Lions Win Cup, Again
Penn State Behrend won the 2024-25 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Presidents Cup, with its teams bringing home nine conference championships this year.
AMCC Champions
The women’s tennis team finished with a 10-2 record and a 4-1 conference record, winning its fifteenth overall title and the first since 2020. Six players were All-Conference selections.
The women’s soccer team ended the season with an 18-3 overall record and regionally ranked as high as No. 22. The Lions captured their seventeenth overall and second straight AMCC Championship. Trinity Prestash, who broke program records for career goals (70) and goals in a season (27), was named AMCC Offensive Player of the Year. Ten players were All-Conference selections.
The men’s soccer team won an eleventh conference title and the first since 2019, concluding the season with a 10-7-4 overall record. Eight players were All-Conference selections.
The women’s cross country team secured a sixth straight and fourteenth overall conference championship. Lindsey Hartle earned AMCC Individual Runner-Up honors with a time of 25:59.8. Baylee Dernar was named AMCC Newcomer of the Year. Six athletes were All-Conference selections.
The men’s cross country team notched a fifth straight and sixteenth overall AMCC title. Lucas Boyd was crowned AMCC Champion with a top time of 27:40.5. Six runners were All- Conference selections.
The men’s swimming and diving team won a seventeenth overall and second straight AMCC title. Anthony Tumino was named AMCC Swimmer of the Year, and Isaac Stoeckle was named Newcomer of the Year. Additionally, ten swimmers were All-Conference selections.
The women’s swimming and diving team won a fourteenth and second straight AMCC title. Camryn Watters was named AMCC Swimmer of the Year, while first-year student Kallie Smith earned Newcomer of the Year honors. Eleven swimmers were All-Conference selections.
The men’s tennis team won its fourth straight and tenth overall AMCC Championship. First-year student Graham Louis earned AMCC Newcomer of the Year, while head coach Louis Murphy notched his first Coach of the Year honor. Six players were All-Conference selections
The men’s baseball team won its second straight and eighth overall AMCC Championship, besting Alfred State, 8-2. The team had eleven players selected to the All-Conference team.
Other Highlights:
The men’s water polo team had a historic 2024 season, finishing with a new program record for single-season wins, with eight, and advancing to its first-ever Mountain Pacific Sports Federation East Championship. First-year student Nick Thompson was named Newcomer of the Year, the first conference award in program history. Four players were All-Conference selections.
The women’s water polo team dropped its final contest of the season on the last day of the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championships, finishing sixth at conference championships, a first in program history. Makenzie Rickerd was named to the CWPA All-Tournament Second Team. Darragh Martin earned CWPA All-Conference Second Team honors. Both were also named ACWPC (American Collegiate Water Polo Coaches Association) All-America Honorable Mention.
The women’s volleyball team completed the season with a 13-18 overall record, falling to Penn State Altoona in the AMCC semifinals. Cadence Jones was named AMCC Newcomer of the Year. Two players were All-Conference selections.
The men’s volleyball team finished its season 13-16 overall, losing to the No. 1 Buffalo State Bengals in the AMCC Championship. Three players were All-Conference selections.
The men’s golf team placed sixth in the AMCC tournament. Owen Blum tied for fifteenth place with a team-low score of 165 over the two-day competition.
The wrestling team finished its season with a 9-7 record and a second-place finish at the AMCC Championship. Five wrestlers were All-Conference selections.
The men’s basketball team finished the regular season on a three-game winning streak to claim the fourth seed in the conference tournament, where the Lions lost to La Roche. Two players were All-Conference selections.
The women’s basketball team registered its first undefeated season in the AMCC Regular-Season Championships, finishing conference play with a 16-0 record. Rachel Majewski was named AMCC Player of the Year. Three players were All-Conference selections.
The men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams placed fourth and sixth, respectively, while the outdoor track and field teams finished second and fourth, respectively, at the SUNYAC Championships. The women’s teams (indoor and outdoor) had three All-Conference selections, while the men had eighteen total. Dan Dabrowski became a four-time All-American in the discus with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
The women’s bowling team finished its season with a 34-60 record, falling in the first round of the conference tournament. Lillie Holt was named AMCC Newcomer of the Year. Dee Dee Elijah was named to the All-Tournament team.
The women’s softball team tallied a 17-22 overall record, falling in the AMCC Championship Tournament. The Lions had five players named All-Conference and senior Jocelyn McNany was named the Player of the Year.
Seniors Shatter Basketball Records
The men’s and women’s basketball teams had a momentous season with two players breaking all-time leading scorer records. Senior Rachel Majewski broke a twenty-three-year-old program record, finishing her collegiate career with 1,750 points.
On the men’s side, Tommy Dirienzo broke a twelve-year-old record, ending his collegiate career with 1,836 points.
Accolades and Honors
Players of the Year: Lucas Boyd (men’s cross country), Nicole Croushore, (women’s soccer – defensive), Nolan Fenton (wrestling), Rachel Majewski (women’s basketball), Jocelyn McNany (softball), Trinity Prestash (women’s soccer – offensive), Anthony Tumino (men’s swimming), and Camryn Watters (women’s swimming).
Newcomers of the Year: Rudy Brown (wrestling), Baylee Dernar (women’s cross country), Alaina Fabin (women’s basketball), Lillie Holt (women’s bowling), Cadence Jones (women’s volleyball), Graham Louis (men’s tennis), Kallie Smith (swimming), Isaac Stoeckle (men’s swimming), Nick Thompson (men’s water polo), and Carter Tobin (outdoor track and field).
Coaches of the Year: Greg Cooper (men’s and women’s cross country), Caleb Garvey (wrestling), Gina-Bella Mata’afa (men’s water polo), Louis Murphy (men’s tennis), Patrick O’Driscoll (women’s soccer), Christine VanHook (women’s basketball), and Paul Benim (baseball).
2024 Athletics Hall of Fame
Nine former student-athletes were inducted into the Penn State Behrend Athletics Hall of Fame this past fall. The 2024 inductees were: Catie Bertges ’14, cross country/track and field; Dante DeSantis ’14, baseball; Chelsea Magnusen ’14, volleyball; Rachel (Mueller) Palcic ’14, soccer; Kate (Spade) Flynn ’14, cross country/track and field; MaryEllen (Spooner) Cottle ’13, swimming/ water polo; Sam Vasy ’14, soccer; Eric Vunovic ’14, soccer; and Chad Zurat ’14, baseball. Five AMCC Championship teams were also honored on their twenty-fifth anniversaries: women’s basketball, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, softball, and women’s tennis.