Red Flash Field Hockey Wins NFHCA National Academic Team Award

LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 23, 2009) – The Saint Francis field hockey team has been named a recipient of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association’s 2008 Division I National Academic Team award, as announced by Executive Director Jennifer Goodrich on Monday.

"Our players take the term student-athlete to heart, and I expect no less of them," said head coach Stacey Bean. "Nevertheless, I am incredibly proud of them. They represent both our school and our program very well."

Programs must earn a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher to win the Academic Team Award. La Salle University led all teams with a GPA of 3.56. Other teams in the top five were Old Dominion, Yale, Central Michigan and American.

The Red Flash combined for a team GPA of 3.23 for the fall 2008 semester.

The Flash are no strangers to academic success as the team had 16 players named to the SFU Athletic Department Honor Roll. Senior goalkeeper Erin Reifsteck (Battle Creek, Mich./Saint Phillip) was named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Third Team. Both Reifsteck and teammate Sarah Dittman (State College, Pa./State College) received perfect GPAs of 4.0 this past semester.