GORHAM, Maine  –  Three members of the  2023 Little East Conference Champion University of Southern Maine Huskies' field team have earned 2023-2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors.  Earning the academic distinction were seniors Hannah Banks (Belfast, Maine), Brooke Carson (Bryant Pond, Maine/Oxford Hills) and Jordan Cummings (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little)
 
To be eligible for Academic All-District recognition, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically with a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher. The student-athlete also must have competed in 90 percent or started in 66 percent of their institution's games. The 2023-24 Academic All-District At-Large Team (including the USM-sponsored sports of field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, golf, wrestling) is selected by College Sports Communicators, and recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
 
Named the Little East Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player, scoring the game-winning goal in the Huskies' 2023 championship win over Keene State for the program's first title in 20 years, Banks earned numerous post-season honors.  A 2023 National Field Hockey Coaches' Association All-Region (second team) midfielder, Banks earned her degree in Business Management, and is a three-time William B. Wise Scholar Athlete. Recognized as a CSC Academic All-District athlete during the 2022-2023 academic year, Banks was also honored by the NFHCA this fall as a Scholar of Distinction – an award program recognizes student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.9 or higher through the first semester of the 2023-2024 academic year, while being a member of a Division III field hockey team. Banks concluded her outstanding career as a three-time All-Little East Conference selection, earning the honor twice as a midfielder and once as a member of USM's defense.
 
The Huskies' second leading scorer in 2023 with 12 goals and six assist for 30 points, Carson earned second team All-Little East Conference honors as a forward.  Carson had four game-winning goals during the season, including Southern Maine's deciding goal in a 2-1 overtime win against VTSU-Castleton in the semifinals of the 2023 Little East Conference Championship tournament. A four-year recipient of the NFHCA National Academic Squad and a two-time NFHCA Scholar of Distinction, Carson is earning her degree in Business.  Carson is a two-time All-LEC forward, and has 37 goals and 15 assists for 89 career points in 68 games played.  She is currently eighth all-time in goals scored in program history.
 
Named the Little East Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season (2022, 2023), Cummings earned NFHCA All-Region second team honors and first team All-LEC recognition to conclude her 2023 season.  Playing and starting in all 23 games for the Huskies, Cummings recorded four defensive saves during the season and had a goal and an assist to her credit.  Cummings is one of just two Husky field hockey players to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors in the program's history, playing a critical role in Southern Maine's first conference championship in 20 seasons and back-to-back regular season LEC titles (2022, 2023), spearheading a stingy defense that finished the LEC regular season undefeated (6-0), and limited its opponents to a 1.46 goals against average.  A Health Science major, Cummings is a two-time NFHCA Academic Squad member and is now a two-time CSC Academic All-District honoree.