67 Rams Named to Fall 2014 MASCAC All-Academic Team

Westfield, Mass. — A total of 737 student-athletes, including 67 from Framingham State University, have been honored by the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference with selection to the league’s Fall 2014 All-Academic Team as announced earlier today by MASCAC Commissioner Angela Baumann.

Football and women’s soccer lead the way with 16 and 14 student-athletes honored respectively, while women’s cross country landed 11 student-athletes on the All-Academic squad.  Field hockey placed nine and volleyball landed seven, while six runners from the men’s cross country squad and four from the men’s soccer team were honored with selection to the 2014 MASCAC Fall All-Academic team.

“I want to commend all the MASCAC institutions and affiliates on having such an incredible number of student-athletes honored on the Fall MASCAC All-Academic Team,” Commission Baumann said.  “The fact that the number of honorees recognized is increasing each year is a testament to the hard work that they put in not only on the MASCAC fields and courts but in the classroom as well.”

Honorees from the 2014 MASCAC Championship football squad include seniors Jerry Etienne (Food & Nutrition), Randall Kelleher (Economics) and Brian Montambault (Psychology), juniors Joe Grigg (Undeclared), Jared Gauthier (Geography) and Matt Mangano (Criminology), sophomores Chris Dagg (Management), Connor Doran (Undeclared), Matt Ferrazzani (Management), Tom Kerr (Business Administration), James Sheehan (Criminology) and Bobby Sivret (Criminology), and freshman Michael Bryne (Management), Tom Burns (Undeclared), Ben King (Criminology) and Joe Wilder (Biology).

Honorees from the women’s soccer team include seniors Emily Biegner (Food & Nutrition), Jillian Carchedi (Psychology), Isabela DeSouza (Psychology), Melissa Higgins (Biology) and Marisa Parent (Psychology), juniors Jennifer Johnson (Communication Arts), Sara Sullivan (Liberal Studies) and Brini Varetimos (Criminology), sophomores Olivia Buonopane (Psychology), Claryssa Cunniff (Psychology), Tess Gorman (Food & Nutrition) and Ashley Lees (Psychology), and freshmen Darby Andersson (Food & Nutrition) and Molly Kelley (Marketing).

Members women’s cross country squad honored are juniors Jenna Anan (Food & Nutrition), Hannah Daly (Liberal Studies), Emma Hazen (Biology), Rachel Holland (Environmental Science) and Morgan Zabinski (Food & Nutrition), sophomores Kayleigh Laughlin (Psychology), and Courtney Torres (Food & Nutrition) and freshmen Emily Mulloy (Food & Nutrition), Megan Peterson (Sociology), Hannah Rogers (Food & Nutrition), and Valerie Thibaud (Food & Nutrition).

Members of the 2014 field hockey squad included on the All-Academic team are seniors Emma Littlefield (Criminology), Rhea Urbaniak (Environmental Science) and Hannah Wilkins (Psychology), juniors Emily Colcord (Food & Nutrition), Shannon O’Malley (Sociology) and Samantha Pajer (Fashion Design), and sophomore Lynne Sirchia (Fashion Merchandising), and freshmen Mallory Fredericks (Sociology) and Amie Souza (Early Childhood Education).

Seniors Maribeth Martin (Sociology) and Courtney Wilbur (History), sophomores Alex Coppola (Criminology), Alycia Rackliffe (Food & Nutrition) and Julia Wan (Studio Art), along with freshmen Victoria Anderson (History) and Jocelyn Wilbur (Undeclared) were honored from the 2014 MASCAC Champions volleyball team.

Honorees from the men’s cross country team include junior Thomas Rainsford (Criminology), sophomores Adam Meltzer (Sociology), Dan Stevens (Sociology) and Richard Wertz (Business Administration) and freshmen Eric Kelley (Communication Arts) and Doug Perkins (Biology), while seniors Mark Bamford (Criminology), Nick Cotter (Marketing) and Billy Levitsky (Sociology) and sophomore Cameron Menter (Business Administration) were honored from the men’s soccer team.

Student-athletes that compete in championship varsity sports offered by each of the MASCAC institutions during the course of the Fall 2014 athletic season and have achieved a 3.20 cumulative or semester-based grade point average during the semester are eligible for selection to the Fall All-Academic Team.

The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, the nation’s oldest Division III men’s and women’s playing conference, has a rich and storied tradition of competitive success while celebrating excellence in the classroom.  MASCAC member schools include Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Framingham State University, MCLA, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Salem State University, Westfield State University and Worcester State University.  Two other institutions, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, are affiliate members of the conference in the sports of men’s ice hockey and football, while Western Connecticut State University joined the conference as an affiliate member in football beginning in 2013-14.