21 and softball 17-21. The second-year women’s tennis team finished 4-9, an improvement from its inaugural 3-11 season.
Rankings wise golf was No. 1 in the Golfstats.com national poll and No. 2 in the NJCAA Division I poll heading into the national tournament. Women’s soccer finished ranked third nationally. Men’s basketball finished its season ranked sixth. Men’s soccer finished ranked No. 11. Tennis was ranked 17th. Women’s basketball was ranked 19th.
Tennis sophomore Isabella Sella was ranked 39th nationally.
First-team All-America honors went to men’s soccer sophomore Kyle Carr, NJCAA; women’s soccer freshman Abbie Camargo, National Soccer Coaches Association of America; freshman golfer Kerry Sweeney, PING and NJCAA; and freshman golfer Mickey DeMorat and sophomore Drew Cooke, NJCAA.
Sweeney and DeMorat finished tied for second individually at the national tournament while Cooke finished tied for 13th.
Sweeney won the Phil Mickelson Award Presented by the Phil and Amy Mickelson Foundation as the most outstanding freshman in NJCAA Division I Men’s Golf.
Camargo was the Region 8 Co-Most Valuable Player of the Year with Titans sophomore Jamie Perriello.
Carr, Camargo, Sweeney, DeMorat and Cooke were Eastern Florida’s 2014-2015 Student-Athletes of the Year.
Men’s soccer defender and sophomore Ivan Magalhaes earned two second-team All-America selections (NJCAA and NSCAA). Magalhaes was an NJCAA first-team pick in 2013.
Women’s defender and sophomore Samantha Solis earned second-team NSCAA honors to go with her honorable mention NJCAA pick.
Women’s soccer freshman goalkeeper Asmara Holmes was an NJCAA second-team honoree.
Men’s basketball sophomore Kyle Meyer was an honorable mention All-America. Meyer also was the FCSAA Southern Conference Player of the Year and Shulman the conference coach of the year for the third straight time.
Women’s basketball head coach Jim Grimes also won Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors.
Meyer and women’s basketball sophomore Jessica Doyle were FCSAA All-State picks.
Women’s soccer head coach Jeff Carr was named the Region 8 Coach of the Year for the fourth straight time and golf head coach Jamie Howell was the District 4 Coach of the Year.
Also, Eastern Florida this year introduced its top athletics award, the Heart of a Titan and presented it to men’s basketball sophomore Landus Anderson.
Titan athletes who earned all-conference awards were, by team:
● Baseball: FCSAA: First team: Sophomore centerfielder Luis Silverio; sophomore third baseman Nick Capra; freshman designated hitter John Capra; freshman pitcher Blair Calvo who also was runner-up for Conference Pitcher of the Year. Second team: Sophomore leftfielder Christian Diaz; sophomore first baseman and catcher Alfreddi Ramos; sophomore pitcher Josh Smith; freshman shortstop Vinny Capra.
● Men’s basketball: FCSAA: First team: Sophomore Demetrius McReynolds, who also was a first-team pick in 2014; sophomore Payton Hulsey; freshman Djordje Beronja. Second team: sophomore Jermohn Queen. Honorable mention: freshmen Daishon Smith and Marcus Barham; sophomore Landus Anderson.
● Women’s basketball: FCSAA: First team: sophomore Rachelle Aupont; freshman guard Nene Johnson. Second team: freshmen Crystal Townsend and Paola Vasquez.
● Golf: NJCAA All District: Sweeney and DeMorat.
● Men’s soccer: NSCAA All-Southeast Region first team: Carr, Magalhaes, Farias Juarez.
● Women’s soccer: FCSAA: First-team: Defender Samantha Solis; midfielder Bri Camargo; goalkeeper Asmara Holmes; midfielder Kaila Henson. Second team: Defender Mariah Lewis; forward Kassidee Davis; forward Helen Ramsey; goalkeeper Denise Rodriguez.
● Softball: FCSAA: First team: Pitcher/infielder sophomore Dajia Jones; catcher/outfielder sophomore Shelby Nazworth; and catcher and freshman Taylor Zitiello. Jones also was a first team honoree in 2014. Second team: Freshmen infielder Katie Darrah; outfielder Natasha Kistler; and pitchers Whitney Stevens and Kayla Byers.
● Volleyball: FCSAA: First team: Sophomores Fernanda Faustino and McKenzie Price. Second team: sophomore Mariah Davis and freshmen Treasure Ingram and Lena Kaelberer.
Facilities wise eight elite level, lighted tennis courts were constructed on the northern end of the Melbourne Campus and will be home to the tennis program beginning in the fall.
Baseball’s Bruce Bochy Field underwent a major renovation with a new batting cage, bleachers, fencing, irrigation, press box and concession/restroom building.
A jumbo video scoreboard was installed at the Titan Soccer Complex which hosts the NJCAA Women’s Division I National Championship through 2016 and the Florida High School Athletic Association girls and boys state finals for the third time next February.
Also, the 2014-2015 school year marked the debut of live telecasts and streaming of Eastern Florida athletic events on the Melbourne Campus.
Games in baseball, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s basketball were shown live on WEFS-TV and streamed live here.
