The College of Staten Island athletics program celebrated another banner year, celebrating a vast collection of student-athletes as part of their Annual Awards Banquet held this evening at The Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island, New York. The annual event recognized the top performers and other distinguished award winners spanning CSI’s intercollegiate programs, with Female and Male Athlete of the Year honors collected by basketball standouts Christina Pasaturo and Christian Taylor.
After greetings from Associate Athletic Director David Pizzuto, Director of Athletics Charles Gomes and Deputy to the President/Chief of Staff Hope Berte, awards were given for each sport in chronological order beginning with teams last fall, and ending with women’s softball, which finalized its season with a CUNYAC title and remains the only sport left with games still on its schedule as part of the NCAA Division III National Championship.
Senior Christina Pasaturo continued to rewrite the record books in her final campaign to win top honors on the female side. Pasaturo broke the school’s all-time scoring record early, and finished second all-time in the CUNYAC with over 2,100 points, breaking the conference’s three-point shooting record in the process. She was named the CUNYAC Player of the Year and a Metropolitan Basketball Writers All-Star. It was her second-straight year winning the honor at the banquet. Taylor has a sensational catalyst for the men’s unit, which successfully defended it’s CUNYAC Championship with perfect three-game run through the tournament followed by a career performance in the opening round on the NCAA Division III Championship, where she scored 38 points. He finished the season leading the team in points and rebounds, and led the entire conference in field goal percentage as a guard.
Provost Dr. Gary Reichard was on hand to present CSI Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, given to swimming standout and senior Ewa Wojcieshowska. The CUNYAC Performer of the Year boasts a perfect 4.00 GPA and and will win CUNYAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in a ceremony to be held next week.. The English Writing and Linguistics major will graduate later this month, and will be a part of Teach America, a program that places exceptional teachers in under-represented and under-funded communities. As an athlete, the four-time CUNYAC All-Star owns or is a part of 12 school swimming records.
Two-sport star Victoria Crea, a senior on the Women’s Basketball and Women’s Swimming & Diving team, was awarded the 13th Annual Bill Cali/John Scrivani Sportsmanship Award, named after CSI’s former baseball skippers who earned similar honors from the Staten Island Advance in 2005. A sensational player and swimmer, all-star and gold medalist, Crea battled her way back through injury top shine on the field of play, finishing her career as the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President as well.
As SAAC President, Crea helped give out awards of her own, presenting their 8th Annual G.L.O.V.E. Award to the CSI Men’s Soccer team for their model of Giving, Leading, Organizing, Volunteering, and Encouraging. The team spent countless hours in the community, teaming with organizations such as Bread 4 Life, and Team IMPACT, while leading the way as supporters for other CSI teams. Crea and the SAAC also helped honor coaches John Tardy and Michael Ackalitis for going above and beyond the call of duty in their coaching capacities to accept numerous other roles and to Jaclyn Panepinto, Marketing and Development Coordinator, wo took over as staff mentor to the SAAC, helping it oprganize and implement an Inaugural Field day just a week ago.
Midway through the ceremony, CSI Athletics’ Operations Coordinator Jason McFall helped to dole out the department’s Distinguished Service Award, presented to Holly Block from Recruitment and Admissions. Block, a member of the department’s Golf Outing board, has helped countless student-athletes through the admissions process which includes orientation, testing, housing and financial aid inquiries. She works hand-in-hand with coaches to provide info-sessions and effective admissions planning with student-athletes and their parents.
One of CSI’s newest awards is CSI’s 2nd Annual Strength & Conditioning Award, given by Strength and Conditioning Coach Antonio Meza, to women’s volleyball junior Cassidy Iannariello. The award honors a single individual dedicated to the program and off-season commitment to the cause, as well as leadership for other student-athletes within the program.
At the conclusion of the ceremony CSI honored its four-year seniors, 25 in total, with commemorative time pieces, issued to them by CSI President Dr. William J. Fritz and Gomes.
All told, the rousing event was a great success, according to the Athletic Director.
“Having the opportunity to highlight the achievements of our student-athletes, this is always my favorite night of the year.,” said Gomes. “Our students work incredibly hard both on and off the field, so I take a great deal of pride in celebrating what can only be described as an amazing year for CSI Athletics.”
An end-of-year highlight video, prepared by CSI Events Manager Anthony Avena was the highlight of the evening. The video will be posted below. The CSI academic year will come to a close in the coming weeks, when Commencement will take place on May 31.
A full list of award winners is below:
Baseball
MVP: Sean Becker
Pitcher: Christian Capellan
Coaches: Anthony Lozada
Cheerleading
MVP: Alyssa Dunn
Coaches: Dayana Dunac
Rookie: Nancy Galbo
Men’s Basketball
Rookie: Adeola Latunji
Coaches: Raymond Savage
Men’s Cross-Country/Track & Field
MVP: Luke Jackson
Coaches: Liam McMunn
Coaches: Justin Fernandez
Men’s Soccer
MVP: Vasyl Fedortsi
Rookie: Wilson Quintero
Coaches: Ryan Layman
Men’s Swimming & Diving
MVP: Jonathan Gorinshteyn
Rookie: Leo Litovsky
Coaches: Peter Carle
Diver: Adil El haddad
Men’s Tennis
MVP: Raymond Hwang
Rookie: David Luo
Coaches: Lesly DeCastro
Men’s Volleyball
MVP: Zebin Guo
Rookie: Christian Dumadag
Coaches: Ronald Tisbe
Softball
MVP: Patricia Riches
Pitcher: Nicolette Trapani
Coaches: Vanessa Jioia
Women’s Basketball
MVP: Christina Pasaturo
Rookie: Megan McEwan
Coaches: Samantha Flecker
Women’s Cross-Country/Track & Field
MVP: Tristiana Adragna
Rookie: Stephanie DaSilva
Coaches: Victoria DeBernardo
Women’s Soccer
MVP: Lizbeth Aparicio
Rookie: Brittany Bornstad
Coaches: Concetta Perito
Women’s Swimming & Diving
MVP: Ewa Wojciechowska
Rookie: Cecelia Mauro
Coaches: Alicia Defonte
Diver: Alyssa Dunn
Women’s Tennis
MVP: Samantha Maizer
Rookie: Katherine Villarroel
Coaches: Aziza Jurabaeva
Women’s Volleyball
MVP: Vanessa Reyes
Rookie: Teresa Maresca
Coaches: Jessica Cafiero
Distinguished Service Award
Holly Block, CSI Recruitment & Admissions
SAAC G.L.O.V.E. Award
Men’s Soccer
Team G.P.A. Award
Women’s Swimming, 3.22 GPA
Bill Cali/John Scrivani Sportsmanship Award
Victoria Crea, Women’s Basketball & Women’s Swimming & Diving
Strength & Conditioning Award
Cassidy Iannariello. Women’s Volleyball
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Ewa Wojciechowska, Women’s Swimming & Diving
Male Athlete of the Year
Christian Taylor, Men’s Basketball
Female Athlete of the Year
Christina Pasaturo, Women’s Basketball
CSI ATHLETICS HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
CSI ATHLETICS 2017-18 SLIDESHOW IMAGES
