Junior Drew Montano is Stonehill's first All-NE-10 second team honoree since 2010, when Michael White, '12, was recognized as a forward. |
Montano and Brondyk named to second and third teams, respectively
O'Brien selected to All-Rookie team
Montano |
Brondyk |
O'Brien |
EASTON, Mass. (November 6, 2014) – Three members of the Stonehill College men's soccer team have earned All-Conference accolades from the Northeast-10, the league office announced yesterday.
Junior Drew Montano (Avon, Connecticut/Avon) earned a second team selection as a midfielder, while senior Tyler Brondyk (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) collected third team honors at forward and freshman midfielder Connor O'Brien (Guilderland, New York/Guilderland) was named to the All-Rookie team.
Seventh-year head coach Jim Reddish was also recognized as the NE-10 Coach of the Year as Stonehill went 11-6-1, including 9-4 in conference play, before falling to Merrimack College 2-1 in the quarterfinal round of the NE-10 Championship.
Montano, who led Stonehill in points as both a freshman (13), and sophomore (six), accomplished the feat again this fall with 19 (T-6th in NE-10) on seven goals and five assists. The junior was one of four Skyhawks to start all 18 matches this season, and his three game-winning goals were tied for the most in the conference.
Montano recorded a point in his first game of the season, assisting on Stonehill's second goal as the Skyhawks posted a 3-0 victory over Assumption College in the Catholic Cup semifinal that served as the season opener for both teams on September 5th. On September 24th against Bentley University, Montano scored his first goal of the season and the only goal of the contest, lifting Stonehill to its first victory over its archrival since 2005.
The 2012 NE-10 All-Rookie selection followed up that performance with his first multi-point effort of the season, as he registered a goal and an assist in Stonehill's 3-1 win at The College of Saint Rose on September 27th. Three games later, Montano sparked Stonehill's comeback from a 2-0 deficit against Franklin Pierce University with a goal in the 44th minute as the Skyhawks eventually posted a 3-2 victory, their first-ever triumph over the Ravens in 17 all-time meetings.
Montano racked up three more points on a goal and an assist in his next game, a 3-2 Stonehill win at the University of New Haven on October 11th. The Avon, Connecticut native continued his hot play in the second half of the season on October 18th, as he factored into both Stonehill goals in a 2-1 victory over American International College at Skyhawk Field. Montano provided an assist on classmate R.J. Aprile's (Carmel, New York/Kennedy Catholic) 35th minute goal before scoring the game-winner with just 1:06 remaining in regulation.
Montano turned in his finest performance of the season in Stonehill's 4-3, double overtime victory at Saint Michael's College on October 28th. He scored the equalizer in the 69th minute with the Skyhawks trailing 2-1, before netting the game-winner three minutes into the second overtime session on a shot that rattled off the crossbar and the post before finding its way into the net. Montano registered his final point of the season, an assist, in Stonehill's 3-2, Senior Day comeback victory over Le Moyne College on November 1st.
Since arriving in Easton as a freshman in 2012, Montano has started each of the 48 games that he has appeared in. He has recorded career totals of 38 points on 13 goals (five game-winners) and 12 assists. In the classroom, Montano has been named to the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll on three occasions, and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll once.
Senior Tyler Brondyk capped his career with a selection to the NE-10 All-Conference third team after recording 13 points on five goals and three assists this fall. |
A 2012 graduate of Avon High School, Montano earned All-North Central Connecticut Conference (NCCC) and All-Hartford Courant honors as a junior, before scoring 32 goals and collecting All-New England accolades as a senior.
Brondyk earns an All-Conference nod from the NE-10 for the first time in his career following a season in which he ranked second on Stonehill with 13 points on five goals and three assists. The senior came on strong at the end of the season, registering all 13 of his points in his final ten games, after being held off the scoresheet for the first seven contests of 2014.
He tallied his first goal of the season, the eventual game-winner, in the 64th minute of Stonehill's 3-1 win at Saint Rose. After being held without a point over the next three contests, Brondyk matched a career-best with four points on a goal and two assists as the Skyhawks defeated New Haven, 3-2, in West Haven, Connecticut.
On October 25th, Brondyk scored the second of three Stonehill goals in a 3-2, overtime victory at Assumption that clinched the Skyhawks' spot in the NE-10 Championship. The Mansfield, Massachusetts native followed up that effort with an assist at Saint Michael's, before scoring twice over the final 24:02 to lead the comeback charge in Stonehill's 3-2, Senior Day win against Le Moyne.
Brondyk appeared in 45 matches over the course of his four-year career, making 24 starts, 17 of which came this fall. He racked up 21 points on eight goals (two game-winners) and five assists, tallying 27 of his 37 career shots on goal this season.
A 2011 graduate of Mansfield High School, Brondyk was a four-year letterwinner for the Hornets, serving as team captain as a senior. He also earned Hockomock League and Sun Chronicle All-Star honors as a senior, in addition to collecting Sun-Chronicle MVP accolades.
Rounding out Stonehill's All-NE-10 performers this fall is O'Brien, who was named to the All-Rookie team as one of three unanimous selections after recording 12 points on five goals and two assists and starting the final eight matches of the season for the Skyhawks.
Unlike Brondyk, O'Brien did the majority of his damage in the early portion of the season, registering ten of his 12 points in Stonehill's first six games before being held scoreless over the final eight matches. He made an immediate impact, scoring the second of three Stonehill goals in his collegiate debut, a 3-0 victory for the Skyhawks against Assumption in the Catholic Cup.
O'Brien earned a unanimous selection to the NE-10 All-Rookie team after scoring five goals to go with a pair of assists during his first season in Easton. |
O'Brien was quiet in the Catholic Cup championship game against Saint Michael's, recording just one shot, before taking off on a four-match tear that saw the freshman tally eight points from 9/12-9/20, culminating in an NE-10 Rookie of the Week award on September 22nd.
He opened the four-match stretch with his second marker of the season, and Stonehill's lone goal, in a 1-1 draw with Roberts Wesleyan College on September 12th. O'Brien's 74th minute strike against the Redhawks would be the first of several late-game goals for the freshman midfielder.
O'Brien registered his first career assist the next day, as the Skyhawks shut out Nyack College, 3-0, before scoring the game-winner in the 78th minute of Stonehill's 1-0 victory over Saint Anselm College in the NE-10 opener on September 16th.
The freshman capped his four-match point streak with a career-best three points on a goal and an assist as the Skyhawks fell at Adelphi University, 5-2, on September 20th. O'Brien recorded his final points of the season on a goal in Stonehill's 3-2 loss to then No. 5 nationally ranked Southern Connecticut State University on October 3rd. The freshman's fifth goal of the season in the 65th minute against the Owls pulled Stonehill even after the Skyhawks had trailed 2-0, but Southern Connecticut added a late goal to secure a 3-2 victory.
O'Brien becomes the fourth Skyhawk in Reddish's tenure to earn All-Rookie recognition, joining Montano (2012) and teammates Adam Colella (Wilmington, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) and Patrick Keogh (Garden City, New York/Garden City), who were honored in 2011 and 2013, respectively.
A 2014 graduate of Guilderland High School, O'Brien was a two-year starter for head coach Mike Kinnally's Flying Dutchmen. As a senior, he led his team to an 18-4 record while earning All-Suburban Council and All-Area Honors.
Stonehill capped its 11-6-1 campaign by hosting Merrimack in the quarterfinal round of the NE-10 Championship, the Skyhawks first home NE-10 playoff game since 1994. Stonehill's 11 wins this season were the team's most since 1993, while the nine conference victories set a new program record.
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