Fairfield, CT -- Sacred Heart golfers Leopoldo Garcia (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) and Joshua Salah (Gloucester, MA) were named to the 2012 All-New England team, chosen by the New England Division I golf coaches.
Garcia, a 2012 graduate of Sacred Heart, capped off his Pioneer career winning the 2012 Northeast Conference individual championship and advancing to the NCAA Championship Regional in Greensboro, NC. Garcia took first place honors at the conference tournament after shooting a three day score of 219 (72-72-75). He also posted two other top-10 finishes throughout the season, including a second place finish at the Lonnie Barton Invitational (75-73-148) and a share of sixth at the UConn Invitational.
Salah continues to pile up the honors after a stellar junior season on links, adding All-New England honors to his 2012 NEC Player of the Year and 2012 NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. He started of the year strong, posting a pair of second place finishes at the Central Connecticut Fall Invitational (67-73=142) and the Hartford Hawk Invitational (70-71-72=213), which earned him NEC Golfer of the Month honors in September. He followed up these performances with solid rounds at Yale McDonald Cup (72-73=145) and a season-low round of 67 at the UCONN Invitational. In the spring the Massachusetts native posted a fourth place finish at the Lonnie Barton Invitational (77-75=152) and fell into the ninth place slot at the New England Championship where he shot a 152 at the two day tournament. His best performance of the spring occurred at the Rhody Invitational where he took home top-honors after inking scores of 71-73 for a two-day total of 144. Salah placed 25th overall at the NEC Championship to help the Pioneers to a tie for second overall. He also collects first-team All-Conference honors for the first time in his career.
New England Division I Golf Coaches 2012 Awards
Team of the Year: Dartmouth College
Player of the Year: Peter Williamson, Dartmouth
Rookie of the Year: Andy Mai, Boston College
Coach of the Year: Richard Parker, Dartmouth College
All-Rookie Team
Jared Adams, University of Rhode Island
Will Davenport, Yale University
Wally Gonzalez, Hartford University
Andy Mai, Boston College
Justin Miller, Brown University
All-New England Team
Sam Bernstein, Yale University
Jeb Buchannan, University of Connecticut
Branden Chicorka, University of Rhode Island
Leo Garcia, Sacred Heart University
Tony Grillo, Harvard University
Kevin Josephson, Central Connecticut State University
James Pleat, Dartmouth College
Josh Salah, Sacred Heart University
Matt Smith, Hartford University
Peter Williamson, Dartmouth College