CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Nine women’s soccer student-athletes who earned All-America East distinction this season have also been named to the league’s 2011 Women’s Soccer All-Academic Team, the conference office announced this afternoon. These student-athletes, who excel academically as well as athletically, represent the best of the America East Conference.
The squad is led by three all-conference standouts who are repeat All-Academic honorees. University at Albany’s Chrissy Klepper (River Edge, N.J.) earned second-team all-league honors as a midfielder while Boston University’s Angelina Cords (Leonardtown, Mass.) and Jessica Luscinski (Bedford, N.H.) were first-team selections. Cords was also chosen the conference’s Defender of the Year while Luscinski was the Striker of the Year.
Joining the trio as All-Academic recipients who also received All-Conference accolades are Albany’s Rebecca Lee (Selkirk, N.Y.), Boston U.’s Katherine Donnelly (Londonderry, N.H.) and Tiya Gallegos (Lakewood, Calif.), University of Hartford’s Caitlin Alves (Ludlow, Mass.), Christiana Lang (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Amelia Pereira (Madeira Island, Portugal).
Rounding out the squad are Boston U.’s Jessica Morrow (Andover, Mass.) and UMBC’s Aly Gazarek (Aldie, Va.).
The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor the league’s top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.
For the fourth straight year, America East will select the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisors and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.
All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (e.g., 11 on the field for soccer) but can be more if there is a tie in voting. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.