America East Release

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A trio of University of Vermont student-athletes have been honored by the America East Conference. May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario), a member of the women's basketball team, Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario), a member of the women's lacrosse team and Joe Serafin (Tariffville, Conn.), a member of the baseball team, were named America East Scholar-Athletes for their respective sports this season. The league office announced the winter/spring scholar-athletes today.

Kotsopoulos earns the scholar-athlete honor for the second straight year for women's basketball. She carries a 3.67 grade point average as a business administration major at Vermont and is a two-time ESPN The Magazine Women's Basketball Academic All-District I selection.

Kotsopoulos, the 2009 team MVP, was instrumental in the women's basketball team's run to win its fifth America East Championship and advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2009. The 5-10 guard ranked second on the team in scoring (14.0 ppg) and reached the 1,000-point milestone this year.

She was named to the America East All-Conference Second Team, All-Defensive Team and All-Academic Team for the second straight year. Kotsopoulos also earned a spot on the America East All-Championship team after averaging 17 points and shooting 56 percent from three-point range and 82 percent from the foul line in three tournament games. She reached double figures in each game, with a tournament high of 21 in the victory over No. 1 Boston U in the championship game.

Millar became the first UVM student-athlete to be named America East Woman of the Year earlier this month. She is the first women's lacrosse player in the program's history to be named the America East Scholar-Athlete in the sport.

Millar was a four-time team MVP as a midfielder for the women's lacrosse team and a team captain since 2007. She is the all-time leader at Vermont in goals, assists, points, draw controls and caused turnovers. She also closed out her career as the NCAA all-time leader for career draw controls at the Division I level.

Millar was named UVM’s top female senior athlete, earning the J. Edward Donnelly Award at the 2009 Rally Awards, the department’s end of year celebration. Millar is a two-time America East All-Championship Team member, two-time WomensLacrosse.com All-American and four-time IWLCA Regional All-American. In her senior campaign, Millar was a unanimous selection to the America East First Team and All-Academic Team.

She led UVM to back-to-back appearances in the America East Women's Lacrosse Championship for the second time in school history. In 2009, UVM went 9-8, posting its first winning season since 1994 and tying the school record for wins in a single season.

For the second straight year, Millar was named to the ESPN The Magazine All-District I Women's At-Large Team with a 3.64 GPA in elementary education.

Serafin, the 2008 America East Pitcher of the Year, becomes the second UVM student-athlete to earn America East Scholar-Athlete honors for baseball in the history of the program, joining Steve Johnson who garnered the accolade in 1991-92.

Serafin, a left-handed pitcher, was 21-17 with a 4.00 earned run average in 60 career appearances for the Catamounts. He struck out 262 batters in 317 career innings and ranks first all-time in strikeouts and innings pitched at UVM. His 21 victories are tied for first in the program's history.

Serafin, a fifth-year senior, earned a 3.72 GPA and a degree in business administration as an undergraduate and spent this past season working towards a master's degree in public administration.

Following the season Serafin was one of two Catamounts selected in the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He was chosen in the 37th round (selection number 1123) by the Chicago White Sox.

Vermont, which won the America East Academic Cup for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year with a record 3.14 GPA, boasts a total of five America East Scholar-Athletes in five sports. Joining Kotsopoulos, Millar and Serafin as America East Scholar-Athletes are: Connor Tobin (Fort Collins, Colo.) for men's soccer and Kim Striegler (Whitney Point, N.Y.) for field hockey.

America East is proud to have one of most comprehensive academic awards programs in the country. In addition to the scholar-athlete program, an All-Academic team comprised of student-athletes that excel both academically and athletically is chosen in each of the conference’s 21 sports by a committee consisting of faculty athletic representatives, academic advisers and sports information directors. Additionally, the conference recognizes all student-athletes who achieve at least a 3.0 GPA on its Academic Honor Roll with those achieving a 3.5 average or better receiving Commissioner’s Honor Roll status. Finally, the Academic Cup is awarded to the school with the highest cumulative GPA among its student-athletes for that academic year.