Cougars excel in the classroom

PROVO, Utah – BYU's women's soccer has won the West Coast Conference title the past two seasons. The Cougars have also done quite well for themselves off the field and in the classroom.

Since joining the WCC, BYU has had five players earn Academic All-America awards, have had as many WCC All-Academic players as any other team in the conference and have had an entire roster worth of players (25) named to the WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll over the past two seasons. 

This past fall semester while the Cougars were ranked nationally every week and shared the WCC title, the team earned a 3.5 GPA. It was the highest mark by an athletic team at BYU in the fall.

"We are really proud to have such a high GPA," BYU head coach Jen Rockwood said. "Our players are competitors and they are here to compete in the classroom and at South Field."

The team's hard work on and off the field resulted in five players earning WCC All-Academic team and honorable mention honors. Senior goalkeeper Erica Owens was also one of two players to be named to the WCC All-Academic team in consecutive years. Owens, Carlee Payne Holmoe and San Francisco's Mackenzie Krieser are the only players to be named to the team in consecutive years since BYU joined the WCC. This season Annie Amos, Sarah Chambers, Paige Hunt and Marissa Nimmer earned WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention. Over the past three seasons, BYU has had five players earn WCC All-Academic Team awards, while nine others have earned honorable mention honors.

Owens and Amos earned Scholar All-West Region awards. The team as a whole earned the NSCAA Team Academic Award for having a GPA above 3.0, an accomplishment that takes a lot of work and dedication.

"To be a successful student-athlete takes a lot of discipline and hard work in the classroom as well as on the field," assistant director of the Student Athlete Academic Center, Sandy Thomas said. "Time management skills, communicating with professors, and using the resources available in the Student Athlete Academic Center are all key to succeeding in the classroom."

Owens earned NSCAA Scholar All-Americ Second team honors for the second straight season. Since 2000, BYU players have been recognized eight times as Scholar All-Americans by the NSCAA. Owens and Payne Holmoe earned the honors in consecutive years.

Since joining the WCC, BYU has had 25 players named to the WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll, including four players who have made it in consecutive years. Chambers was the first soccer player to earn gold honors from the conference which she did with her 3.98 GPA in chemical engineering. Her and nine other teammates were named to the honor roll and continued their academic success through a 21-game schedule and a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament.