GORHAM, Maine – Five members of the University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's lacrosse team have earned spots on the 2024-25 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Division III Academic Honor Roll. The honorees from Southern Maine include juniors Raegan Bechard (Augusta, Maine/Cony), Katelyn D'Appolonia (Yarmouth, Maine), Abby Emerson (Gorham, Maine) and Britney Hill (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) plus senior Elaina Hanselmann (Sanford, Maine).
 
To be eligible for this honor, student-athletes must be a junior, senior, or graduate student and have earned a cumulative academic GPA of 3.50 or greater.
 
Bechard played in 18 games during the 2025 season and was in the starting lineup for 14 of those games. She finished the season with 12 goals and an assist. A Health Sciences major, Bechard had multiple goals in four games including the team's win against UMass Dartmouth in the Little East Conference tournament.
 
D'Appolonia was named the LEC Rookie of the Year and First Team All-LEC after posting 57 goals, 73 points and 82 draw controls to lead the team in each category. She also earned Second Team All-Region honors from the IWLCA. In addition to her offensive output, she ranked second on the team in ground balls with 43 and fourth in caused turnovers with 23. D'Appolonia recorded at least one point in all 14 games that she played and set new program single-game records for goals (11) and points (13) in a win against Clark University. She is majoring in Communications.
 
Emerson played in four games in her debut season with the Huskies. She recorded two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Emerson is majoring in Exercise Science.
 
Hanselmann, a Political Science major, played in all 19 games and started in 13. She finished the season with a career-high 19 goals and had seven multiple-goal goals, including a hat trick against UMass Boston. She also recorded eight ground balls and four caused turnovers.
 
Hill, a First Team All-Little East Conference selection, started all 19 games on defense. She posted a team-leading 47 ground balls and caused 21 turnovers to place fifth on the team. Hill recorded multiple caused turnovers in six games and had three or more ground balls in nine games. An English major, she recently earned 2024-2025 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors.