New Facilities Energize Fall Teams for Success

Prior to students returning to campus for the fall 2022 semester, Delaware Valley University Athletics saw a variety of renovations completed to enhance facilities, and the teams on campus immediately trended upward in their first year utilizing them.

By Chris Elliott, Director of Sports Information

At James Work Memorial Stadium and Robert A. Lipinski Field, the home bleachers were replaced and updated while the turf field and track were upgraded. Inside James Work Gymnasium, both the men’s and women’s locker rooms saw major renovations thanks to a generous gift from 1957 baseball alumnus Dr. Thomas W. Watson and his wife Judee Wales Watson. Additionally, the weight room was outfitted with all-new modern equipment to better suit the needs of our student athletes.

Women’s soccer, led by first-year head coach Ben Wilson, earned the first win on the new turf with a 1-0 victory over Cairn on their opening night on September 1. They continued their success two days later with a 2-0 shutout win over Manhattanville. The team put together a great start to the season, posting a 6-3-1 mark over their first ten games. In their final contest of the season, senior goalkeeper Olivia Sherwood broke the program’s singlegame save mark with 27 stops against the number one team in the country, Misericordia. She finished with 186 saves on the year, falling three short of the single-season program mark. Her impressive numbers earned her first-team all-MAC honors as a goalkeeper, while teammate Jess Williamson earned second-team recognition with 14 goals and five assists on the season.

Men’s soccer improved their win total by two this year and started off the season with a number of impressive victories. After a 1-0 triumph over Cabrini to open the season, Chris Zirpoli’s squad rebounded from two losses by winning four in a row, including three by way of shutouts. The team earned a thrilling 2-1 win at King’s in their second MAC Freedom contest thanks to a Dan Arone penalty kick goal with 25 seconds left. Goalkeeper Andrew Roberto took home MAC Freedom defensive player of the week honors in the first week after a shutout win over Cabrini and led the conference with 99 saves.

Rachel Menin took over for women’s volleyball as head coach and immediately made an impact on a young and improved squad. After finishing the 2021 season with just three wins, women’s volleyball quadrupled their win total to 12. It was the program’s highest win total since the team won 13 games in 2013. The most exciting victory came on their home court at James Work Gymnasium over King’s College in their season and conference opener. After falling behind 2-1, the Aggies won the final two sets to knock off the Monarchs for the first time since 2013. Olivia Deffendall finished the season with the third most kills per set in the conference and earned MAC Freedom honorable mention recognition.

Carol Di Girolamo, in what ended up being her final season as head coach, propelled a young field hockey team to its best finish in eight years. The team posted five more wins than in 2021 and narrowly missed out on the MAC Freedom playoffs due to a three-way tiebreaker in which they finished tied for fifth with a 3-5 league record. The Aggies tallied their most exciting win of the season on October 19 when they defeated Misericordia 3-2 after the game remained tied through two overtime periods and had to be settled with a penalty stroke shootout. With the team trailing late in the game, leading scorer TJ Smith sent the game to overtime with a goal and fellow senior Sadie Strober won the game for the Aggies in the sixth round of penalty strokes. TJ earned second-team all-MAC honors after the season. Keeper Alyssa Rudd was stellar in the shootout, helping to preserve the win.

On the gridiron, the football team continued their dominance on the new turf field. Head Coach Duke Greco and his team continued their impressive conference winning streak, growing it to 40 after a home shutout over Lycoming, 21-0. Two more wins expanded that mark to 42 with two games remaining in the regular season. After nine weeks of the season, the team sat at 8-0 overall and 6-0 in conference, and was ranked 8th in the country by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll and 14th in the country by D3football.com. After the season-opening win, sophomore Micah Bootman took home MAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors after a big fumble return set up a key Aggie touchdown. Fellow sophomore Jay White, thanks to a career-high 217 rushing yards as well as two touchdowns against Lebanon Valley in week seven, earned MAC Offensive Player of the Week recognition, as well as, a spot on the D3football.com Team of the Week.

Men’s and Women’s cross country competed in the MAC Championships at Lebanon Valley College and saw some impressive individual numbers. Justin Kaufman, Justin Rosenberger and Matthew Skikus each recorded a personal-best mark and Alyssa Blackmon turned in a career-best time on the women’s side.

On the links, men’s golf finished the season trending upward, as the team posted its best score as a group since 2013 with a 320 against DeSales. In that match, Ethan Saxe fired a careerlow 75. Teammate Robby Meredith, a day after shooting a career-low 77, one-upped himself by penciling in a 76 to help the team to their impressive finish.

DelVal Athletics Dedicates New

Dr. Thomas W. Watson ’57 and Judee Wales Watson Locker Rooms

The new Dr. Thomas W. Watson ’57 and Judee Wales Watson Locker Rooms serve 17 men’s and women’s DelVal Athletics programs, as well as visiting teams and student-athletes that come to compete against our Aggies. The renovations were completed just before the start of the fall season. The project enhances the student athlete experience with modern wood lockers and benches, athletic flooring with inscribed logos, improved bathroom areas, new wall and ceiling finishes, suspended LED lighting fixtures, improved perimeter heating, and technology upgrades for teams to watch film and prepare for upcoming contests.

DelVal Football Celebrates Homecoming Triumph

On October 22, 2022, the Delaware Valley University football team earned its 43rd consecutive conference victory with a thrilling 27-14 win over the visiting Wilkes University Colonels in front of a packed homecoming crowd. Over 4,000 students, fans and alumni piled into James Work Memorial Stadium for the homecoming festivities.

2022 Alumni Achievement Awards

The morning of Homecoming, the Delaware Valley University Alumni Association hosted its alumni award breakfast. Recipients listed below:

Animal Science

Brittany A. Conover ’14

Business Administration

Anthony J. D’Amico ’00 and Joseph J. D’Amico ’02

Continuing Education

Matthew Riddick ’20

Staff Appreciation Award

Joan Hock, M.S. ’05, Retired Director of Financial Aid

Plant Science

Kenneth (Ken) S. Petersen ’92

Science

Dennis N. DeSimone ’72

Secondary Education

Stephen (Steve) J. Flavell ’04

Arthur Brown Award

Gerald Skoda ’63

President’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2)

James R. Hoover ’61

William M. Dougherty ’69

Congratulations to the 2022 Alumni Council Student Scholarship

Recipients:

Kimberly Sauers - Freshman

Paige Thompson - Freshman

Imani Walker - Freshman

Riley Ferrara - Aggie Spirit Award

Next call for Alumni Council nominations

The Alumni Council is excited to announce that we will begin our nomination and election process of new Council members on an earlier timetable moving forward! Our next call for nominations will begin in February 2023. Our slate of candidates will be announced, and voting will begin early May. Ballots will close mid-June and our new Council members will be announced at the annual meeting, held the last Saturday in June. New candidates will be on-boarded over the summer and will assume their position at the annual meeting on October 21, 2023.

If you are interested in running in our next election or would like more information, please contact the alumni office at alumni@delval.edu. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

We’ve Moved!

We are pleased to share that the Division of Development and Alumni Affairs has moved from Burpee House to the President’s House on Campus Loop Road. This move provides more space to meet with alumni and the chance to be closer to the action on campus. Want a tour? Contact us at alumni@delval.edu.

Thanks, Joe Fiochetta and the Development and Alumni Affairs Team

New Board of Trustees Officers and Members

The Delaware Valley University Board of Trustees announced new officers and members. Effective July 1, Philip Luccarelli ’83 is chairperson; Andrew Dougherty ’00 is vice-chairperson; Jimmy Cheek, Ph.D. is secretary; and Joy Levy is treasurer. The following individuals have been elected as new Trustees:

Louis (Lou) Hegyes ’70

Lou earned his B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture and Environmental Design from DelVal in 1970 and is a member of the DelVal Athletic Hall of Fame for both track and cross country.

Lou is recently retired after a successful 44-year career in college admission and enrollment. He served as director of admission at the University of the Sciences (USciences) for 24 years and served in the same capacity at both Lehigh Carbon Community College and Rosemont College. He also worked as a regional representative for the University at Albany. Lou established both the cross country and women’s softball programs at USciences and was inducted into the USciences Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019. He is currently a Trustee of Delaware Valley Science Fairs, Inc.

Jun Iwata ’91, CPA, CISA, CFE

Jun earned his B.S. in Computer Information Systems Management, with a minor in Accounting, from DelVal in 1991.

Jun is currently managing member at JI International LLC, assisting small- and medium-sized businesses with financial accounting, computer system implementation and technology integration, and fraud examination and litigation support. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Jun has previously worked at Resources Global Professionals, GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Sumitomo Bank, CIGNA, and Price Waterhouse. Jun has served on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Area Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Gary Ostroff ’76, Ph.D.

Gary earned his B.S. in Biology from DelVal in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Delaware in 1982.

Gary is currently professor of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, where he leads laboratory teams researching cures for infectious diseases, cancer, inflammation and, from his DelVal agricultural roots, food security solutions. For 40 years, Gary has built and led academic and industrial biopharmaceutical research and development groups that have led to over 100 peer reviewed publications, 50+ patents and 15 products in the agricultural, animal and human diagnostic, device, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Gary has served on Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Biotech Advisory Board and the Eden Research plc Scientific Advisory Board.

Blair T. Rush ’91

Blair earned his B.S. in Business Administration from DelVal in 1991.

Blair is currently president, Southeast Region at C&N Bank. He has worked in banking for more than forty years, including past leadership positions with Covenant Bank, National Penn Bank, FirstService Bank, CoreStates, and Bucks County Bank. Blair is deeply involved in the Bucks County community and is a past chairman of the Board of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Crossing Boy Scouts of America. He is currently treasurer of the Grand View Health Board of Trustees, President of the North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Club Board of Directors and a member of the PA Bankers Association Board of Directors.

Justin Briggs ’22

Justin is a Young Alumni Trustee, giving a greater voice to students and young alumni on the Board.

Justin graduated from DelVal this year with a B.A. in Media and Communication. He currently oversees social media and the website for 8840 Fitness Club, a personal training business.

While at DelVal, Justin was a member of the football team and served as president of the Black Student Union. He attended LeaderShape and worked to embrace and empower diversity on campus.

Justin was a resident hall assistant and enjoyed mentoring freshmen and helping them successfully transition to college life. He also made a positive impact on campus by helping students at the Writing Center.

Francie Babik ’10, MBA ’14

Francie is the Alumni Trustee, and serves as a liaison between the Board of Trustees, the Alumni Council, and the entire alumni body. She earned her B.S. in Business Administration from DelVal in 2010 and her MBA from DelVal in 2014.

Francie is currently a Strategic HR Consultant with Danforth Advisors. Her many years of experience in human resources leadership include past positions with Amplity Health, Publicis Health, ICON plc, Anthony & Sylvan Pools, Teva Pharmaceuticals, The Thompson Organization, and LA Weight Loss Centers, Inc. She is a member of both the Bucks County Senior HR Leader Roundtable and the Society for Human Resources Management.

Faculty and Staff Board Representation

The Board of Trustees is also pleased to welcome to its membership Dr. Cory Kieschnick, chair of the Department of Equine Science and Management, and Dr. Jessica McCall, faculty member in English and co-coordinator of Interdisciplinary Studies, as Faculty Representatives to the Board and Chris Becker, director of Agricultural Operations, and Kelly Hojnacki, assistant dean of Student Development and Accessibility Services, as Staff Representatives to the Board.