CAMBRIDGE, MASS. --  Twelve America East student-athletes have been selected to the 2010 Men’s Soccer All-Academic Team, which was released by the conference office this afternoon. These student-athletes, who excel academically as well as athletically, represent the best of the America East Conference.

University of New Hampshire’s Colin O’Donnell (Springfield, Mass./Minnechaug Regional), the two-time America East Goalkeeper of the Year, highlights the squad. He was also named to CoSIDA’s Academic All-District First-Team along with teammate Joe Corsello (York, Maine/York) and Boston University’s Ben Havey (Preston, England/Cardinal Newman College/Loughborough Univ.).

Joining O’Donnell and Havey as student-athletes who earned both All-Conference and All-Academic recognition are Binghamton University’s Ryan Walter  (Snyder, N.Y./Nichols), University of Hartford’s Jamie Thomas (Edinburgh, Scotland/George Watson’s College) and New Hampshire’s Brad Hilton (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack). Havey, Walter, Thomas and Hilton were all second-team selections.

Joining Corsello and Hilton as repeat All-Academic choices are Binghamton’s Scott Zobre (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./ Poughkeepsie) and New Hampshire’s Robin Gerum (Kullavik, Sweden/Katrinelunds Gym). University at Albany’s Anthony DeSalvo (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse), Hartford’s James Stamopoulos (Mississauga, Ontario/Port Credit Secondary) and UMBC’s Vince Savarese (Perry Hall, Md./Archbishop Curley) round out the squad.

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 third 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.