DENVER - Seattle U women's soccer player Stephanie Verdoia has been selected by the Western Athletic Conference senior woman administrators to represent the WAC for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Now in its 25th year, the award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
A Salt Lake City native, Verdoia completed her degree in political science with a specialization in legal studies with a 3.97 cumulative grade-point average. A 2015 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner, she earned the Seattle U Eddie O'Brien Female Student-Athlete of the Year for the second time in her career (2012-13) and received the Kennedy Award, given to the highest GPA among political science majors at Seattle U. Verdoia is currently a midfielder for the Boston Breakers of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
A two-time team captain, Verdoia started all 83 games she appeared in and finished her career as the Seattle U career leader in goals (51) and points (132). Twice named the WAC Offensive Player of the Year (2013, 2014), as a senior she set the Redhawks' single-season record for goals scored (22), which also placed her second in the nation in Division I. Verdoia was a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) third team All-American in 2014 and received both the Senior CLASS Award and the Capital One Academic All-American of the Year® Award during her senior season. She was named the 2015 Female Sports Star of the Year by the Seattle Sports Commission and was a national semifinalist for the 2015 Wooden Citizenship Cup.
Verdoia was a NSCAA Scholar All-America first team selection in 2014 and third team honoree in 2013. As a junior in 2013, she was named NSCAA All-West Region second team, to the Capital One Academic All-America® third team and earned the Joe Kearney Award, given annually to top male and female student-athlete in the WAC.
Off the field, Verdoia was the vice president of the Seattle U Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) as a junior and senior, and served as one of two Seattle U representatives on the WAC SAAC. The sole student-athlete representative to the Seattle U Gender Equity Committee, she was also selected to the Ignatian Leaders, an honors-based advisory panel selected by the Seattle University President. Verdoia served as a Student-Athlete Peer Mentor and was a member of the Seattle U Law Scholars Group.
During her time at Seattle U, Verdoia volunteered at Swedish Children's Hospital, Camp Korey, Special Olympics Project UNIFY, the Rotary Boys and Girls Club and at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School in an after-school soccer program. She also participated in the Professionals Without Borders 10-day service trip to Belize and volunteered at the American Parkinson Disease Association and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Dream Gala auctions.
Verdoia was one of 480 female student-athletes nominated for the honor and one of 147 named 2015 Woman of the Year honorees by conferences and independent schools.
The Woman of the Year selection committee will next select the top 10 honorees in each division. These top 30 honorees will be announced in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from amongst those nine finalists to determine the 2015 Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be honored and the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 18.
The WAC also received nominations for its 2015 Woman of the Year candidate from Grand Canyon (volleyball player Mackenzie Phelps) and Utah Valley (soccer player Lexi Robison).
To view the list of conference nominees, click here.