11 Wheelock Field Hockey Players Earn Academic Laurels, Team Honored by NFHCA
BOSTON, MA - Eleven Wheelock College field hockey players have qualified for the 2010 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) National Academic Squad thanks to a strong showing in the classroom, while the program earned an NFHCA National Academic Team Award.
To earn the individual honor, student-athletes needed to carry a cumulate 3.30 grade-point average through the 2010 fall semester, while the team honor was bestowed upon squads whose student-athletes combined for a minimum 3.0 GPA last fall. Wheelock had a 3.40 GPA, coming within one-tenth of a grade point of being among the top four programs in Division III.
Seniors Julie Kilcoyne (Sterling, MA/Wachusett Regional), Michaela Ross (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield) and Kara Widdison (Greenfield, MA/Greenfield), juniors Kylie Hefford (Exeter, NH/St. Thomas Aquinas) and Alanna Pihl (Franconia, NH/Profile), 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), and freshmen Michelle Greene (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield) and Kayla Sharpe (South Deerfield, MA/Frontier Regional) all landed on the National Academic Squad.
Kilcoyne earned her second NFHCA academic laurel, while the remaining 10 Wildcats drew their first. Kilcoyne, Pihl, Ross and Widdison also qualified for their second New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Academic All-Conference honor last fall, while Ballard, Hefford, Robohm, Rogers and Unis were lauded by the NECC for the first time. For Greene and Sharpe, the NFHCA accolade was the first academic recognition of their careers.
Wheelock is among 18 Division III schools in New England to have at least 10 players qualify for the National Academic Squad, while the Wildcats are among 102 programs from across the division to earn the National Academic Team Award, including one of 31 from the region. They are also one of two from the NECC, which supports five field hockey teams.
Last fall, Wheelock went 7-9 overall and 5-3 in the league, advancing at least as far as the NECC Tournament semifinals for the third consecutive season.
Courtesy of Wheelock Sports Information
