23 Wheelock fall student-athletes corral academic all-league honors
BOSTON, MA - Wheelock College had 23 student-athletes across four sports earn New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Academic All-Conference laurels for the fall 2010 semester. The Wildcats were one citation short of league leader Lesley University, which had 24 among its six fall programs. Wheelock led NECC field hockey with nine qualifiers, while women's soccer matched Lesley for a league high behind nine honorees.
To be eligible for NECC Academic All-Conference, student-athletes must have posted a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.40 through the fall semester and be at least a sophomore. Student-athletes who competed in men's and women's cross country, field hockey, golf, men's and women's soccer, women's tennis and women's volleyball were eligible for fall honors. Twenty-three of the 44 Wheelock student-athletes eligible for the accolade qualified.
Among Wheelock's nine field hockey players to be honored, Julie Kilcoyne (Sterling, MA/Wachusett Regional), Michaela Ross (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield) and Kara Widdison (Greenfield, MA/Greenfield) are each seniors. Juniors Kylie Hefford (Exeter, NH/St. Thomas Aquinas) and Alanna Pihl (Franconia, NH/Profile) and sophomores Chelsey Ballard (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield), Rachel Robohm (North Easton, MA/Oliver Ames), Taylor Rogers (Essex, MA/Manchester Essex Regional) and Nancy Unis (Hull, MA/Hull) also qualified. Kilcoyne, Pihl, Ross and Widdison each earned their second NECC Academic All-Conference accolade, while the remaining five drew their initial award. Wheelock went 5-3 in the NECC last fall while advancing to at least the league tournament semifinals for the third consecutive season.
Five women's soccer players earned their second career honors, as graduate student Nicole French (West Roxbury, MA/Beaver Country Day School), seniors Christine Pellerin (Auburn, MA/Auburn) and Nicole Zina (Bristol, RI/Our Lady of Fatima), and juniors Allison Rogers (Millbury, MA/Millbury) and Kimberly Rogers (Derby, CT/Derby) were all repeat qualifiers. Juniors Hilary Johansen (Walpole, MA/Walpole) and Adriana Perry (Holbrook, MA/South Shore Charter Public School) and sophomores Sarah McCaffrey (East Taunton, MA/Taunton) and Jillian Plourde (Allenstown, NH/Pembroke Academy) drew their initial accolades, as Johansen, Perry and Plourde were all first-year members of the team.
Women's cross country, which took second at October's NECC Championship, saw three land on the academic all-conference squad. Juniors Liz Connolly (Belchertown, MA/Belchertown) and Maria Sideri (North Andover, MA/North Andover) each earned their second career honor, while sophomore Cara McAuliffe (Nashua, NH/Nashua South) drew her first.
In its second season of varsity competition, men's soccer was represented by a pair of honorees. Junior Matthew Howard (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) became the first player in the program's brief history to be honored twice, while sophomore Dan Campbell (Northboro, MA/Algonquin Regional) qualified in his first year with the squad.
