At the Hyatt Regency in Princeton on a Sunday morning in June, Marissa Lucca and Johnny Troiano stepped into a spotlight they'd earned through relentless, disciplined excellence—the kind that shows up in scoresheets and transcripts alike. The College of New Jersey women's lacrosse standout and the Rowan University men's soccer captain were named the New Jersey Athletic Conference's 2025-26 Athletes of the Year, a recognition that caps two of the most decorated careers in their respective programs' histories.
Lucca's final season at TCNJ was a masterclass in scoring. She led the entire NJAC in goals with 84, in assists with 56, and in total points with 140—numbers that ranked her third in Division III nationally. In a single game against Neumann, she netted 14 points, tying the Lions' school record for points in a season. Over just three seasons of college play, she finished fourth in program history in total points (333) and third in assists (123), becoming only the third player in TCNJ history to record multiple 100-point seasons. Her accolades extended far beyond the statistics: she earned All-America First Team honors, was named NJAC Attack Player of the Year, and collected two USA Lacrosse All-American designations and three regional selections. Remarkably, Lucca juggled these athletic accomplishments while graduating as a nursing major with a 3.91 GPA and earning three NJAC All-Academic Team honors.
Troiano's trajectory at Rowan tells a similar story of sustained excellence and historical significance. The men's soccer standout finished his career ranking third all-time in program goals (55) and fourth in points (131), having surpassed the 100-point milestone during the 2025 season. In his final two years alone, he scored 36 goals and accumulated 78 points, then capped it with 19 goals during the 2025 season to lead the NJAC. His consistency earned him a distinction no Rowan player had achieved before: winning NJAC Offensive Player of the Year twice. Over his career, he made the NJAC First Team All-Conference three times, earned United Soccer Coaches All-American honors twice, and was named NJAC Offensive Player of the Week on six separate occasions.
Like Lucca, Troiano demonstrated that elite athletic performance and academic rigor weren't competing priorities—they were parallel pursuits. He graduated as a Law and Justice Studies major with a 3.79 GPA and earned the 2025 CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year award, along with two CSC Academic All-America First Team selections and four Rowan Scholar-Athlete of Distinction honors.
What makes both athletes remarkable isn't simply the volume of their achievements—though that's substantial—but the consistency they demonstrated across every dimension of collegiate life. Each sport demands a different skill set: Lucca's offensive creativity and spatial awareness in lacrosse, Troiano's finishing ability and field vision in soccer. Yet both athletes translated their competitive drive into academic excellence, earning institutional and national recognition for scholar-athlete achievement. Their awards, announced at the NJAC Awards Brunch, acknowledge that the conference's highest honor belongs to those who master not just their sport, but the full experience of being a student-athlete.