Department total tops all NE10 institutions
NE10 Announces Fall Academic All-Conference Teams
Smith |
Haite |
Pungitore |
Demeule |
Dowd |
Troast |
Dunlavy |
Lastra |
Curtin |
Scollard |
Brown |
EASTON, Mass. (February 1, 2019) – Stonehill College has placed 11 of its fall student-athletes on the Northeast-10 Conference Academic All-Conference teams for their performances on the field of play as well as the classroom, the league announced Friday.
Stonehill's 11 student-athletes was the highest in the Conference for the fall programs spreading out over the seven fall teams, as Merrimack College had 10 recognized for the second highest. Bentley University was third among the institutions with nine honored, while Southern New Hampshire University followed in fourth with seven, and Adelphi University and Southern Connecticut State University each saw six on the teams.
Among the Skyhawks' 11 included field hockey senior Kacie Smith, football juniors Matt Haite and Zac Pungitore, men's cross country seniors Alexander Demeule and Riley Dowd, men's soccer junior Billy Troast, volleyball junior Rachel Dunlavy, women's cross country junior Anna Lastra and sophomore Sam Curtin, and women's soccer senior Emily Scollard and junior Kaitlin Brown.
To be eligible for selection to the NE10 Academic All-Conference Teams a student-athlete must have met or exceeded the following minimum requirements: participated in at least half of the team's competitions and been either a starter or significant contributor, achieved a 3.30 cumulative grade point average, and completed at least one academic year at his/her institution. Smith earns NE10 Academic All-Conference honors for the second-straight year, having earned a 3.46 cumulative grade point average as a health care administration major at Stonehill. Smith is a Zag/NFHCA National Academic Squad member, been named to the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll multiple semesters and has been inducted to the Upsilon Phi Delta honor society. Smith is just the second three-time NE10 Player of the Year in the Conferences' field hockey history and is also a three-time Longstreth/NFHCA East Region Player of the Year, who earned the NFHCA's Division II Player of the Year accolades as a junior. The three-time consensus first team All-American, is also a three-time first team All-NE10 selection. One of eight to earn multiple All-America honors in program history, she is just the third three-time All-American in program history and one of two three-time first team selections from Stonehill.
Smith led Division II for the second-straight year with 74 points and 32 goals this fall, while leading the team with ten assists, which ranks third in the NE10, and eight game-winning goals. Smith recorded at least a point in 18 of the Skyhawks' 20 games this fall, netting multiple goals ten times, with five hat tricks. She has recorded seven-plus points five times, including a career-high nine with four goals and an assist in a 9-0 win over Saint Thomas Aquinas College. Smith is one of just two players in NCAA Division II history to surpass 100 career goals and 200 points. She is ranked second in NCAA Division II history with her NE10 record 257 points and 109 goals, to go with her program-record 39 assists, which is tied for fourth in NE10 history. Smith had a record-breaking junior season in which she led all three levels of NCAA field hockey in scoring and goals, while leading the NE10 with her school-record 17 assists. She set an NCAA Division II record with 41 goals, while her 99 points set a new NE10 single-season standard. Smith earned a spot on the NE10 Academic All-Conference team as a junior and appeared in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of the November 6, 2017 issue of Sports Illustrated.
Haite collects NE10 Academic All-Conference honors for the first time, having earned a 3.32 cumulative grade point average as an economics major at Stonehill. He has been twice named to The Fred Mitchell Award Preseason "Watch List" for excellence as a placekicker and community service, having earned All-NE10 third team selection this fall. Haite has been named to the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll for his efforts in the classroom. Haite finished the year ranked second on the team with 51 points, converting 9-of-14 field goal attempts, including a career-long matching 49-yard field goal at Pace University on September 29, while connecting on 24-of-27 extra point attempts. He recorded three field goals of 40-yards or better for the season and averaged 54-yards on kickoffs, with nine touchbacks. Haite posted a career-high 15 points as he made three field goals and converted all six extra-point attempts in Stonehill's triple-overtime win at Saint Anselm. Haite, an NE10 All-Rookie Team selection as a freshman, enters his senior year ranked second in program history with 29 career field goals, just four shy of Steve Grzywacz's '16 record of 33, and third all-time with 88 career PATs and 169 points.
Pungitore earns NE10 Academic All-Conference team for the first time, having achieved a 3.56 cumulative grade point average as a business management major at Stonehill. He has been named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll three-straight semesters. Pungitore played all ten games for the Skyhawks this fall, starting seven, and finished with 20 receptions for 191 yards, averaging 9.6 yards per catch, finishing second on the team in receptions and receiving yards. He collected a season-high five receptions for 43 yards against LIU Post on September 15. Pungitore made the Stonehill football team as a post-training camp walk-on his freshman year and has gone on to play all 20 games as a sophomore and junior. He enters his senior year with 31 receptions for 336 yards and three touchdowns over his career. Pungitore scored a pair of touchdowns in the Skyhawks overtime win against rival Bentley University in 2017 and received the team's Scout Team Game Ball following a win over the University of New Haven in 2016.
A finance major with a 3.82 cumulative GPA, Demeule has totaled five NE10 Academic All-Conference honors over his four years at Stonehill. This year Demeule appeared in his third NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, after earning his fourth-career NCAA Division II All-East Region Team honor, and posting six top-20 results in seven meets. He has earned four NE10 All-Conference accolades after posting a career-best fourth-place finish at the NE10 Championships, while also earning his first All-New England award in the fall. During last year's indoor season, Demeule earned his first All-America honor with the 4000-meter distance medley relay, where the quartet posted a fifth-place finish. The Merrimac, Massachusetts native has collected two CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District first team honors and one CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America third team recognition. The senior has earned three U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) All-Academic Team honors and one Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award. Demeule has also been tabbed on the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and Athletic Director's Honor Roll multiple times, while also being recognized by the college as a Lambda Epsilon Sigma and Beta Gamma Sigma Honoree.
Majoring in economics and earning a 3.79 grade-point average, Dowd collects his fourth Academic All-Conference recognition in as many years. This season, Dowd posted four top-25 finishes in six meets, including a career-best fifth place at the NE10 Championships, and appeared in his fourth NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. Over his four years as a Skyhawk, Dowd has earned three NCAA Division II All-East Region honors, four NE10 All-Conference accolades and one All-New England recognition. The Peabody, Massachusetts native was recognized on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team twice, while he earned his first CoSIDA Google Cloud All-District first team honor his junior year. At Stonehill, Dowd is an Edwin H. Sutherland Criminology and Omicron Delta Epsilon Honoree and has been named to the Athletic Director's and NE10 Academic Honor Roll multiple times.
Men's soccer junior goalkeeper, Troast holds a 3.83 cumulative GPA in political science and international studies, as he earns his first NE10 Academic All-Conference accolade. Troast averaged 1.47 goals against average this season, ranking him ninth in the NE10, as he started in 13 of the 16 games this season. He saw career highs in saves (73 – fourth in the Conference), save percentage (.785 - fifth in the Conference), and shutouts (3 - where he was eighth in the Conference). The Pompton Plains, New Jersey native has been recognized on the NE10 Academic Honor Roll, the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, and the Dean List five times. He also earned the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award his sophomore year and the 2016 Stonehill College Class of 2020 Leadership Award.
Dunlavy, earning an impressive cumulative 3.98 GPA, while earning a 4.0 GPA in three of the four semesters thus far, is majoring in economics and minoring in data science and business administration. She is a co-captain and defensive specialist for the volleyball team, where she led the team with 4.25 digs per set and was ranked fifth in the NE10. She also was second on the team in aces per set, averaging 0.39, while ranking 14th in the Conference. The junior has appeared in 71 matches in her three years and she registered career highs in nine of the categories this season. To conclude the season, the Brighton, Michigan native was named just the second CoSIDA Google Cloud All-District first team honoree in the history of the Stonehill program. Dunlavy has put her name on the Dean's list five times, the NE10 Academic Honor Roll five times, the Athletic Director's Honor Roll five times, and has earned the Fred C. Petti Individual Academic Award twice for the highest GPA among student-athletes.
