October 29, 2009

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University senior midfielder Toric Robinson and junior forward Lindsay Foder were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II first team and junior forward Kailyn Buckley was named to the women’s second team, it was released Thursday.

Robinson (Westmoreland, Jamaica/Munro College), a Business Management major with a 3.65 grade-point average, and Foder (Saylorsburg/Pleasant Valley), who has maintained a 4.0 GPA in Speech Pathology through her first four semesters, will advance to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration. Buckley (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine), who has a 3.94 GPA in Physical Therapy, earned placement on the Academic All-District team for the second straight year.

ESU has led the PSAC with 10 Academic All-District selections in each of the last two years. The PSAC had seven schools and 17 student-athletes represented on the men’s and women’s soccer teams, including seven first team selections (five women, two men).

Robinson was also recognized as an Academic All-District recipient for the second straight season. He is a three-time All-PSAC selection, including the last two seasons on the first team, and can become the seventh player with four All-PSAC honors in his career in the distinguished history of the Warriors’ men’s soccer program, which includes 19 conference championships.

Robinson, a second team Daktronics All-Region pick in 2008, leads the Warriors (9-8-1) with five goals and four assists this year going into Saturday’s season finale vs. West Chester at Eiler-Martin Stadium. He has 11 career goals and is tied for fifth in school history with 28 assists. Robinson has led ESU in assists in all four seasons he has been on campus, including nine in 2007 and eight in 2008. He has been a member of two PSAC championship and three NCAA tournament teams.

Foder and Buckley give the ESU women’s soccer program two representatives on the Academic All-District team for the second straight year. Buckley was on the third team in the midfield last season and graduate student Lynda Hicks was named to the first team at forward.

Foder has emerged as one of the top forwards in the PSAC while recording a perfect 4.0 GPA in Speech Pathology. She has seven goals and six assists this season and has 16 goals in her last 31 games, dating to moving to forward midway through last season. The Warriors are 20-7-4 since then, including an appearance in the PSAC semifinals for the second straight year and the first NCAA playoff win in school history. Foder had two goals and two assists in three postseason games last year.

Foder was a second team All-PSAC East and second team Daktronics All-Region selection as a midfielder last year with nine goals and seven assists. She has 18 career goals and 15 assists and produced two goals and an assist in a 4-2 win at No. 23 IUP on Oct. 10, a victory that put the Warriors in position to earn another NCAA tournament appearance in the next week.

Buckley has started all 60 games in her career to date at ESU, playing in the midfield her first two seasons and moving to forward this fall, where she has eight goals and six assists. She had six goals and four assists during ESU’s five-game winning streak earlier this month, including a goal and an assist in the win at IUP, and has 14 career goals and 12 assists.

A second team All-PSAC East honoree as a freshman, Buckley has helped ESU compile a 35-18-7 record since she and Foder arrived at ESU in 2007. She had a 4.0 GPA in Biology to garner Academic All-District placement last season as a sophomore.

The Warriors’ women’s soccer team (11-5-2) earned its third straight PSAC playoff berth with a 2-1 overtime win at Bloomsburg on Wednesday night and hosts West Chester on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ESU will travel to either West Chester or Kutztown for its PSAC quarterfinal game next Tuesday.

The Warriors’ 10 student-athletes on Academic All-District teams last year were Danny Drago and Toric Robinson (men’s soccer), Lynda Hicks and Kailyn Buckley (women’s soccer), Matt Freed (football), Chris Bach (men’s basketball), Jackie Yandrisevits (women’s basketball), Bill Hezel (baseball) and Paul Wagner and Kristen Morby (track & field). Bach and Wagner were both Academic All-Americans in their respective sports.

The Academic All-District teams are voted on by members of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America). The college division of District II covers all Division II and III institutions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia.