Elizabeth Belanger

Hooksett, N.H. native becomes Stonehill's eighth Academic All-American

EASTON, Mass. (December 1, 2011) – Stonehill College women's soccer junior back Elizabeth Belanger (Hooksett, N.H./Manchester Central) has earned Capital One Academic All-America honors as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America committee.

Belanger, who becomes the eighth Academic All-American from Stonehill College, was voted to the Capital One second team for her accomplishments on the soccer pitch and in the classroom. Belanger is the first women's soccer player to earn Academic All-America honors in program history and the College's first female student-athlete, third overall, to earn Academic All-America honors since lacrosse standout Erin Acone (Bow, N.H./Bow) earned All-America accolades twice during her time at Stonehill.

Belanger joins Don Prohovich '80 (baseball), Kevin Broderick '93 (football), Julie Stockwell '00 (basketball), Amy Bartlett '02 (lacrosse) and Michael Mashkevich '10 (tennis) in the exclusive Stonehill Academic All-America club, as Acone, Stockwell and Bartlett hold the distinction of earning both All-America and Academic All-America accolades in their respective sports during their careers.  

Belanger, a two-time Academic All-District honoree with first team honors this fall and third team as a sophomore, boasted a 3.95 GPA during the 2010-11 academic year was awarded the prestigious Fred C. Petti Individual Academic Award for the highest GPA among all female student-athletes by the College's athletic department. The women's soccer team also earned the Fred C. Petti Team Academic Award for the 2010-11 academic year.

Belanger has also garnered the St. Thomas Aquinas Medal for compiling the highest cumulative GPA on the women's soccer team through the Fall 2010 semester and has been a participant in Stonehill's Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program for the past two summers. The SURE program is a selective and rigorous summer program focused on research and data collection with the potential for students to have their work published by academic and scientific journals. SURE also allows students to gain knowledge in their major as well as help them to identify their career choices for the future, whether it be graduate school or the work force.

Belanger helped the Skyhawks reach the NE-10 semifinal round this season – their eighth appearance in program history and first since 1999 – while guiding Stonehill (11-7-2, 8-5-2 NE-10) to ten shutouts as a team, the best goals against average (GAA) in Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) play at 0.58 and the third-best GAA overall in the NE-10 at 0.68.

To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

- www.stonehillskyhawks.com -