Acone Featured In Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" Column, Becomes Third Skyhawk Student-Athlete To Be Featured In Prestigious National Publication This Year

June 7, 2006

For the third time this year, a Stonehill College student-athlete won't just be another "face in the crowd".

Senior women's lacrosse All-America Erin Acone is one of six individuals featured in the June 12th edition of Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" column, as she joins freshmen winter sport standouts Kelsey Simonds (women's basketball) and Brendan O'Brien (ice hockey) as Skyhawks featured in the prestigious national publication in this calendar year alone. A native of Bow, N.H. and a graduate of Bow High School, Acone earned her degree in sociology last month from Stonehill after completing one of the most storied athletic careers in school history.

Acone was honored by Sports Illustrated after becoming the eighth player in NCAA Division II history to surpass the 300 career point plateau, as she finished her career with 227 goals and 311 points. One of two players in Northeast-10 Conference history to be named as the league's Player of the Year for three straight seasons, Acone finished her senior campaign with 61 goals and 39 assists for 90 points and last week became one of three individuals in school history to earn All-America honors in each of her four seasons of play. Erin is one of three athletes in school history to earn both All-America honors on the field and Academic All-America accolades in the classroom, as she helped lead Head Coach Michael Daly's squad to its eighth straight Northeast-10 regular season championship and seventh straight league tournament title this spring with a 16-3 overall mark. Over the course of her career, Acone helped lead Stonehill to a 68-8 mark with four Northeast-10 titles and a pair of NCAA Division II national championships in 2003 and 2005.

Acone's honor is the third for a Stonehill student-athlete during the 2006 calendar year, as O'Brien was honored by Sports Illustrated in its February 20th edition on being named as the Northeast-10 Conference Ice Hockey Freshman of the Week on seven occasions to that point in the season, as he was named as the eventual conference Freshman of the Year. Simonds, a six-time selection as Northeast-10 Women's Basketball Freshman of the Week when she was honored in the January 23rd edition of Sports Illustrated, was also tabbed as the eventual league Freshman of the Year.

With Acone's selection in this week's issue, six Stonehill student-athletes have now been featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" since May 2003, as women's lacrosse standouts Katie Lambert '03 and Lauren Stone '06, in addition to ice hockey standout Rob Pascale '04, have also been honored. Lambert was the first-ever Stonehill student-athlete to be featured in "Faces In The Crowd" in the June 16, 2003 issue in recognition of her NCAA Division II goal scoring record as well as leading the Skyhawks to their first NCAA Division II national championship in May 2003. Pascale, the 2003-2004 Northeast-10 Conference of the Year, was featured in the December 28, 2003 edition of the magazine for his accomplishments in setting the Stonehill career records for goals, assists and points in being named as the ECAC Northeast Player of the Week three times in a four week span. Stone was honored by Sports Illustrated in the May 16, 2005 issue after setting a school single-season record for most wins by a goalie and for being named as the Northeast-10 Goalkeeper of the Week eight times in nine weeks on the season, as she helped lead the Skyhawks to their second NCAA national crown as well as a perfect 21-0 campaign.

Acone appears in this week's edition of Sports Illustrated that features Miami Heat star guard and former Marquette University standout Dwyane Wade on the cover. To view Erin's achievement in this week's edition on-line, log-on to www.si.com/faces for a "sneak peek" at Faces In The Crowd for June 12th.