WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley University's Maeli Cherry (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) was selected to the 2021 Academic All-District 1 Team for women's soccer, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

In Division II, District I is comprised of schools from the Northeast-10, East Coast and Central Atlantic conferences.

A corporate finance and accounting major, Cherry has had a standout senior season for the Falcons as one of the outside backs. She has started all 17 of the team's matches and ranks third on the team in minutes played at 1,293. She's also registered two assists from her defensive position.

Cherry has been a stalwart member of Bentley's backline which has helped the Falcons post some of the best defensive numbers in the NE10 this season. The team has conceded just 14 goals in 17 matches, and just 10 goals in 13 NE10 matches in the regular season, third fewest in the NE10.

A team captain this season, Cherry has also excelled academically during her time at Bentley. In addition to being selected to the Academic All-District 1 team for this season, she earned the NE10 Academic Excellence award for the Fall 2020 semester for achieving a GPA of 4.0.

First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be announced in early December.

Bentley went 8-4-1 in the NE10 regular season to finish third, and they sport an 8-6-3 overall record. The team is ranked 6^th in this week's NCAA Division II East Region rankings. The NCAA Division II Selection Show is scheduled for Monday at 6:00 PM on NCAA.com.