ESU Academic Awards page

EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University senior backs Andrea Polanco and Hannah Gombos have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America women's soccer team for the 2016 season, it was released Monday.

Polanco (Otisville, N.Y./Minisink Valley) was named to the second team and Gombos (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) was named to the third team.

They are the first ESU women's soccer players to be named Academic All-America in program history.

They are part of a senior class that helped ESU win three straight PSAC championships (2014-16), captured the 2015 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional title and won 58 games, a school record for a four-year stretch.

Polanco, who has a 4.0 grade-point average as a Public Health major, was a two-year starter and four-year letterwinner for the Warriors. She was named the PSAC Champion Scholar for women's soccer at the conference semifinals two weeks ago as the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the championship site.

She started 45 of ESU's 46 games at center back over the last two seasons, helping ESU post shutouts in 20 of its 30 victories in 2015 and 2016. She started two games at defensive midfielder, the PSAC championship game and the NCAA Tournament second round game, as a sophomore in 2014.

Gombos, who has a 3.56 GPA as a Special Education and Middle Level Education major, was named to the All-PSAC first team and D2CCA All-Region first team this fall. A four-year starter who appeared in the lineup 77 times, she had three goals and a PSAC and Atlantic Region-leading 11 assists as a senior from her spot at right back.

Gombos finished her career tied for fourth in school history in career assists (19) and added nine career goals.

Polanco and Gombos are the only PSAC and District 2 players on the women's Academic All-America team.

They were joined on the Academic All-District team by senior midfielder Shea Neal, a two-time All-District honoree.

The men's team includes Bloomsburg back Josh Smith (1st team), Seton Hill midfielder Joe Smith (1st team) and  Mercyhurst forward Thom Derks (2nd team) from the PSAC, along with WV Wesleyan back Jens Demul (2nd team) from District 2.


About the Academic All-District and Academic All-America program

The Academic All-District and Academic All-America teams recognize student-athletes for athletic and academic achievements and are nominated and voted on by members of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America).

ESU is tied for second in the PSAC with 95 Academic All-District selections in the last nine years (2007-08 through 2015-16), and tied for third with 36 Academic All-America selections in that time frame.

ESU finished the 2015-16 academic year with 12 Academic All-District selections, the most in the PSAC.

ESU had six Academic All-America selections last year, tied for the most in the PSAC - Jon Schnaars (football - 1st team), Devon Ackerman (football - 1st team), Ally Roth (women's at-large/field hockey - 3rd team), Alex Zubko (men's track & field/cross country - 1st team), Travis Toth (men's track & field/cross country - 2nd team) and William Berry (men's track & field/cross country - 3rd team).

This marks the sixth year that separate teams have been selected for Division II, Division III and College Division (NAIA/Canadian schools/two-year schools) institutions. The previous "College Division" included all DII, DIII, Canadian and junior college programs.

District 2 of Division II follows the NCAA's regional model and includes all schools from the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference), Mountain East Conference and CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association). The Northeast-10 Conference is also included in the region for football.

Including this year, ESU has had 44 student-athletes combine for 61 Academic All-America awards in school history, with 28 student-athletes combining for 38 awards in the last nine years.

At the district level, 96 ESU student-athletes have combined for 141 Academic All-District selections.