WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Former eight-time All-Little East Conference two-sport athlete Mo Deegan and the 2002 NCAA Division III Eastern Connecticut State University national champion baseball team have been elected to the 2022 Little East Conference Hall of Fame.

Deegan and the 2002 baseball team will be part of the ninth LEC Hall of Fame induction class and will be recognized at the Eastern Athletics Alumni Hall of Fame's 28^th Induction Ceremony and Social Saturday Oct. 15 at the University's Student Center. Deegan was a 2014 Eastern Hall of Fame inductee.

Mo Deegan

Deegan is one of most accomplished and decorated multi-sport athletes in Eastern athletic the history, which saw her shine as a member of the field hockey and women's lacrosse teams from 2001-05. She received numerous honors All-Little East Conference, All-New England and All-America honors, while establishing program records that still stand today for both programs.

The department's Female Athlete-of-the-Year in 2004-05, Deegan was a four-time All-LEC selection in both sports, earning second team honors as a first-year member of both sports before garnering first team honors in both sports for three consecutive seasons, while leading the Warriors to LEC tournament appearances seven times. She remains the field hockey program's only three-time first-team all-star.

In both sports, Deegan was also selected to the national Senior All-Star Game and to the all-region team.

A native of Westport, Deegan was named a second-team All-New England West Region selection by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) as a team captain in her junior and senior seasons, was the program's first-ever selection to the NFHCA's annual North-South Senior All-Star Game. Deegan set the field hockey program's career records for goals (29), assists (21), points (79), games played (75) and games started (74) by the completion of her four-year career. She holds or shares the records for assists, games played and games started, and is second in goal and points.

Deegan's senior campaign was her most decorated after she led the team in scoring with career-best and program-record totals of 69 goals, 47 assists and 116 points – she remains the programs' single-season assists and points leaders, while her goal total is now second.

In field hockey, she was a two-time NFHCA All-New England West Region second-team pick and in lacrosse remains the program's only first-team pick to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Association (IWLCA) All-New England Region team. As a senior in lacrosse, she also became the program's first first-team selection to the ECAC New England All-Star Team.
As a senior, Deegan was also named second-team All-America along with defender Kara Bradley by Inside Lacrosse magazine and was selected to participate in the IWLCA's prestigious Farewell Festival North-South Senior All-Star Game.

In similar fashion to field hockey, Deegan graduated as the program leader and remains the current leader in every major offensive career category, among them goals (243), free-position goals (76), assists (136), total points (379), and shots (526).

In season statistics, she holds three of the top ten and four of the top 14 marks for goals, three of the top seven and four of the top 12 marks for assists, and three of the top four and four of the top seven marks for points.

Ten times in program history, a player has collected double-digit points in a match, with Deegan doing it four times. A 12-point performance against Rhode Island College in 2003 and 11-point output against the University of Southern Maine in 2005 rank 1-2 in program history. Her nine goals against LEC Rhode Island College in that 2003 game is tied for the second-most goals in a match in program history. She also holds the program's second and third-highest assist totals in a match.

As a freshman in lacrosse, Deegan was a member of the inaugural season of LEC women's lacrosse. In all, she led the Warriors to their first four post-season tournaments, including their first NCAA tournament after they won their first LEC playoff title in 2005. In the 2005 LEC title game, Deegan was limited to two goals and three assists due to an ankle injury but helped second-seeded Eastern hand top seed and host Plymouth State University its first LEC loss ever (in 30 games), 12-8. In a 13-8 win at Springfield College four days later in the team's first NCAA contest ever, Deegan had three goals and seven assists.

The NCAA qualification followed three consecutive trips to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament, which the Warriors won in 2002.

2002 NCAA National Baseball Champions

The 2002 season was another successful one in a long line of successful ones in the storied history of the program, which posted an overall record of 39-11-1 on its way to winning its fourth of five national championships. After being eliminated as the top seed in two games in the Little East Conference tournament with a pair of one-run losses, Eastern survived losses in the double-elimination regional and national tournaments to win its second national title in five years.

The Warriors won their fifth straight LEC regular-season title with a 12-2 record and brought a seven-game winning streak into the LEC tournament before losing to fourth-seeded Keene State College (for the third time during the year) and regular-season runner-up University of Southern Maine (a team which they had swept during the season in Gorham, ME), but were awarded an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament on the basis of 30 wins.

The Warriors took advantage of their second chance, first by winning the NCAA New England Regional championship at Whitehouse Field at Harwich, MA, then completing their mission at the NCAA Division III national tournament at Fox Cities Stadium at Grand Chute, WI. Four different pitchers combined on the five regional tournament victories and four pitchers each won once at the nationals.

Second-seeded Eastern opened the regional tournament with victories over Suffolk (9-1) and Tufts (5-2) before dropping a 7-4 decision to top-seeded Wheaton College (after a one-day postponement due to rain) in the winner's bracket final. The Warriors rebounded with a 19-2 rout of Tufts to advance to the regional final, where they avenged their earlier loss to the Lyons with 3-2, 4-2 victories, the first in ten innings.

