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Chandronnait, Schippers Named SNHU Athletes of the Year
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Sophomore Amber Chandronnait (Bow, NH) and junior Adrian Schippers (Ashby, MA) have been named the 2008-09 Female and Male Athletes of the Year at Southern New Hampshire University. The announcement was made during the University's 44th annual awards ceremony held Monday at the Center of New Hampshire Radisson in downtown Manchester.
In addition, seniors Julie Kraus (Derry, NH) and Matt Delaney (Wallasey, England) were named Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Seniors Nicole Arpin (Cheshire, CT) and Troy Bowen (Nashua, NH) were named the recipients of the Sportsmanship Award, while senior Alyssa Whitney (Somerville, MA) and junior Stephen Wood (South Jamaica Queens, NY) were the recipients of the Unsung Hero award.
Chandronnait, in her first year at SNHU, has had an immediate
impact on the women's tennis program. In singles play she has
compiled a 22-1 record, including a 12-0 record in Northeast-10
competition that earned her NE-10 Player of the Year honors.
She dropped just one set in league play and defeated six of her 12
opponents 6-0, 6-0. In doubles play she teamed up with
Catalina Echeverry (Cali, Colombia) to post a 9-1
league mark, good for NE-10 Second Team honors. In September,
Chandronnait captured the singles tournament title at the ITA East
Regional, earning her a bid to the National Small College
Championships. She finished fifth overall in the singles
bracket at that tournament pitting the eight regional winners
against each other. She has led the SNHU women's tennis
program to a school-record 11 victories in 2009, and the Penmen and
advanced to the Northeast-10 semifinals for the second straight
year.
Schippers, who was in his first season at Southern New Hampshire
in 2008, established himself quickly as one of the Northeast-10's
top offensive threats. He led the Penmen in scoring, totaling
eight goals and six assists en route to Daktronics East Region and
Northeast-10 Player of the Year honors. A two-time
Northeast-10 Player of the Week, Schippers tallied three
game-winning goals on the season and the Penmen were 11-0-1 when he
recorded at least one point. Schippers was a big reason for
SNHU's increase in offense fron the prior season, as the Penmen
scored 34 times in 22 games this season after finding the net 15
times in 2007. The men's soccer team finished 15-3-4 overall,
captured a share of the Northeast-10 regular season title for the
first time in program history and won its third NE-10 tournament
title. The Penmen would go on to make their 14th NCAA
Tournament appearance.
Kraus, who was named SNHU's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for
the third straight year, has been a major part of the success of
the SNHU women's lacrosse program. A tri-captain this season,
Kraus is one of just two players to start all 15 games. She
leads SNHU in ground balls and caused turnovers, while also
recording eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points. Kraus became
the women lacrosse program's first All-American last season, and
was also the Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year in
2008. A two-time All-Conference selection, Kraus will
graduate as SNHU's all-time leader in ground balls, caused
turnovers and draw controls. A business administration major,
Julie has maintained a 3.991 cumulative grade point average and has
been named to the President's List in each of her seven semesters
at SNHU. An ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American last season,
Kraus is also a two-time Northeast-10 All-Academic selection.
Delaney recently wrapped up a stellar three-year career with the
SNHU men's soccer program. A three-time Northeast-10
All-Conference and NSCAA All-Region selection, Delaney started all
61 games in which he appeared over his career as a key member of
the Penmen defense. In addition to his defensive abilities,
Matt led SNHU in scoring in 2007 and finished his career with 14
goals and four assists for 32 points. This past season
Delaney earned Daktronics Division II First Team All-America honors
after anchoring a defense that finished first nationally in
goals-against average, allowing just nine goals all season as the
Penmen captured the Northeast-10 Tournament title and advanced to
the NCAA Tournament. SNHU also tied a school record by
posting 15 shutouts on the season while not allowing more than two
goals in any game. A Business major, Delaney has maintained a
3.713 grade point average. A two-time Northeast-10
All-Academic Team member, Delaney was also named to the ESPN the
Magazine Academic All-District team this past season.
Arpin has been a four-year mainstay for the SNHU softball
team. This season, she is one of just two players to start
all 44 games for the Penmen, and she is batting a team-high .311
with five home runs and a team-best 24 runs batted in. She
has recorded 10 multi-hit games on the season, and Arpin was named
Northeast-10 Player of the Week on April 20 after batting .462 in a
6-2 week. During that week, she hit three home runs in a
doubleheader sweep of Molloy College. Over her career, Arpin
has recorded 93 career hits while batting .278 with five home runs
and 41 runs batted in. She has appeared in 130 games and been
in the starting lineup 110 times.
Bowen recently wrapped up a two-year career with the men's
basketball program. In 2008-09, Bowen was the lone Penmen
player to start all 30 games, and he ranked second in scoring at
12.3 points per game while connecting on a team-high 60
three-pointers. Bowen was named to the Northeast-10
All-Conference Third Team for his efforts. In two seasons in
a Penmen uniform, he scored 719 points, averaging 12.4 points per
game, while connecting on 38% of his three point attempts over his
career. Including two seasons at High Point University, Bowen
wrapped up his career scoring 1,053 points and draining 182
three-pointers.
Whitney recently wrapped up a four-year career with the women's
basketball team that saw her score over 800 points while finishing
10th in career assists with 267. As a sophomore she led the
Penmen in scoring with her 10.0 ppg average and averaged 7.7 points
per game over her career. One of the Northeast-10's top
defensive players, she was almost always called upon to cover the
opposition's leading scorer, and did so effectively. This
past season, Whitney started all but one game and ranked second on
SNHU in assists with 77 while finishing fourth in scoring with her
nine points per game average. She reached double figures in
scoring 13 times, including a season-high 16 points in a win over
Saint Anselm, as the Penmen won 18 games, their highest victory
total since 1991. Southern New Hampshire also made its third
trip to the Northeast-10 Tournament in four years and posted its
first-ever NE-10 tourney win over Le Moyne.
Wood, a swingman in his first season with the men's basketball
program , played in all 30 games this past season and started 24
times as the Penmen advanced to the Northeast-10 semifinals.
He led SNHU in both assists (100) and rebounds (8.3 per game) while
his 10.8 point per game average placed him third on the
squad. Wood was the only player in the NE-10 to lead his team
in both rebounding and assists. He finished in double figures
in scoring 21 times and recorded nine double-doubles, including a
23-point, 14-rebound effort in a win over Mercy. Wood also
ranked third on the squad in both three-pointers with 26 and steals
with 38.
Most Valuable Players were also named for SNHU's 16 varsity sports:
Baseball - Scott Strong (Naperville, IL)
Women's Basketball - Alyssa Whitney (Somerville,
MA)
Men's Basketball - Troy Bowen (Nashua, NH)
Cheerleading - Ashley Lacroix (Lincoln, RI)
Women's Cross Country - Svea Dellea-Messner
(Windham, NH)
Men's Cross Country - Alex Brown (Hudson, NH)
Golf - Shane Winslow (Portsmouth, NH)
Ice Hockey - Troy Maybury (South Portland,
ME)
Women's Lacrosse - Lucretia Joy (Portland,
ME)
Men's Lacrosse - Mike Ball (Salem, NH)
Women's Soccer - Nicole Ebner (Rochester, NY)
Men's Soccer - Matt Delaney (Wallasey,
England)
Softball - Melissa Vitagliano (Bedford, NH)
Women's Tennis - Amber Chandronnait (Bow, NH)
Men's Tennis - Michael Ricciardi (Londonderry,
NH)
Volleyball - Brianna Doucet (Danville, NH)
