Mansfield, Mass. - On Wednesday, the Northeast-10 Conference announced its Academic All-Conference teams for the Fall 2022 season, and nine Adelphi University student-athletes across five teams were amongst the honorees. 

This number is up three from last fall, when the Panthers had six athletes recognized. 

To be eligible for NE10 Academic All-Conference recognition, a student-athlete must have started in at least half or played in at least two-thirds of the team's competitions as a significant contributor and achieved a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average or better on a 4.0 scale. 

Franklin Pierce had a league-best 15 selections across all countable fall sports (golf and tennis are recognized in the spring), while Saint Anselm and Southern New Hampshire tied for second with 10 honorees each. Adelphi and Pace both had nine recipients and Bentley had eight. 

Volleyball graduate student Jamie Yonker, men's soccer junior Rodrigo Descalzo Rocca, and field hockey's Giana McKeough have all been honored with their second consecutive Academic All-Conference recognition. 

Yonker continued her role as the team's libero in which she flourished, leading the conference in total digs (588) and finishing second in digs per set (5.20). Her performance over the course of the season earned her accolades such as NE10 Libero of the Year for the second time, NE10 First Team All-Conference and D2CCA East Region First Team. Her teammate, Lilyen McCarthy, was honored for the first time while contributing as a middle blocker. McCarthy climbed up the conference ranks placing 4th in hitting percentage (0.325) and total blocks (94), as well as 3rd in total kills (353).

Descalzo Rocca started in all 14 games he played for the men's soccer team, leading the team in scoring despite missing nearly a month with injury. He was also honored with a spot on the NE10 First Team All-Conference, United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Region, and D2CCA All-Region Second Team. 

Grace Minikel represents women's cross country with her first NE10 Academic All-Conference selection, after many appearances on the NE10 Honor Roll and the D2ADA Academic Achievement Award throughout her career. Minikel helped the 'Cats to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA DII East Region Championship.

The field hockey team led the way with three student-athletes making Academic All-Conference. This is the second time McKeough has been recognized, after tying the team lead in assists (nine) which included one in the NE10 championship game. Sophomore Amanda Lee makes her first appearance as she also chipped in nine helpers, as well as finishing fourth in goals per-game (0.59), shots taken (78), and fifth in points per-game (1.59) among the NE10. Lee also took home a spot on the NE10 All-Conference Second Team. Graduate student Bianca Bachisin also makes her first Academic All-Conference appearance, finishing sixth in the NE10 in goals scored (11) which included a hat trick against Southern New Hampshire on Oct. 6. 

Rounding out the Panther group are Kayla Mushorn and Maria D'Angelo from women's soccer. Mushorn started all 20 games as the team's right fullback. As the team's fourth-leading goal scorer, Mushorn's season highlights included a game winner from long range at American International, and had a huge equalizing goal in an eventual upset win over nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce in the NE10 semifinals. D'Angelo appeared in 18 games for the 'Cats, finishing fourth in the NE10 in game winning goals (three) which included her first goal of the year against Saint Michael's on 9/17.

The conference office will be making its Academic Honor Roll announcement on Thursday, Feb. 2.