Eastern opened the national tournament with three consecutive wins, defeating Concordia-Texas (5-4), RPI (10-9) and Marietta (4-2) before dropping a 6-5 decision to Christopher Newport in the double-elimination tournament. The Warriors once again bounced back in a big way, shutting out Marietta 8-0 behind two-time All-America Joey Serfass's complete-game five-hitter to win the national title.

Against Concordia, Eastern scored three times with two out in the eighth to force extra innings,  and winning the game on an infield single with one out and the bases loaded in the tenth. The Warriors trailed RPI by two runs in the bottom of the ninth but scored three times when all five batters reached safely, senior co-captain Inaki Ormaechea, batting eighth, ending the game with a two-run single. Serfass became the fourth pitcher to post a complete-game shutout in the championship game, with two of the five hits never leaving the infield. He was backed by a 14-hit attack which included four hits and three RBI by DH Justin Waz.

In 11 NCAA tournament games, Serfass was 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings. Lefty Jeremy Hall was 2-0 with a save and allowed only three singles and no earned runs in nine innings. A second-team All-LEC pick in the outfield, John Hedde led the Warriors with ten RBI and 17 total bases in the post-season while first-team All-LEC shortstop Eugene Julien batted a team-high .406 with five stolen bases and seven runs and 14 total bases, and Waz, who was not one of Eastern's six All-LEC selections, batted .370 with six RBI, five runs and 14 total bases. First baseman John Kubachka, who was named LEC Player-of the-Year for the second time in three years in 2002, batted .298 and  reached base 20 times (with 14 hits, four HBP and two walks), drove in nine runs and scored a team-high 11. Third baseman Ormaechea batted .350 and handled 29 chances without an error in the field.

First-team All-LEC picks Kubachka and Julien were joined on the All-LEC team by first-team reliever Tommy Spirito and second-teamers Serfass, Hedde and outfielder Dwight Wildman. Kubachka was named MVP of the national tournament and Serfass MVP of the regionals. Second baseman Morgan Thompson, Julien and Wildman joined Serfass on the regional tournament all-tournament team and Serfass, Hedde, Kubachka and Waz represented Eastern on the national tournament all-tournament team.

Serfass was named LEC Pitcher-of-the-Year and Thompson Player-of-the-Year the following season in 2003, when the Warriors repeated as regular-season LEC champs. Serfass was named MVP when Eastern won the 2003 LEC tournament title, and Wildman, a sophomore on the 2002 team, was named LEC Player-of-the-Year in 2004.  

Established in 2012, the LEC Hall of Fame now includes 104 individuals and three teams. In addition to Deegan and the 2002 baseball team, the LEC will inductee the following:
 
Matt Johnson  - Men's Lacrosse (Keene State)
Bryan Kolacz - Men's Track & Field (Keene State)
Kristin Mulry - Women's Soccer (UMass Boston)
Deon Barrett - Men's Cross Country (UMass Dartmouth)
Deb Biche-Labbe - Women's Soccer (Plymouth State)
Tahrike Carter - Men's Basketball (Rhode Island College)
Caitlin (Gavin) Bliss - Women's Lacrosse/Soccer (Rhode Island College)
Tyler Delorme - Baseball (Southern Maine)
Jessica (Knight) Tremblay - Women's Lacrosse (Southern Maine)
Conor Bierfeldt - Baseball (Western Connecticut)
 
Eastern inductees in the LEC Hall of Fame:
2022: Mo Deegan (women's lacrosse/field hockey)
2022: 2002 national championship baseball team
2021: Jason Edwards (men's track & field)
2021: Wendy Rogers (women's basketball)
2021: 1998 national championship baseball team
2020: Scott Chiasson (baseball)
2020: Marc DiGiovanni (men's lacrosse)
2019: Julia Neilson (women's soccer/softball)
2018: Dr. C. Robert Miller (former women's basketball coach)
2016: Michelle Cunningham (women's volleyball/softball)
2016: Bill Holowaty (former baseball coach)
2014: Robin Gaby (women's basketball)
2013: Bob Molta (Sports Info. Director)
2012: Allison Coleman (women's basketball)

The Little East Conference (LEC) was formed in 1986 when six public institutions gathered to create a single sport athletic conference, and has expanded into what is now New England's premier athletic conference for public institutions in NCAA Division III. The LEC features 21 championship sports and sponsors quality competition for our student-athletes, while following the Division III mission of "passion, responsibility, sportsmanship and citizenship."
 
The Little East consists of nine primary institutions that encompass all six New England states – Castleton University (Vt.), Eastern Connecticut State University, Keene State College (N.H.), UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, Plymouth State University (N.H.), Rhode Island College, University of Southern Maine, and Western Connecticut State University.