Soccer
In a spectacular upset, the men’s team won the Atlantic 10 regular season title after finishing last in 2013. It is the first time in the history of the A-10 that a team has claimed the regular season title after going winless in the league the previous year.

Head coach Gareth Elliott ’02—who won the league’s Coach of the Year honor in this, his second season as URI head coach—led his troops to the A-10 championship game, where the Rams fell to Fordham. Freshman goalkeeper Nils Leifhelm was named conference Rookie of the Year as the Rams were ranked 21st in the nation by the end of the regular season.

Elliott is Rhode Island’s second coach to be named Atlantic 10’s Coach of the Year. URI Hall of Famer Ed Bradley—who currently serves as Elliott’s director of operations—won the award in 1995 and 2001. In addition to his Rookie of the Year honors, Leifhelm was selected to the All-Conference First Team as well as the All-Rookie squad. Joining Leifhelm on the A-10 First Team was senior Matt Sykes. Also earning All-Conference accolades were grad student Falko Friedrichs, who landed a spot on the Second Team as well as the All-Academic Team senior defender Jon Cloutier, who collected Academic All-Conference honors as well and Dante Lamb, who earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team.

Sophomore Nicole Brennan earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 Women’s Soccer All-Conference team after leading the Rams with six goals and six assists, totaling 18 points.

Cross Country
Freshman Alexa Pelletier had a stellar season, finishing second at the A-10 Championship. She tied the best individual finish in program history. Pelletier earned a spot on the All-Conference and All-District teams. In addition to her performance at the conference meet, she placed 23rd at the NCAA Regionals in Riverdale, N.Y., in November. A 4.0 student in pharmacy, Pelletier also earned a spot on the A-10 Academic All-Conference Team.

Volleyball
Junior Franki Darnold was a First Team Atlantic 10 All-Conference selection. Senior co-captains Caroline Casey and Catie Steffen were named to the All-Academic Team, while freshman Marie Gillcrist was an all-rookie selection.

Football
Five football players were named to the CAA Football All-Conference Team, led by senior linebacker Andrew Bose, who earned First Team honors. Also named to the league’s all-conference team were tight end Justin Favreau, tackle Tyler Catalina, kick returner Myles Holmes and punt returner Robbie Jackson, who all earned Third Team honors.

Bose—who made the All-CAA Football Team for the third straight season—is the first Rhode Island linebacker to earn First Team honors in 16 seasons, dating back to Miguel Vieira in 1998. Bose led the conference with 125 tackles and 10.4 tackles per game, a figure that ranked 14th in the country. The 125 tackles were the 10th most in a single season in school history.