Seattle U’s Ray, Utah Valley’s Bruce WAC Nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year
Seattle U’s Ray, Utah Valley’s Bruce WAC Nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year
INDIANAPOLIS – Seattle U women's soccer player Jessie Ray and Utah Valley women's soccer player Hannah Bruce have been selected by the WAC senior woman administrators to represent the conference for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award. In its 30th year, the award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
Ray, a Portland, Ore. native, graduated with bachelor's degree in cell and molecular biology with a 3.92 grade-point average. The 2019 WAC Offensive Player of the Year and WAC Tournament MVP, she was also named first-team All-WAC as a senior, as well as second-team All-WAC during her sophomore and junior seasons.
Ray finished her Redhawk career ranked third all-time in Seattle U history in goals (25), assists (20), and points (70). She was also responsible for the game-winning goals in the WAC Championship match as both a freshman in 2016 and a senior in 2019 and helped SU earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament in three of her four years.
She also was a four-time Academic All-WAC honoree and earned United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-West Region honors as well. Ray tallied over 250 honors of community service during her collegiate career with the following organizations: CORE Health Scholars, Bailey Gatzert Elementary, Bloodworks NW, and Special Olympics.
Bruce, a native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada, held a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while earning her bachelor of science degree in psychology. She also was a two-time All-WAC honoree and earned WAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2017.
A team captain for the Wolverines in 2019, she helped lead UVU to a WAC title in 2017 and a runner-up finish in 2019. In addition to her success on the pitch, she was a 2019 Rhodes Scholarship Finalist at Oxford and became the first UVU women's soccer player to earn United Soccer Coaches Scholar West Region honors. After graduating from Utah Valley a semester early, she went on to play professionally for the Puerto Rico Sol.
In her time at UVU, she was extremely involved in the community, volunteering her time to the following organizations or initiatives over her collegiate career: UVU Black Student Union, UVU SAAC, Celtic Rangers FC, Women's Leadership Forum, Brain Balance, NCAA Leadership Forum, NCAA APPLE Institute and Utah Children's Justice Center.
Ray and Bruce were among a program-record 605 school nominees for the award, the most ever in the history of the program. As the WAC's
nominees, they are among 161 conference nominees, including 59 from the Division I level.
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 September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the top nine finalists (three from each division) and the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from those nine finalists to determine the 2020 Woman of the Year.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named this fall.
To view the complete list of conference nominees, click
here.