CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Lesley University women's soccer and softball all-star Alyson Durben (Stow, MA/Nashoba Regional) has been named New England Collegiate Conference Female Student-Athlete of the Year, league commissioner Del Malloy announced Wednesday.

"Allie Durben made a difference during her years at Lesley University and as a student-athlete in the New England Collegiate Conference," said Malloy, whom Durben worked alongside on NECC initiatives. "She led by example and never asked anyone to do something she wouldn't do herself. I can't think of another student-athlete more deserving of this recognition than Allie.”

The honor is one the league reserves for its top graduating senior based on a career of outstanding athletic, academic and community accomplishments. Voting for the award was conducted among the athletics directors of the NECC's nine member institutions.

"Alyson Durben was a star on and off of the field for Lesley University," said athletics director Stanley Vieira. "She is a born leader and a person that our student-athletes and staff all admire and respect."

Durben, a recently-graduated soccer midfielder and softball center fielder, has been named All-NECC for both sports in all three years the league has existed. In her freshman and senior seasons, she earned All-New England recognition for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), and in 2010 was selected for the New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association Senior Bowl.

She is now the recipient of the NECC's career achievement award that encompasses everything Durben has accomplished off her fields of play, as well.

The president of Lesley's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Durben was also active in SAAC on a conference level as the co-chair of NECC SAAC, acting as an advocate for student-athlete issues conference-wide. As a NECC SAAC member, Durben was involved in charity and community efforts throughout the region, most recently a Special Olympics outing in Connecticut. Last May, Durben was selected by the NCAA to attend its 2010 Careers in Sports Forum in Indianapolis, IN.

Jen Benway, Durben's head softball coach who watched her center fielder accumulate a .406 career batting average and over 180 hits over her four years, sang her captain's praises.

"She has excelled both in the classroom and on the field, and I am very proud of her accomplishment of Student-Athlete of the Year," Benway said. "She is a natural leader and her peers look up to her."

A dean's list student and global studies major with a grade point average of over 3.14 over her four years, Durben was also a peer tutor, aiding in the academic growth of her fellow Lesley students. As a senior, she student taught at the Maria L. Baldwin School in Cambridge. This fall, she will attend Belmont University in Nashville, TN, with a graduate assistantship in student-athlete academic advising.

The NECC also announced that Newbury College men's volleyball player Matt Talamantes was named Male Student-Athlete of the Year.

Below are some of Durben's many athletic accomplishments:

Soccer

-          2010 All-NECC First Team

-          2010 New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) Senior Bowl

-          2009 All-NECC Second Team

-          2008 All-NECC Second Team

-          2007 All-North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Honorable Mention

-           Lesley University All-Time Career Assists Leader (25)

-           Lesley University All-Time Single-Season Assists Leader (11; 2009)

Softball

-          2011 All-NECC First Team

-          2011 Lesley Team MVP

-          2011 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA)  All-New England Third Team

-          2010 All-NECC First Team

-          2009 All-NECC Second Team

-          2008 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA)  All-New England Second Team

-          2008 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Rookie of the Year

-          2008 All-North Atlantic Conference (NAC) First Team

-          Lesley University All-Time Single-Season Triples Leader (7; 2008)