NEC Release
NEC Fall Academic Honor Roll
NEC Fall Commissioner's Honor Roll

Somerset, NJ -- The Northeast Conference (NEC) paid tribute to a stellar group of student-athletes with the announcement of its 2018 Fall Scholar-Athlete award winners Thursday, presented by Certified Financial Services. 62 Blackbirds were honored for their work in the classroom, including 26 student-athletes who earned the distinction of being named to the Fall Commissioner's Honor Roll.

The NEC Fall Academic Honor Roll consists of 812 student-athletes with a 3.20 or better grade point average, a 6.1 percent increase from 2017. There were also 276 student-athletes named to the Commissioner's Honor Roll, recognizing those superior student-athletes with a 3.75 or better grade point average. The Commissioner's Honor Roll figure represents a 14.5 percent increase from a year ago.

The Blackbirds had an increase of honorees in both the Fall Academic Honor Roll and the Commissioner's Honor Roll, highlighted by nearly doubling the total number of honorees with GPAs of 3.75 or higher, from 17 last year to 26 this year.

Of the 26 student athletes honored with the league's highest award, 12 were members of the women's soccer team: Megan Virgin, Maria Harley, Emily Poole, Mia Rose Daly, Sarah DeWitt, Kimberly Butland, Devan Noll, Leslie Wrightington, Mary Twetten, Meredith Hill, Hayley Smith and Aline Allmann. Volleyball was next, with seven Commissioner's honorees, Myrthe Maring, Anastasia Scott, Filippa Hansson, Piper Matsumoto, Masa Zirojevic, Jovana Stekovic and Katharina Krepper, followed by women's cross country, with four (Eugenie Hue, Esther Jean-Louis, Ashton Burton, Sarah Northup) and men's soccer with three (Anthony Sciola, Christoffer Bjarre Solbakken, Ahmad Elfaham).

In total, 62 fall athletes earned academic acknowledgement from the league. The 62 athletes honored represent 83 percent of LIU's total fall student-athletes. Women's soccer had the highest number of student athletes honored, with 23, while volleyball had the highest percentage of honorees. All 14 members of the team, or 100 percent, earned recognition from the league. Women's cross country had eight of its 10 team members honored, while the NEC Championship-winning men's soccer team had 17 honorees earn an Academic Honor Roll nod.

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 38th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#23), Baltimore (#27), and Hartford/New Haven (#30).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary's, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. Merrimack will join the NEC as a full-time member in July, 2019. For more information on the NEC, visit the league's official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, all @NECsports.