Midfielder/forward Tommy Garafola ’12 (Communication & Media) of the New Paltz men’s soccer team has been selected to the 2011 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Upstate Division III Men’s Soccer First Team by the ECAC.
This honor supplements a pair of additional postseason awards that he has accrued in the past two months, as he was named First-Team All-State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) NCAA Division III Second-Team All-East Region.
Garafola owned the team-high in assists with eight this year—which ranks third all-time in a single season in program history—and he also collected a team-leading 14 points. He found the back of the net three times this season, and two of those were game-winners. Among conference leaders, he finished second in assists and third in assists per game (0.42).
New Paltz qualified for the SUNYAC Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament for the first time since 2004 during the 2011 campaign, and the Hawks boasted wins over two opponents who were nationally-ranked at the time of competition. The Hawks saw their season end in the quarterfinal round of the SUNYAC Tournament, falling, 3-2, in overtime to SUNY Geneseo.