Athletics Alumni Spotlight

Angelika Stec, Women's Basketball

 

Former MCCC women’s basketball player Angelika Szumilo (nee Stec), who was inducted into the MCCC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023, was recently back on the basketball court in Mercer County.  Szumilo took over as Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Iona University this summer after spending four seasons as Head Women’s Coach at Farleigh Dickinson University.  Iona played at Rider University on January 4^th, bringing Szumilo back to Mercer County, where her basketball career took off.

 

Szumilo played at MCCC in 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 and helped lead Mercer to two Region 19 titles.  Szumilo was named Region 19 Player of the Year in 2000 and averaged 14.3 points per game and 5.5 assists per game in her two seasons at MCCC.  Szumilo helped lead Mercer to their best record in program history, a 28-3 season in 1999-2000.

 

Following two seasons at MCCC, Szumilo went on to play two years at Long Island University.  In 2001, Szumilo led NIU to the NEC Championship and was named LIU’S Scholar Athlete in 2002.  Szumilo earned All-NEC Tournament honors both seasons at LIU and her 136 assists are fifth all-time in program history.

 

Szumilo began her coaching career at her alma mater, LIU Brooklyn, where she was an Assistant Coach from 2003-2008.  LIU had two of their winningest seasons in program history during this time including the winningest season in program history in 2007-08 when the team went 24-8.  LIU also earned their first ever trip to the NIT.

 

 

From LIU, Szumilo moved on to Monmouth University.  Szumilo was an Assistant Coach for two seasons before being named Associate Head Coach in the 2010-11 season.  In her final season at Monmouth, Stec helped Monmouth to their first 20 win season since 1983 and helped the Hawks earn a trip to the NIT.

 

 

Prior to becoming Head Coach at Farleigh Dickinson, Szumilo was Associate Head Coach at Fordham University from 2011-2019.  During this time, Fordham won two Atlantic 10 titles, made two trips to the NCAA Tournament and four trips to the  NIT.  While at Fordham, Szumilo also served as Recruiting Coordinator and helped recruit four A 10 1^st Team players and one A 10 Defensive Player of the Year.

 

Szumilo left FDU as the second winningest coach in program history.  Szumilo had an overall record of 72-45 in four seasons at FDU and went 50-20 in NEC league play.  In 2019-20, Szumilo helped lead FDU to their first program win in the NEC Tournament since 1992.  In the 2022-23 season, FDU went 24-8, reached the NEC Championship and made their second consecutive WNIT tournament.  In the 2022-23 season, FDU led the nation in three point percentage defense and was seventh in the nation in scoring defense.  In her last two seasons at FDU, Szumilo helped lead FDU to the NEC (Northeastern Conference) regular season titles and earned NEC Coach of the Year honors both of those seasons.

 

Iona lost a close, evenly-matched game 56-63 at Rider.  Despite the close loss, Szumilo’s young team showed lots of promise. The Gaels have only one senior on their roster and are currently 6-6 on the season.

 

From the hardwood at Mercer to the Division I stage at Iona, Szumilo has made her mark on multiple collegiate programs in the Northeast.  It is great to see a former Viking star continue to find success on the basketball court and in life.

 

To read more Alumni Success stories like Angelika visit https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_alumni.shtml