Four standout America East student-athletes have been named Senior CLASS Award candidates in their respective fall sports. UMBC’s Jessy Brown (women’s soccer), Marquez Fernandez (men’s soccer), Mamadou Kansaye (men’s soccer) and Albany’s Vktoria Stroilo (volleyball) are all nominees for the 2014 award.
Brown, a senior midfielder, was the America East Co-Midfielder of the Year for a UMBC team which won its first-ever America East women’s soccer title last season. She was also an America East All-Academic and NSCAA Scholar All-Region selection.
Fernandes is a senior back for the Retriever’s men’s soccer squad. The Maryland transfer earned second-team All-America East honors last season and was an America East Commissioner’s Honor Roll honoree.
Kansaye, a senior midfielder for UMBC, was a first-team All-America East men’s soccer selection last year and led his team to its third America East title in four years. He is a team captain for the second-straight year.
Stroilo, a senior libero on the Albany’s volleyball team, is reigning two-time America East Defensive Player of the Year. The conference’s volleyball Scholar-Athlete last year carries a 3.74 GPA in biology.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
Each of the candidate classes will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate in each class who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.