Marshfield, Mass.-- Twenty-four student-athletes competing in fall sports were placed on the NECC Academic All-Conference Team, as announced by the conference office on Wednesday afternoon. A record of 211 student-athletes across the New England Collegiate Conference member institutions were awarded this honor, which bests the previous record of 210 honorees in the spring of 2017.
In order to be eligible for NECC Academic All-Conference honors, a student-athlete must post a minimum grade point average of 3.40 on a scale of 4.00, and must be a sophomore or higher in class standing. Student-athletes who competed in men's and women's cross country, men's golf, field hockey, men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball were eligible for the award.
Women's soccer led the way for the Lynx with 14 student-athletes garnering the recognition. Women's volleyball had the next highest representation with 5, followed by men's soccer with 3 student-athletes and women's cross country with 2.
This year's honorees included four conference major award winners, the Field Hockey Player of the Year, Becker College's Samantha Carter (East Boothbay, Maine), the Golfer of the Year, Springfield College's Jakob Raichle (Bethlehem, Pa.), the Men's Soccer Player of the Year, Andrew Kalombo (Worcester, Mass.) of Newbury College, as well as the Women's Soccer Player of the Year, McKenna Straube (Junction City, Ore.) of Lesley University.
Carter, Raichle, Kalombo and Straube were also first-team All-NECC selections in their respective sports, and are joined on the All-Academic team by 21 fellow first team All-Conference members. In addition, 16 second team and four third team selections were honored, along with 20 Del Malloy sportsmanship team members.
Women's Soccer saw the highest number of All-Academic honorees, with 83. New England College led the pack with 19 Women's Soccer honorees, as well as a conference-leading 40 overall honorees. Elms College was right behind with 37 overall honorees.