PHILADELPHIA -- A pair of Villanova lacrosse players earned PhillySIDA Academic All-Area on Tuesday with men's lacrosse attackman Luke Raymond and women's lacrosse draw control specialist Emma Verhoest each picking up the honor.

It's the first time either player has been recognized on this list, which is voted on by 30 schools in the Philadelphia region. Student-athletes must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or better and be in at least their second year at their current institution. 

Raymond was selected to the team after an explosion in his fifth year, leading the Wildcats in goals (34) and points (44) after bumping down to attack for his final campaign. The Maryland native was selected to the All-BIG EAST First Team, a four-time Weekly Honor Roll recipient with one BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week. He had only one game on the year with no points, scoring a goal in 12 different outings with seven hat tricks on the year. Academically, he's been a four-time BIG EAST All-Academic Team member, a seven-time Athletic Director's Honor Roll awardee and a two-time CSC Academic All-District.

Verhoest picked up the accolade following an IWLCA Second Team All-Region campaign in which she set the Villanova program record for career draw controls as only a junior. The draw specialist was a Unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selection, leading the conference with 9.67 draw controls per game after seven of the top 10 individual DC performances in the league. The accounting and finance major is a member of VU's inaugural class of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society, as well as a two-time BE All-Academic Team, four-time AD's Honor Roll and twice CSC Academic All-District. 

This marks the fifth straight year that Villanova lacrosse has placed at least one athlete on the PhillySIDA AAA teams.