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Hill, Utley Named CoSIDA Academic All-America
November 24, 2015 03:02 PM | Women's Soccer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior captains Amanda Hill and Kailey Utley of the No. 4-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team earned 2015 CoSIDA All-America honors today, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Hill, a midfielder and native of Washington, Pennsylvania, was named to the first team, while Utley, a forward and native of St. Louis, Missouri, was named to the third team. The honors are the first career awards for both athletes.
“These honors are a true testament to how hard Amanda and Kailey work to be the best they can be on the playing field and in the classroom,” Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “Both of these senior captains possesses a high standard of excellence. They are role models for how every student-athlete should carry herself.”
Seven different WVU women’s soccer student-athletes have earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, and the team has received four awards in the last three seasons and eight honors since 2001. Hill is the fourth Mountaineer to collect a first-team award and the first since Frances Silva earned top-team accolades in 2013.
A 2015 Senior CLASS Award Finalist, Hill shows a 3.97 grade point average (GPA) in exercise physiology and animal & nutritional sciences, while minoring in sport and exercise psychology. Named to the 2014 NSCAA Scholar All-Region Honorable Mention Team, she also is a three-time Academic All-Big 12 Soccer First Team honoree and has been named to the President’s and Dean’s Lists, as well as the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and the Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll.
A starter at defensive center midfield for all 87 career matches, Hill is a two-time All-Big 12 Second Team honoree. She has tallied a career-high 12 points (5 G, 3 A), including three game-winning goals. Most recently, she scored the Mountaineers’ game-winner in the team’s 4-0 victory over Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament Second Round on Nov. 20. Additionally, Hill has helped the Mountaineer defense post a program-record 15 shutouts this season.
Utley is a biology major and owns a 3.65 GPA. A member of the 2014 NSCAA Scholar All-Region Third Team, she also is a three-time All-Big 12 Soccer First Team honoree and a member of the Dean’s List, Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and the Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll.
The team’s top scorer, Utley shows a WVU and career-best 30 points (12 G, 6 A) on the season. Most recently, she tallied her first career three-goal performance in the team’s 5-2 victory over Loyola Marymount in the NCAA Tournament Third Round on Nov. 22. Included in her second-half goal onslaught was the game-winning score, her seventh of the season. The game-winning goal total ranks No. 4 nationally. A two-time All-Big 12 honoree, Utley was named to the 2015 first team. She and the WVU offense have tallied a program-record 61 goals this season.
Hill, Utley and the second-seeded Mountaineers (19-2-1, 6-0-1), the four-time reigning Big 12 Conference champions, continue their record-setting season this Saturday, Nov. 28, at top-seeded and sixth-ranked Penn State (19-3-2, 8-2-1 Big Ten) for the right to move on to the 2015 NCAA College Cup. The Elite Eight match kicks at 4 p.m. from Jeffery Field, in University Park, Pennsylvania.
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