BOSTON – The 2024-2025 America East Fall Scholar-Athletes were announced by the conference office on Wednesday morning. These six-standout student-athletes, from four different America East schools, have displayed excellence both academically and athletically throughout their collegiate careers.
2024-2025 America East Fall Scholar-Athletes
Men’s Cross Country: Luke Marsanskis, Grad. - Maine
- The graduate student has a 3.7 GPA in mechanical engineering.
- Claimed the individual title at the 2024 #AEXC championship with a time of 23:51.8.
- Finished seventh at NCAA regionals with a time of 30:07.5 in the 10k race.
- Honored as an America East Spring Scholar-Athlete & the USTFCCA All-Academic Team in 2024.
Women’s Cross Country: Mary-Kate Finn, Jr. – UMass Lowell
- Junior owns a 3.79 GPA in Economics.
- Claimed her second individual title at the 2024 #AEXC Championship in 17:04.36.
- Finished first at the 2024 UMass Dartmouth XC Invitational.
- Took 23rd in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship with a time of 20:27.71, which gained her All-Region Honors.
Field Hockey: Sophia Drees, Sr. – Vermont
- Senior has a 3.66 GPA as an Environmental Sciences major.
- NFHCA All-Region First Team in 2024 & NFHCA Senior Team in 2024.
- Named 2024 #AEFH Defensive Player of the Year and led the Catamounts to their first-ever #AEFH Championship.
- Broke the UVM record for career assists this season with 26 and scored most penalty strokes in program history with four.
Men’s Soccer: Yaniv Bazini, Redshirt Sr. – Vermont
- Senior Business Administration major with a 3.77 GPA.
- 2024 United Soccer Coaches Third-Team All-American.
- NCAA All-Tournament Team in 2024 & named All-ECAC second team.
- Scored a team high, 14 goals this season. Scored six total goals in the NCAA tournament, including a five-game goal streak that helped lead the Catamounts to their first ever National Championship.
- His 30-point season is tied for third-most in program history.
Women’s Soccer: Myla Schneider, Sr. - Maine
- Senior has a 3.98 GPA as a biology major (pre-med) & a neuroscience minor.
- 2024 #AEWSOC Most Outstanding Player in the America East Championship while helping the Black Bears become back-to-back champions.
- Received 2024 All-ECAC second team & All-Atlantic Second Team honors.
- Played all 1,620 minutes for Maine & helped the Black Bears become the first America East Champion to finish the conference tournament without conceding a goal since 2010.
Volleyball: Tsvetelina Ilieva, Fifth yr. - Binghamton
- Fifth-Year senior with a 3.99 GPA as a Business Administration major.
- 2024 CSC Academic All-American as well as 2024 AVCA All-Region First Team.
- 2024 AVCA All-America Honorable mention for the third straight season.
- Named 2024, 2023 and 2022 #AEVB Player of the Year.
- Finished the regular season averaging conference-best 5.7 points, 4.8 kills, and .53 service aces per set and finished within the top 10 players nationwide with 572 points and 494 total kills.
- Recorded double-digit kills for 25 matches in a row & recorded 20 or more kills in 10 matches while also notching 11 double-doubles this season.
The Scholar-Athletes were members of teams in the six championship sports which America East sponsored in the fall season including men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball. Nominees were put forward by their institution, which could nominate up to one student-athlete per sport, then voted upon by the conference's Student-Athlete Engagement committee. Each America East Scholar-Athlete was a projected starter or prominent reserve and carries a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50.
Sport Scholar-Athletes are automatically eligible for the America East Female or Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, which will be announced in July.
America East is proud to have one of most comprehensive academic awards programs in the country, which honors over two-thirds of its student-athletes for their success in the classroom.
About America East: The America East provides its member schools and their athletic programs a platform upon which student-athletes can achieve both collegiate and life success through the promotion and nurturing of athletic excellence, academic achievement and leadership, on and off the field.
– Building the Complete Student-Athlete –