GORHAM, Maine  –  Seniors Breanna Atwood (Franklin, Mass.), Catriona Gould (Freeport, Maine), Sarah Lowell (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee), Eliza Roy (Camden, Maine) and Mia Sargent (Portland, Maine/Deering), and sophomore Riley Reitchel (Palermo, Maine/Erskine Academy) of the University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's soccer team have earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors.
 
Members of the Huskies' 2023 Little East Conference Champion women's soccer team, all six student-athletes earned 2023 All-Little East Conference honors and are receiving Academic All-District recognition after distinguishing themselves athletically and academically as student-athletes at the University of Southern Maine.  To be eligible for the accolade, student-athletes must be a starter or an important reserve with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale), must have participated in at least 90 percent of the team's games, must be at least a sophomore academically and have been at their current institution for one full academic year.  Graduate students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher as both an undergrad and graduate student-athlete. 
 
One of the Huskies' starting center backs, Lowell is earning Academic All-District honors for the second time. Serving as one of the Huskies' 2023 captains, Lowell earned post-season honors from the Little East Conference for the first time as a member of the All-Conference second team this season. Named the LEC Defensive Player of the Week twice, Lowell helped organize a defense that held opponents scoreless 13 times, and limited its conference opposition to just five goals.  A Nursing major, Lowell is a William B Wise Scholar Athlete and a Little East Conference All-Academic Team member.  She has played in 60 career games, starting 58, and has five assists in her career. 
 
A three-time All-Little East Conference forward, Gould is a two-time first team selection and was the 2022 LEC Offensive Player of the Year.  Leading the Huskies offensively with 14 goals and six assists for 34 points, Gould scored three game-winning goals in 2023. Tying the program's record for goals in a career (43), Gould achieved the feat with a brace in the Huskies' 3-0 shutout victory over WestConn for the 2023 conference title. Already the program's single-season record holder for goals (20) and points (47) in a season, Gould is three points shy of the school record (106).  An United Soccer Coaches' All-Region first team forward in 2022, Gould is earning Academic All-District honors for the first time in her career.  A Biology major, Gould is a William B. Wise Scholar Athlete.  
 
Named the Little East Conference Goalkeeper of the Year for back-to-back seasons (2022, 2023), Atwood is a repeat first team All-Little East Conference selection, and a two-time Academic All-District team member. Named the LEC's Goalkeeper of the Week five times in 2023, Atwood broke her own single-season shut out record (12), and established a new career mark for shutouts amassing 27 in 59 career games.  Atwood earned her record-setting 12^th shutout of the 2023 season, backstopping the Huskies to their first-ever NCAA tournament win, a 2-0 victory over No. 10 Rowan University, making seven saves  - including a penalty stop.  With a career record of 42-10-6, Atwood has a remarkable 0.840 career goals against average and an 85.4 career save percentage.  A William B. Wise Scholar Athlete, Atwood is an Exercise Science.
 
The first USM women's soccer player to be named Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, Sargent repeated the honor in 2023, and is now a three-time All-Little East Conference selection, earning first team honors in 2022 and 2023. One of the Huskies' starting center backs, Sargent played the second most minutes behind Atwood, and lead a defense that compiled 13 shutouts and limited its opponents to 0.77 goals against average. Named the LEC's Defensive Player of the Week three times in 2023, Sargent had two goals and two assists this season, including the Huskies' game-winning goal in the program's first NCAA tournament win – a 2-0 victory over No. 10 Rowan.  Playing in 62 career games with 60 starts, Sargent has nine goals and four assists for 22 points.  A Biology major, Sargent is now a two-time Academic All-District student athlete, and is a multiple-time winner of the William B. Wise Scholar Athlete and Little East Conference Fall All-Academic Team awards. She was a United Soccer Coaches' third team pick in 2022.
 
Earning Academic All-District honors for the first time, Roy scored eight goals and had five assists for 21 points in 2023, and was named third team All-Little East Conference.  Scoring three game-winning goals in 2023, Roy's goal just 26 seconds into the 2023 Little East Conference Championship game was the deciding factor in USM's 3-0 win over WestConn for the program's second-ever and second consecutive conference crown. In two seasons with the Huskies, Roy had nine goals and seven assists, and finished her intercollegiate career (Wellesley College) with 19 goals and 13 assists. A Health Science major, Roy is a William B. Wise Scholar Athlete.
 
One of the Huskies' wingers, Reitchel finished 2023 as the Huskies' second leading goal scorer with 10 goals, while leading Southern Maine with 11 assists to total 31 points in her sophomore season.  Named the LEC Championship's Most Outstanding Player, tallying two goals and a pair of assists over the semifinal and final games, Reitchel scored 14 points against conference opponents and created numerous chances with her speed down the right side. She scored four game-winning goals during the season, including three against conference competition.  Also a standout of the Huskies' track & field team, Reitchel is a Linguistics major, and a William B. Wise Scholar Athlete.
 
Designated Academic All-District student-athletes are eligible for selection to the Academic All-America program. College Sports Communicators began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored more than 38,000 deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors.  Currently, CSC sponsors Academic All-America® programs for men's soccer, women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's swimming & diving, women's swimming & diving, men's tennis, women's tennis, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. Many other sports are eligible through the At-Large program, including USM sponsored sports field hockey, golf, ice hockey, and wrestling).