Lastra, with her 3.83 grade point average in the classroom as she studies health science, collects her third Academic All-Conference honor. The junior posted four top-15 finishes in six meets this season, including a career-best 64th-place finish in her third NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The Bridgton, Maine native was named the NE10 Cross Country Athlete of the Year after finishing a career-best first place at the NE10 Championships, the Skyhawks' fourth-straight individual title and helping Stonehill to its 17th program title and 10th-straight championship. She also assisted Stonehill to its 15th NCAA Division II East Region Title with her career-best runner-up mark. She has combined for 10 NE10 All-Conference honors and eight NCAA Division II All-East Region team recognitions. She has been named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team three times and earned the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award, while also being named to the NE10 Academic Honor Roll and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll multiple times.
Curtin, who is a philosophy major and economics minor, has culminated a 3.71 GPA, while competing all three seasons. The sophomore posted five top-25 finishes this season out of seven meets, including a career best finish at the NE10 Championship, crossing the finish line as the runner up behind Lastra. Curtin competed in her second NCAA Division II Championship and tallied her second-career NCAA Division II All-East Region honor this year. She has also been tabbed to the NE10 All-Conference team twice. The Plymouth, Massachusetts native has seen her name on the Dean's list, the NE10 Academic Honor Roll, and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll three times.
Majoring in business management and calculating a 3.76 cumulative GPA with one semester left in her undergraduate program, Scollard makes an appearance on the NE10 Academic All-Conference team for the first time in her career. The senior has appeared in 77 games with 73 starts over her career, assisting the women's soccer program to its first two NCAA Tournament appearances. She has totaled six assists over her career, while also assisting the Skyhawks to two NE10 Tournament appearances in four years, including the program's third NE10 Championship in 2016. The co-captain this season helped the Skyhawks to a 1.25 goal against average while playing defense, which was seventh in the Conference. The Lynnfield, Massachusetts native has been recognized on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll six times, the NE10 Academic Honor Roll six times, and the Dean's list seven times over her career. She is a Beta Gamma Sigma Honoree and earned the Stonehill St. Thomas Aquinas medal, Patron Saint of Students, for having the highest cumulative GPA on the team. In 2016, she also earned the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award.
A junior goalkeeper on the women's soccer team, Brown is studying health science and has combined for a cumulative 3.56 GPA. Over her three years on the team, Brown has started and appeared in 35 games averaging 1.31 goals against average, 181 saves, .801 saves percentage, a 19-15 record and 10 shutouts. This season, Brown totaled eight shutouts (seven in the Conference, seventh in Stonehill history), averaged 102 saves (third in the Conference), .810 save percentage (eighth in the Conference), and 1.26 goals against average (ninth in the Conference). This is the first time in her career that she has been named to the NE10 Academic All-Conference team, NE10 All-Conference first team, and was tabbed NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year. The Walpole, Massachusetts native was recognized by United Soccer Coaches on the All-East Region first team and the Scholar All-East Region second team, the New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association All-New England first team (NEWISA), and the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association All-East Region second team. Brown has seen her name on the Dean's List, Athletic Director's Honor Roll, and NE10 Academic Honor Roll five times.
With 21 intercollegiate sports, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. In addition to finishing in the top three of the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup standings for overall athletic performance 14 straight years, the Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first eighth years of the program's existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better. Stonehill has earned a 96% Academic Success Ranking (ASR) by the NCAA, which considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes, good for seventh among all NCAA Division II institutions, with eight Skyhawk teams receiving a perfect rating of 100%. In addition, the Skyhawks are ranked 11th in the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) Power Rankings for Division II used to assess the academic and athletic standards of all NCAA and NAIA athletic programs.
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