AUSTIN, Texas – After becoming a rare four-time IWLCA All-America selection, East Stroudsburg University lacrosse midfielder Emily Mitarotonda was named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Third Team on Tuesday afternoon, the organization announced.
She becomes the first four-time All-America Warrior to earn Academic All-America status and is just the second Warrior lacrosse student-athlete to earn this distinction. ESU's and the PSAC's all-time goals and points leader joins Tiffany Blair, who earned third-team honors in 1996.
Mitarotonda graduated with her bachelor's degree in Sport Management, with a minor in athletic coaching, this past May, achieving a 3.75 grade-point average. She earned Dean's List, PSAC Scholar-Athlete, and Athletic Director's Honor Roll all four years.
Among all NCAA Division II players in 2024, she ranked first in free-position goals per game, third in goals, third in goals per game, third in points, fourth in points per game, sixth in caused turnovers per game, 20th in ground balls per game, and 29th in draw controls per game.
She closes her illustrious four-time All-America career (the only player in program history and one of four all-time in athletic department history) with 314 goals and 79 assists, totaling 393 points. Along with ESU records in goals and points, she is the PSAC's all-time leader in both categories and holds the record for most goals by a player at one institution in NCAA Division II history (second-most goals all-time), despite a shortened freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She led the Warriors to three NCAA DII Atlantic Region titles in four seasons, reaching the NCAA Championship game during her sophomore season in 2022.
Over the past few months, Mitarotonda has racked up awards for her elite performance on the field and in the classroom, being named to the IWLCA All-America First Team, IWLCA All-Region First Team, PSAC East Athlete of the Year, All-PSAC East First Team, PSAC Top 10, NCAA All-Tournament Team, College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team, and now College Sports Academic All-America Third Team.
Joining Mitarotonda as Academic All-Americans for the 2023-24 academic year are Rebecca Kotula (women's soccer first team), Ignasi Cucurella Tuset (men's soccer third team), along with field hockey's Nicole Krozer (women's at-large first team) and Jady van Gils (women's at-large third team). Since 1979, 64 ESU student-athletes have accounted for 87 Academic All-America selections.
The Division II at-large teams honored 53 student-athletes, with 12 members of the first team earning 4.00 GPAs either as undergraduates or graduate students. A total of 26 of the 53 members had 4.00 GPAs. The 16-member first team had an average GPA of 3.99.
The Division II Academic All-America® program is financially supported by the NCAA Division II national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2023-24 Division II Academic All-America® program.
