CONTACT: Steve Mullen (518) 629-8063
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Wednesday, October 30, 2002
The Hudson Valley Community College women's basketball team will begin defense of its NJCAA Division III Region III title on Friday, November 1 against Finger Lakes Community College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the McDonough Sports Complex.
Also opening up this weekend is the Hudson Valley ice hockey team, which hosts 15-time NJCAA national champion Canton at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 2 at the Conway Ice Arena. In addition, the men's basketball team will make its first appearance on Sunday, November 3 at Cayuga Community College. The Vikings first home game is Friday, November 15 against Morrisville.
The women's basketball team returns two starters from last year's Mountain Valley Conference and Region III championship team. Carolyn Keeler (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes High School) averaged 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds a year ago while Tanya DeLaMater (Troy, NY/Tamarac High School) netted 5.8 points per contest.
Ice hockey coach Matt Alvey returns to his hometown for his first assignment. The former second-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins has four players returning, including forward Brian Mohan (Waterford, NY/La Salle Institute), who finished with 29 points (12 goals and 17 assists) last season.
Markael Brace (Albany, NY/Albany High School) is the lone returning player on Hudson Valley's men's basketball team. Brace topped the team with 13.8 points per-game last season and is expected to provide leadership for what is head coach Vince Medici's youngest team since arrival at Hudson Valley eight years ago.
In the 2001-02 academic year, Hudson Valley's athletic teams combined to win 65 percent of their contests. The college's softball team traveled to Illinois for the national championship tournament and finished second in the country, and the women's basketball team placed seventh in the nation. Hudson Valley's football team won the Northeast Football Conference, and the baseball and bowling squads each added a Mountain Valley Conference title. Additionally, three Vikings earned Region III Player-of-the-Year status and eight were honored with All-American status.