Boston University

08/13/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/13/2024 22:56

After Historic Year for BU Athletics, What Comes Next

After Historic Year for BU Athletics, What Comes Next?

Five 2023-2024 conference championships, highest GPA in department history set new high bar for future

With a 20-0-1 home record, the BU softball team finished 53-6-1 overall, including 18-0-0 in the Patriot League, repeating as tournament champions. Photo by Matt Woolverton

sports

After Historic Year for BU Athletics, What Comes Next?

Five 2023-2024 conference championships, highest GPA in department history set new high bar for future

August 13, 2024
0
TwitterFacebook

It's August at Boston University. Along with the steady whir of construction vehicles and the just-ended bustle of summer session students, a palpable buzz is building along the BU stretch of Comm Ave, in particular around West Campus, home to Agganis Arena, Nickerson Field, New Balance Field, and Walter Brown Arena. Those are the places where a historic year for BU Athletics unfolded in 2023-2024-both athletically and academically-setting up even greater excitement for the coming academic year.

While the 2024-2025 year is still a couple of weeks away, at Nickerson Field, members of the BU men's and women's soccer teams were some of the first students to arrive on campus. It all starts with them.

Men's soccer captured the 2023 Patriot League title, with a 1-0 victory over Lafayette in November. The Terriers' first championship in PL history, it would also be the first of five conference titles that BU teams would earn. And their accomplishments did not end there.

Never one to gloat, Drew Marrochello, BU Athletics director, acknowledges that it was a good year: 13 of the 24 Terrier athletics programs finished either first or second in the regular season and/or postseason. BU's 2023-2024 awards: 16 Conference Athletes of the Year, 11 All-Americans, 7 PL Scholar-Athletes of the Year, and 6 Coaches of the Year.

In the winter, BU men's ice hockey earned a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, led by freshman phenom Macklin Celebrini (CAS'27), who was named the fourth Terrier-and fourth freshman-to win the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's highest honor. Celebrini was later selected first overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.

BU men's ice hockey earned a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Frozen Four in April, led by freshman phenom Macklin Celebrini, winner of the 2024 Hobey Baker Award. Photo by Matt Woolverton

The women's squad made their own history, playing in the highest-attended game in New England women's hockey history-the 45th Women's Beanpot Final at TD Garden. And in the swimming pool, senior diver Sumi Cameron (Questrom'24) earned her second-consecutive Patriot League Women's Diver of the Meet honor at the PL Championships.

Terriers really hit their stride in the spring, earning four of their five conference championships-softball, men's tennis, and women's rowing all took home Patriot League gold, and the women's lightweight rowing squad won the Konrad Ulbrich Team Trophy at the 2024 Eastern Sprints.

"We had a good year overall, and I think it was widespread," Marrochello says. "We're really pleased that we were able to accomplish all these things and also achieve the highest grade point average, 3.42, in department history. I think that speaks to the specialness of the department and the students, who the coaches recruit, and frankly, who's coaching here."

Marrochello is especially proud of BU women's softball. With a 1-0 extra innings victory over Lehigh in late May and a perfect regular season conference record, the softball team won its 5th Patriot League title in six years, and 16th overall. Coach Ashley Waters (Wheelock'22) earned her fourth consecutive-and fifth overall-PL Coach of the Year honor.

"I feel like this was the first year we went into knowing that we had the opportunity to be exceptional," Waters says. "When you find a team with kids who want to win as bad as you do, it weighs heavy. I would do this year over a million times, I would coach this team forever if I could. They were just that special."

Waters believes on-field excellence begins in the classroom-she views the opportunities of BU athletes as the springboard for success beyond collegiate softball.

"When you're looking at an institution like BU, you're looking at 4 years for the next 40," Waters says. "You want the best possible education and championship experience so that you can go on after this and have a really successful, fulfilling life. At BU, you're looking to not only compete and challenge yourself on the field, but challenge yourself in the classroom."

Freddy Collins (ENG'26) qualified for the NCAA East Regional Outdoor Championships and ran a 3:59.59 mile in the indoor season. Photo by Jim Pierce

The 2023-2024 Patriot League Men's Indoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year, Freddy Collins (ENG'26), who just completed his sophomore year, is on board with that. Along with being recognized for his in-classroom pursuits, he qualified for the NCAA East Regional Outdoor Championships and ran a sub-4 minute mile in the indoor season (3:59.59).

Collins says BU's academic opportunities was the motivation for his commitment to the University in 2021, but the team culture is what made the decision final. His teammates, he says, pushed him to achieve in the classroom, earning the Patriot League's top athletic-academic honor for indoor track athletes.

"The biggest thing for me when I committed was the team culture," Collins says. "When I was on my official visit, meeting the guys and seeing the team, they were just awesome. I think since then, it's been the same-they're my favorite people, my best friends, and it's been awesome to have them."

Now a team captain, Collins says he's looking forward to sharing the same camaraderie with his teammates as he prepares for year three in Scarlet and White.

"When you think about combining being a student with being an athlete, that's the essence of intercollegiate athletics," Marrochello says. "I think it's a virtue that we have. People like working at Boston University because they believe in both. And that's something that we've displayed: you don't have to sacrifice one for the benefit of the other."

The coming year's first athletic competitions are beginning to populate the BU calendar like its athletes populate campus. First up, women's soccer plays its home opener against Northwestern on Thursday, August 15. And while Marrochello looks forward to the fall competitions, he also highlights the ongoing facility renovations set to conclude in December.

Boston University is completely renovating Walter Brown Arena-the long-standing home of BU women's hockey. It's also installing a new scoreboard in Agganis Arena, home to men's hockey, and renovating the men's basketball team spaces at the Case Center.

"The Walter Brown project for the women is going to give them a state-of-the-art facility, and it's going to help us take another step hockey-wise," Marrochello says. "It's going to be a wonderful locker lounge space for a program that has national championship aspirations. And the men's basketball locker project is going to triple the space that they had."

He's also looking forward to the return of the men's hockey program to Belfast, Northern Ireland, in November for the Friendship Four against Hockey East rival Merrimack, former Hockey East rival Notre Dame, and Beanpot rival Harvard.

"I've always believed that as a Patriot League school, we have the opportunity to compete with some of the best student athletes in the country, if not the world," Marrochello says. "We can succeed not just on a local and regional level, but nationally, and get some well-deserved national acclaim for our athletes' efforts."

The 2024-2025 Boston University athletic season is almost underway. The women's soccer team opens play against Northwestern at Nickerson Field on Thursday, August 15. Men's soccer begins the season at home against No. 9-ranked New Hampshire on Thursday, August 22, while field hockey opens at Providence on Friday, August 30.

Explore Related Topics:

  • Share this story
  • 0CommentsAdd

Share

After Historic Year for BU Athletics, What Comes Next?

Copy URL:Copy

  • Charles Moore (COM'24)

    Charles Moore (COM'24) is pursuing a degree in journalism with a minor in history. He works in the Worcester Red Sox front office and is the Head Delegate for BU's competitive Model United Nations Team. Charles is from Wayland, MA., and has seen a home game of all 30 Major League Baseball teams. He can be reached at [email protected]. Profile

Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

Post a comment. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *

Comment*view guidelines
Name *
Email *
Submit Comment

Latest from BU Today