McCarthy, Boyd, Eckhardt And Vailas Each Earn Northeast-10 Women's Soccer All-Conference Honors For 2005 Performances

November 7, 2005

Four members of the Stonehill College womens soccer team have earned spots on the 2005 Northeast-10 all-conference team as announced by the league office over the weekend.

Senior Kate McCarthy (North Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames) and sophomores Lauren Boyd (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Alex Eckhardt (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) each earned spots on the second team all-Northeast-10 squad, while senior Nicole Vailas (Manchester, N.H./Trinity) was a third team all-conference selection for first year Head Coach Rolando Lopes.

McCarthy and Boyd tied the Skyhawk scoring lead this season with 12 goals and six assists for 30 points, as they became the first players to reach the 30-point plateau for Stonehill in six seasons. McCarthy closed out her stellar career as the third leading scorer in school history with 87 points and became the first Skyhawk to lead the team in scoring in each of her four seasons of play since Stonehill Hall of Famer Lindsay Pepler 00 turned the trick from 1996 through 1999. Boyd has ranked among the team leaders in scoring in each of her first two campaigns in a Stonehill uniform and netted a pair of game-winning goals this fall.

Eckhardt has established herself as one of the top netminders in the conference in her first two seasons of play, as she posted seven victories and four ties in 15 decisions in goal with a 1.99 goals against average, as she made 96 saves for a .756 saves percentage, including a career-high 17 stops in a 1-1 overtime tie with Bryant. Vailas has been a three-year standout at sweeper for Stonehill and helped the Skyhawks hold eight opponents to one of fewer goals this season, including a pair of shutouts.

Stonehill concluded its first season of play under Lopes with an overall mark of 8-4-4, its best in four seasons, and posted a 6-4-4 slate in Northeast-10 play while just missing a league playoff spot by one point. Included in that win total was the Skyhawks first triumph over a nationally-ranked foe in four years, a 2-1 overtime win at Saint Rose back on September 13th.