FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WINTHROP, Mass. – Five Great Northeast Athletic Conference student-athletes have garnered Google Cloud Academic All-District® honors in men's and women's soccer, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) organization on Thursday.
On the women's side, Emmanuel College senior Mikayla Guthrie, Norwich University junior Mary-Kait Mace, Saint Joseph's College senior Haley DaGraca and Simmons University senior Ciara Forde were recognized, while Lasell College senior Connor Wall was the lone men's honoree from the league.
The CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their excellence both on the field and in the classroom. The District Team selections are divided into eight geographic districts and further delineated by NCAA Divisions I, II and III. First team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first, second and third team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.
GUTHRIE: Guthrie, who sports a cumulative grade point average of 4.00 on a 4.00 scale and is an elementary education major, led the Saints in goals (14) and points (35) while ranking second in assists (7) this season all of which are new career highs for the senior. Guthrie was a perfect 1-for-1 in penalty kicks this fall and posted two game winners in victories of Newbury College and Norwich University. In the victory over Newbury, Guthrie scored a single-game program-record five goals in Emmanuel's 7-0 win. Off the field, Guthrie is doing her student-teaching at the Lawrence School in Brookline, Mass where she is currently teaching third graders.
She served as a women's soccer captain this season and also serves as the women's club hockey team captain. She is an athletic community service liaison, as well as a civilian academic mentor. Mace is a four-time Dean's List honoree and was named to the GNAC All-Academic team last year. This year on the soccer field, Mace played in 15 games, while starting 14 of them and was one of the driving forces behind the team's program-record six-game winning streak to start the 2018 season. She notched two assists in a 9-1 victory over Anna Maria to record her first collegiate points. In two seasons on the women's soccer team, Mace has played in 30 games and started 27.
DaGRACA: DaGraca, a Medical Biology/Pre-Vet major, is a two-time GNAC All-Academic honoree and has been listed on the Dean's List following each of her six semesters at Saint Joseph's. She was also the recipient of the Chemistry department's 2017 Organic Chemistry Award and is a member of the SJC Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). A two-year team captain, DaGraca this season has solidified her place in the Monks' record books as the program's most accomplished offensive player.
By wide margins she is the Monks' career leader in goals (69), points (153), game-winners (20), and shots (401) and she currently ranks sixth in points and goals among all active NCAA DIII Women's Soccer players. The two-time GNAC Offensive Player of the Year (2016, 2018) and four-time First Team All-GNAC honoree led the conference in goals (19), points (44) and game-winning goals (7) this fall. DaGraca is one of four GNAC women's soccer players to earn the academic award, as she is joined by Simmons senior Ciara Forde, Emmanuel senior Mikayla Guthrie, and Norwich junior Mary-Kait Mace. She is the second player in SJC women's soccer history to claim the Academic All-District® accolade – former teammate Sarah Comtois '18 collected the award during her junior and senior seasons.
FORDE: Forde becomes the first Shark to earn Academic All-District® honors since former soccer player Justine Beauchamp (2009-12) was tabbed in 2012 . Forde currently maintains a career cumulative grade point average of 3.90 as a Physical Therapy major and has been named to the Dean's List every semester at Simmons, while earning a 4.0 in four different semesters.
The senior was named a Second Team Great Northeast Athletic Conference All-Conference selection for the third straight year, earlier in the week for the Sharks. Forde was among the league's point and goal leaders throughout the season and ranked fourth among conference players with 28 points and 13 goals. Her goal and point totals both rank as the seventh-most in a season for a Simmons player. The midfielder tallied 10 goals in league games, which ranked second among GNAC players in league-only matches. A graduate of North Quincy High School, Forde was one of the league's most consistent scorers, notching at least one point in 10 contests, including a seven-match point-streak from September 12-29, which was the longest such streak by a Shark since 2007. Forde tallied multiple goals on four occasions, including in three consecutive games from September 22-26. She was named the GNAC Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks for the weeks of September 17-23 and September 24-30 and was one of just two players to earn the honor more than once during the season. In addition, the midfielder netted three game-winning markers, including the game-decider to defeat eventual GNAC champion Saint Joseph's College (Maine) in a regular-season match on September 22 in Standish, Maine.
Forde ended her career among Simmons' all-time scoring leaders, ranking sixth with 75 career points and fourth with 32 goals and is also 10th with 11 lifetime assists. She stands seventh in games played with 73 and her eight game-winning goals rank as the second-most for a Shark in the last 15 years. Forde has performed well in the classroom, being named to the GNAC All-Academic Team in both years that she has been eligible.
WALL: A two-year co-captain and four-year starter, Wall is a six-time Dean's List student at Lasell as an Environmental Studies major and a National Honor Society member. He completed an internship with the Econautics Sustainability Institute and was a Fall Symposium Speaker on Corporate Social Responsibility. Wall is a two-time selection to the GNAC All-Academic Team. On the soccer field, he started 11 of his 12 games on defense for the Lasers and finished second on the team in scoring with three goals and one assist for seven points. He was the team's Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the team's Most Valuable Player in 2017.
Information Provided by Emmanuel, Lasell, Norwich, SJC, Simmons Athletics Communications.
About The Google Cloud Academic All-District Teams
The 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Women's Soccer Team, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes soccer honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
The Division II and III Google Cloud Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2018-19 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs.
For more information about CoSIDA's Google Cloud Academic All-District® and Academic All-America® Teams program, visit www.AcademicAllAmerica.com or the Academic All-America® home page on CoSIDA.com.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
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