SNHU’s winter sports season has started. Hockey, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and indoor track & field have started their seasons and are ready to play.
Eric Coplin, Director of Athletic Communications, talked about last year’s accomplishments, especially the women’s indoor track and field team winning its first conference championship in program history.
“We enjoyed a good amount of success in the winter season last year. Our women’s indoor track & field team claimed its first NE10 title in program history, with head coach Lex Butler and his assistants being chosen as the NE10 Coaching Staff of the Year,” said Coplin.
Coplin also highlighted the accomplishments of the basketball teams, with both men and women having notable successes in last year’s season.
“Men’s basketball captured the NE10 regular season championship and eventually advanced to the NCAA Division II East Regional semifinal. Head coach Jack Perri was voted the NE10 Coach of the Year,” said Coplin.
Women’s basketball earned the No. 3 seed and advanced to the title game of NE10 for the first time in the program’s history. Adriana Timberlake was awarded NE10 Player of the Year.
“Women’s basketball posted back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time ever, earning the No. 3 seed and advancing to the title game of the NE10 Championship for the first time in program history,” said Coplin. “The team posted its first NCAA postseason victory and also advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II East Regional”.
The 2022-23 season was the first time women’s and men’s basketball each won 20 games in the same season since 1990.
Men’s Basketball
Men’s Basketball coach, Jack Perri, who’s been with SNHU since 2018, reflects on last season’s accomplishments.
“We are very proud of what we accomplished last year after starting the season 4-5. We turned it around and won 16 of our next 17 games and won the regular season championship. The boys really came together and trusted and cared about each other and losses turned to wins. It was a lot of fun,” said Perri.
Last season the team finished first and were regular season champions. They then made the NCAA tournament and finished the year 21-9.
“We have some great leaders that learned from last year. Matt Becht, Derrick Grant, Noah Kamba, and Jordan Brathwaite,” said Perri. “We started off poorly last year and the boys learned what it takes to have success in the league. They have been trying to teach the new guys that having a great attitude and doing it with discipline, trust, and toughness are the keys to our success.”
Women’s Basketball
Karen Pinkos, who’s been a coach for 18 years, said the team is hard at work, striving for the championship this year. Last year the team had notable achievements: back-to-back seasons with 20 wins and NCAA tournament appearances (advanced to the second round for the first time in the history of the program), 22-8 with a bid to the NE10 Championship game (first time in the history of the program), and Adriana Timberlake was awarded NE10 Player of the Year and achieved scoring 1,000 points in her career.
The team was the 2022-23 NE10 regular season champion with a record of 21-7. The team was also runner-up in the NE10 championship game.
The energy of this year is high. The team has been preparing for the start of this season, growing and learning from each past season, and the team is hungry to try and improve on last year’s successes.
“They have been preparing since last year,” said Pinkos. “Our team is hungry to go further. Each year you grow from the previous season, work on weaknesses as players, and work as a coaching staff to make positive changes. We evaluate personnel, watch film over the summer, and read a lot of books [and] articles to improve all aspects on and off the court.”
Indoor Track and Field
Coach Lex Butler highlights the team’s last season achievements. The team has grown immensely, coming up with a first-ever program win in the indoor NE1o championship.
“I know our team grew a lot last year. In previous years we were always the underdog and never really expected to win any type of championships,” said Butler. “Last year was the first year where we were the returning champions and we were expected to do well, and I think the team really stepped up and showed their wherewithal to push through the pressure of high expectations and focus on competing for each other as a team.”
Butler is looking forward to seeing the freshmen develop as well as seeing the progress of the returning athletes.
“Each new season, I am always looking forward to seeing how the freshmen come into the program and develop, meet to meet, season to season, and also to see the progress of our returning athletes, helping them and watching them reach their personal goals and even do more than they believed they could do personally,” said Butler.
The team has nine seniors who are going into their last season.
“We have nine seniors on the team. I’m sure this season will be bittersweet for them. There will be many ‘last times’ for them competing as a member of the team, which they dedicated so much of their college life to. I appreciate all our seniors and what they have contributed to the program,” said Butler.
Men’s Ice Hockey
The season has started for men’s ice hockey. Defenseman Ethan Rodriguez talks about what the team has been doing to prepare for the starting season.
“This year we have been doing a lot of stuff together to make sure our team chemistry has been good,” said Rodriguez. “We are really making sure to pay attention to details this year and knowing what we are doing on the ice in different situations.”
The team is building off of last year’s games and learning from their past losses, coming together as a team.
“Last year we didn’t have the year we wanted. This year we are learning as a team what we can do better and trying not to repeat the same things,” said Rodriguez. “We have a really special team this year. We are going to win a lot of games. And coming together and working towards our team goals we have set up for ourselves.”
The energy of this season is high. The team has ten new players and won their first home game.
“We are excited to start off on the right foot. A lot of new guys have experienced their first college game,” said Rodriguez.
For more information on games and players, see the Penmen Athletics website, snhupenmen.com.
