KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The 2017 Webster University women's soccer team earned the United Soccer Coaches (USC) Team Academic Award for the 2017-18 academic year on Thursday afternoon.
It marks the 19th consecutive year that Webster has been honored by the United Soccer Coaches, having received the Team Academic Award every year of the program's existence which first began play in 1999.
The 2017-18 Gorloks women's soccer squad posted a cumulative 3.41 grade point average (GPA) for the past academic school year. The USC annually recognizes college and high school soccer programs that have excelled in the classroom, in addition, to their work on the field.
Webster, who is coached by
Luigi Scire, is one of only 10 programs at the NCAA Division III level that have earned 18 or more awards and is one of just two Division III programs to earn the academic honor 19 consecutive times as the other program is Anderson (Ind.).
This year, a total of 773 college soccer teams (289 men, 484 women) posted a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher to earn in the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award. In addition, 191 of those 773 college programs had both their men's and women's programs recognized with a Team Academic Award. All divisions of college soccer are eligible including: NCAA I, II, and III, NAIA, and other affiliations. The teams had to have maintained a cumulative 3.0 grade point average, for all players on their rosters, for the full 2017-18 academic year to be eligible for the award.
Webster was one of three St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools that earned the USC's Team Academic Award, with MacMurray and Principia also being honored. The Gorloks also had the highest team GPA among the three SLIAC schools that were honored by the United Soccer Coaches.
During the 2017 fall semester, the Gorloks had eight of its players named to the SLIAC Fall All-Academic Team and two players,
Elena Bloma and
Brianna Pagan were both named to the NCAA Division III Scholar All North/Central Region Team selected by the United Soccer Coaches as Bloma was a second team selection and Pagan earned third team honors. In addition, Pagan was named a CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-District honoree.
