7/10/2024 other sports Edit

Belle Mastropietro, Diana Tiburcio earn AAC Scholar-Athlete honors

John DiCarlo • OwlScoop

Editor

John DiCarlo has covered Temple football and basketball since 1998 and has been the editor of OwlScoop.com since 2006.

Temple’s Belle Mastropietro has been named the American Athletic Conference’s women’s lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season, and Owls fencer Diana Tiburcio was honored in the league’s at-large category, the conference announced Wednesday.

Wichita State’s Jackson Caldwell (cross country) and Charlotte’s Riley Felts, a track and field All-American, were named the American’s Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year, respectively.

Wednesday’s honor was the latest of many for Mastropietro, who was named Temple’s 2024 Female Athlete of the Year. A pivotal player in leading the Owls to the AAC Tournament, the Springfield, Delaware County native led the Owls in goals, assists, points and draw controls, all while posting a 3.95 GPA in Temple’s exercise science graduate program. Her Temple career has also included four all-conference selections and three IWLCA All-Region nods. A 5-foot-7 midfielder who made an instant impact by leading the Owls with 20 goals as a freshman in 2020, Matropietro has also been recognized as a USA Lacrosse/Inside Lacrosse All-American three times.

Diana Tiburcio, a Fulbright Scholar, will pursue her PhD at Stanford. (Temple Athletics)

Tiburcio posted a 33-14 record for the Owls this season and a career record of 102-60, but her academic achievements are just as impressive as what the Malvern native and Great Valley High School graduate accomplished as a sabre fencer. She became the first woman of color from Temple to earn a Goldwater Scholarship last year and this year earned a 3.95 GPA as a mechanical engineering major en route to becoming a Fulbright scholar. After completing her 10-month Fulbright at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Tiburcio will move on to Stanford’s chemical engineering PhD program.

The American awarded scholar-athlete honors in its first season in 2013-14, and the Owls were well-represented that year. Former Temple wide receiver Ryan Alderman was the AAC football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Jimmy McDonnell was the men’s basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and men’s soccer’s Vaughn Spurrier was the AAC’s Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.