If you find yourself scrolling through NYU Athletics’ rosters, you may stumble across a number of athletes who share the same last name: Argenziano. For the New Jersey family, who grew up just 20 minutes away from NYU’s main campus, sports were integral to their lives from a young age.
Stern junior Elizabeth Argenziano started playing soccer at three years old, inspired by her dad and her Nonna’s love of soccer. She worked her way up through the sport, from club teams, to high school varsity, to landing a spot as a defender on NYU’s women’s soccer team.
While Elizabeth stuck to just one sport, her older brother Joseph Argenziano “grew up playing basically everything: football, basketball, baseball, soccer, wrestling.” Eventually, the graduate student concentrated his efforts on baseball and is finishing off his last year as a pitcher on NYU’s baseball team.
Brothers Nick Argenziano, a graduate student, and sophomore Dan Argenziano also play alongside their cousin Joseph on NYU’s baseball team. Nick and Dan’s love of baseball came from backyard wiffle ball games and frequent trips into the city to watch the New York Yankees.
NYU isn’t the first New York City school that the Argenzianos have taken over: Columbia University hosted several other members of the family, including both of Nick and Dan’s parents, as well as Elizabeth’s twin brother, Andrew Argenziano, who plays on Columbia’s baseball team. Two of Nick and Dan’s older brothers are also alumni of Columbia, but Nick wanted to go in a different direction.
“I didn’t want to just go to Columbia and follow my family’s footsteps,” Nick said. “I was in very close talks, and I had an opportunity to walk on there, but, you know, I wanted to go to a place, at the end of the day, where I was valued and where I would have the biggest impact on the field as soon as possible.”
And the Violets gave Nick the perfect opportunity to do so. The life of a student-athlete is jam-packed, but NYU’s Division-III status offers students more balance when it comes to athletic and academic careers than a Division I school like Columbia would. NYU’s academic strength was a selling point for all of the Argenzianos, but especially Joseph, who’s completing his master’s degree alongside Nick.
The two graduate students, who started at NYU in 2019, received an opportunity that wouldn’t have been possible under typical NCAA guidelines. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the 2020-21 season, the NCAA granted student-athletes an extra year of eligibility to play at the collegiate level, giving the Argenzianos a chance to play at the same school as their younger siblings. Nick and Dan’s college careers — and their time on the baseball team — wouldn’t have overlapped at all if not for Nick’s extended eligibility.
“Having [Joseph] and my older cousin Nick just made me feel a little safer in New York,” Elizabeth said. “With such a big family, we grew up doing everything together, so it would be kind of weird to not have that now.”
“Nick and I are five years apart,” Dan said. “[The COVID year] gave us an opportunity to play with each other for the first time. So that’s been really cool. Besides training and playing outside [in] the backyard, we haven’t really been able to play together in a game setting until college.”
Even at the same school, the brothers don’t get a lot of shared time on the field. During a series of games against Case Western Reserve University, they had a rare opportunity to play together. According to Nick, “it was kind of just like an Argenziano takeover.”
While Nick hadn’t pitched much since he underwent Tommy John elbow surgery in 2022, he stepped in near the end of last Friday’s game.
“And when I came in to pitch, you know who came to play at first base? Dan did. Our parents were there, and it was a really special moment.”
Another benefit of six years on the team is that Nick and Joseph have had the opportunity to watch the baseball program flourish over their time at NYU.
“We’ve definitely grown for the better over these six years,” Joseph said. “Now the baseball team has [its] own facility in Palladium, which is nice. And we’ve gotten a little more attention. Back when I was a freshman, there was no huge NYU athletics presence on social media.”
After Nick and Joseph graduate, Dan will be starting his junior year, and Elizabeth will be entering her final year at NYU.
“It’s definitely bittersweet,” Elizabeth said on her senior year. “Joseph’s 24, I’m 21. We grew up together, doing Easter egg hunts in the backyard, and now we’re in New York City, almost starting our professional careers together. It’s definitely a full circle moment that I cherish.”
“I’m leaving the program in a much better place than when I came,” Nick said. “That’s something I pride myself on, and I pride the guys that have come through with me. And I’m leaving my brother in a better place, which is something special. I’ll still be able to come back next year and watch him play.”
Contact Kiran Komanduri at [email protected].
