CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- University of Hartford's Caitlin Alves is the 2011 America East Women's Soccer Fans' Choice Player of the Year as voted on by nearly 1,000 unique fans on the conference's Facebook page.
Alves, a junior forward, received 28 percent of the vote (273 votes) to earn the honor. University at Albany's Rebecca Lee followed in second with 17 percent (167 votes) while Boston University's Jessica Luscinski was third with 16 percent (151 votes).
Alves leads America East in points (25) and goals (10) while ranking fifth in assists (5). She earned back-to-back America East Player of the Week honors on Oct. 10 and 17 after racking up 12 points in a three-game stretch, including a pair of two-goal, one-assists efforts against Stony Brook on Oct. 6 and Maine on Oct. 13. Alves has helped lead her team to one of its best seasons in program history in which Hartford has compiled a 13-1-3 record and earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming America East Championship.
This is the third straight year America East has given out a Fans' Choice Player of the Year award in women's soccer with Binghamton's Mandi Casares (2009) and Hartford's Amelia Pereira (2010) earning the first two honors.
Voting for the 2011 award from October 20-25 with one player of each member institution named to the ballot. The America East All-Conference teams will be announced via release at AmericaEast.com at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.