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Heather Clark
UTEP |
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Joelle Sugai
Hawaii |
UTEP's Heather Clark and Hawaii's Joelle Sugai were named to the 2004 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women's Soccer Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
CoSIDA Academic All-America Team
Clark, a senior defender from Alamogordo, N.M., becomes just the second WAC women's soccer student-athlete to earned first-team honors, after SMU's Kim Harvey was named in 2003. Clark carries a 4.0 grade point average in education. Clark helped anchor a Miner defense that limited their opponents to just 22 goals in 19 games. She finished her career with 17 points on four goals and nine assists in 70 games.
Clark is also a two-time Academic All-WAC honoree who is expected to add a third selection this season. She is the second Miner to earn the honor in women's soccer. Holly Cohen was named Academic All-America in 2002.
UTEP went 13-5-1 and tied for second in the WAC with a 4-2-1 record. The Miners advanced to the WAC Tournament semifinals and spent much of the season ranked in the Soccer Buzz Central Region rankings.
Sugai, a senior co-captain, became just the second player in program history to be named an Academic All-American as she holds a 3.78 GPA as a pre-business major. She joins Noelle Takemoto as the only Rainbow Wahine soccer players to earn the distinction of Academic All-American. Takemoto was a third team selection by the NSCAA in 2002.
Earlier in the month, Sugai was named to District VIII first team for the second straight year. To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve, at least a sophomore in athletic and academic standing and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.20. The Aiea native is also three-time UH scholar athlete and has been twice named academic all-WAC squad.
Sugai capped an incredible four-year career in 2004 by earning first-team all-WAC honors this season. This season she led the team in assists (6), helped the team to a school-record seven straight matches without a defeat and five straight shutouts posted, while maintaining her status as the most durable player in school history.
Sugai leaves the program not only having appeared in more matches than any other player, but also starting every single one of those matches, a string of 81 straight. She helped the team to its first ever WAC title in 2003 and a total of 45 wins, the most for the program in a four-year span. She also leaves UH second all-time in assists with 19.
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.