Field Hockey Standouts Recognized On America East All-Academic Team - AmericaEast.com

Field Hockey Standouts Recognized On America East All-Academic Team - AmericaEast.com

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. -- Eleven field hockey student-athletes representing five schools and nine different majors were named to the 2008 America East Field Hockey All-Academic Team as announced by the conference office Tuesday, November 25.

Highlighting the academic squad are two first-team All-Conference honorees--Maine’s Maire Dineen (Toronto, Ontario/Michael Power-St. Joseph) and Vermont’s Kim Striegler (Whitney Point, N.Y./Whitney Point)--and four second-team All-Conference picks in Fairfield’s Carly McCullough (Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury), New Hampshire’s Cally Cooke (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport), Vermont’s Jen Angers (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) and Albany’s Ashley Ross (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley). Dineen and Ross were also named to the All-Championship Team, with Ross as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Rounding out the academic honorees are University at Albany’s Jess Lindsey (Norristown, Pa./Methacton) and Vanessa Walter (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), University of Maine’s Nicole Emery (Winthrop, Maine/Winthrop), and University of Vermont’s Kristen Heavens (Harwinton, Conn./Lewis Mills) and Megan Maynard (Waterbury Center, Vt./Harwood).

Vermont sent a league-high four student-athletes to the Field Hockey All-Academic Team, while the 2008 America East Regular Season and Tournament Champion Albany Great Danes placed three student-athletes on the squad. Two members of the team represent the Black Bears, while New Hampshire and Fairfield each had one student-athlete honored.

Dineen, a sophomore International Affairs & Economics major, has the highest cumulative grade-point-average of the eleven field hockey players, earning a 3.97.

The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Director meetings, where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor the league’s top student-athletes, whom excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field. 

For the last two academic years, the All-Academic Team has been selected based on a formula. Starting this year, America East has adopted a more subjective approach based on feedback from various coaches’ groups and administrators and approval by the athletic directors. The process will now resemble the CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program. Student-athletes worthy of consideration will now be nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by 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 (example: field hockey has 11 players on the field) or are made up of 10 student-athletes for individual sports. 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. Freshman are not eligible for consideration.

2008 America East Field Hockey All-Academic Team

Name    Cl.    School    Hometown/High School    GPA    Major   
Jen Angers    Sr.    Vermont    Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield    3.80    Elementary Education
Cally Cooke    Jr.    New Hampshire    Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport    3.70    Business Administration
Maire Dineen    So.    Maine    Toronto, Ontario/Michael Power-St. Joseph    3.97    International Affairs & Economics
Nicole Emery    Sr.    Maine    Winthrop, Maine/Winthrop    3.80    Kinesiology & Physical Education
Kristen Heavens    Sr.    Vermont    Harwinton, Conn./Lewis Mills    3.58    Physical Education
Jess Lindsey    Jr.    Albany    Norristown, Pa./Methacton    3.35    Psychology
Megan Maynard    Sr.    Vermont    Waterbury Center, Vt./Harwood    3.88    Elementary Education
Carly McCullough    Jr.    Fairfield    Queensbury, N.Y./Queensbury    3.52    Biology
Ashley Ross    Sr.    Albany    Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley    3.67    Communications
Kim Striegler    Sr.    Vermont    Whitney Point, Vt./Whitney Point    3.71    Human Development & Family Studies
Vanessa Walter    Sr.    Albany    Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest    3.88    Human Biology