Holy Family

Goldey-Beacom pulled off a major upset Thursday, beating No. 14 ranked Holy Family, 64-51, and ending the Tigers' NCAA Division II record 110-game regular-season conference win streak at the Campus Center. The victory was Goldey-Beacom's first-ever over Holy Family and its first-ever victory over a ranked opponent. The Lightning (8-7, 6-2) also became the first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference team to beat the Tigers since Feb. 22, 2005, when Bloomfield handed them a 70-65 loss.

The Holy Family women's basketball team will put its 30-0 record on the line on the weekend when the Tigers host the eight-team NCAA Division II Northeast regional tournament at the Campus Center in Northeast Philadelphia. The regional winner will advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Kearney, Neb., March 26-29. Ranked fourth nationally and first in the region, Holy Family earned hosting rights after winning the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference last weekend.

With a 63-5 record in the last two years, Holy Family women's basketball no longer can be viewed as an unknown up-and-coming program. After consecutive 30-win seasons, along with back-to-back Keystone Conference and NAIA District 19 championships, the Lady Tigers have gone from surprising success to established power. Along with the success has come national recognition - Holy Family was nationally ranked by one publication among the top teams most of last season. And Coach Mike Soroka's squad doesn't show any signs of weakening this season, winning five of its first six games.

Holy Family's basketball teams aren't on national television and they don't receive extensive daily newspaper coverage like the Big 5 teams. But the 1,200-student college in the Northeast annually fields strong teams. This season, Holy Family's men's team compiled a 27-9 record; the women's squad (29-6) was ranked sixth in the NAIA Division II poll, its highest ranking ever. Both teams lost in the first round of the NAIA Division II tournament. Chris Berry typifies the type of player wearing Holy Family's blue-and-white uniform.

Joe Simko will leave Holy Family as the second-leading scorer in program history, with close to 2,500 points. But before last night, an asterisk marked his career. "I would have been tagged as the guy who never got us to the big game," the senior guard said. Simko scored 37 points in his final game at the College Center to lead Holy Family past Pitt-Bradford for the NAIA Division II Northeast Independents Regional championship, 104-67. Holy Family, which has won its last six and nine of its last 11, had to win at top-seeded Philadelphia Pharmacy on Friday.

Two Philadelphia teams accustomed to competing this time of year will begin play this weekend in the NCAA Division II men's and women's basketball tournaments. The men's team of Philadelphia University (20-9) is seeded fourth in the Northeast Region and will face fifth-seeded Bridgeport (21-8) in tomorrow's 8 p.m. opening game at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. In the women's Division II tournament, fifth-seeded Holy Family (28-2) will meet No. 4 College of Saint Rose (21-8)

Bristol's Holly Brandt is off to a strong start in her college softball career. A freshman, Brandt pitched two straight shutouts, and Holy Family College was 2-0 on the season. Brandt, who was a sophomore on Bristol's 1990 PIAA state championship team, won a 6-0 decision against Alvernia to open the season March 31 and followed that with a 7-0 victory on April 4 against Philadelphia Textile. "Obviously, she has started out to be our No. 1 pitcher, even as a freshman," coach Mickey McGroarty said.

Marion Ahrens Von Rosenstiel, who demanded ingenuity, resourcefulness and the utmost in creativity from her English composition students at Holy Family College, died Aug. 17 while visiting her grandchildren in Seattle. She was 73 and lived in Abington. Known as Mrs. Von at the school where she taught since 1964, Von Rosenstiel was widely known for her assignments, which ranged from a homework research project requiring 200 words about an onion to a demand that students write about a thunderstorm raging outside the classroom.

South Jersey high schools contributed three of the top four scorers on the Holy Family women's basketball team, which reached the NAIA Division II quarterfinals. Lenape's Andrea Jack earned first-team all-Northeast Region Independent honors, and Gloucester Catholic's Erin Eliasen was named a second-team player. A sophomore center, Jack was second on the team in scoring with an average 11.8 points and led the team in rebounds with 8.3 per game. She was second on the team in blocked shots with 33 and contributed 50 steals.

Holy Family has the No. 1 women's basketball team in the NAIA Division II. The Tigers, who ran their record to 15-0 last night with a 78-57 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victory over Georgian Court in Lakewood, N.J., assumed the top spot yesterday for the first time in school history. The Tigers were ranked second last week. Holy Family finished with 472 points in the national poll, 14 more than No. 2 Sterling, Kan. (15-0). Hastings, Neb., (18-1), which was ranked No. 1 last week, dropped to third with 454 points.