ORU’s Abernathy Named Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Oral Roberts senior midfielder Jennifer Abernathy was named Southland Conference Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year as voted by the league’s awards committee, the conference office announced Wednesday, in conjunction with the release of the all-academic soccer teams.
A two-time Southland all-academic selection, Abernathy boasts a 3.75 grade-point average while majoring in Health Exercise Science/Pre-Physical Therapy. The Broken Arrow, Okla. (Union H.S.), native is a two-time first-team all-conference selection after leading Golden Eagles to a second-place regular season finish this season. Abernathy led the team in goals (nine) and assists (nine), and was named to the conference’s all-tournament team for the second consecutive season. Abernathy has made the ORU honor roll all four years and has earned a spot on the Southland’s Commissioner’s Honor Roll following last fall semester.
Stephen F. Austin led all teams with five academic honorees, followed by ORU with four. Three of the five Ladyjacks earned first-team distinction while two Golden Eagles landed on the first team. Sam Houston had three student-athletes receive honors while Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, UIW and Southeastern Louisiana all had two selections.
Three members are two-time all-academic selections with Abernathy, Central Arkansas senior defender Emma Reed and Stephen F. Austin junior defender Megan Dunnigan.
Among the 22 student-athletes selected for academic recognition, 17 hold a GPA of 3.5 or higher, including three student-athletes with a perfect 4.00 GPA.
There are 10 automatic selections on this year’s team. To be an automatic selection, a player much be either a first-team all-conference selection or a CoSIDA Academic All-District pick. UCA’s Reed and Southeastern Louisiana sophomore forward Casey Peacock earned all-district honors while Abilene Christian senior defender Brie Buschman was a CoSIDA Academic All-America selection.
The Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year award is presented to the one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each Southland university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.
2013 Southland Conference All-Academic Teams
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First Team |
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Name |
School |
Position |
Cl. |
GPA |
Major |
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Andrea Carpenter* |
Abilene Christian |
Forward |
Sr. |
3.30 |
Early Childhood/Elementary |
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Adriana Lucar* |
Central Arkansas |
Forward |
Sr. |
3.40 |
Accounting |
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Casey Peacock*,% |
Southeastern La. |
Forward |
So. |
4.00 |
Criminal Justice |
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Jennifer Abernathy*,1,2 |
Oral Roberts |
Midfielder |
Sr. |
3.75 |
Health Exercise Science |
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Melissa Gaudet* |
Stephen F. Austin |
Midfielder |
Sr. |
3.52 |
Kinesiology |
|
Sydney Solomon |
UIW |
Midfielder |
Sr. |
3.81 |
Interior Design |
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Brie Buschman*,#,% |
Abilene Christian |
Defender |
Sr. |
3.96 |
Communication |
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Emma Reed*2,% |
Central Arkansas |
Defender |
Sr. |
3.90 |
Finance |
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Chelsea Villaescusa* |
Southeastern La. |
Defender |
Jr. |
3.24 |
General Studies |
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Megan Dunnigan*,2 |
Stephen F. Austin |
Defender |
Jr. |
3.85 |
Biology |
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Morgan Glick* |
Stephen F. Austin |
Goalkeeper |
Jr. |
3.94 |
Kinesiology |
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Kayla Keller^ |
Oral Roberts |
Forward |
So. |
3.80 |
Nursing |
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Second Team |
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Jordan Parsons |
Oral Roberts |
Forward |
Sr. |
3.74 |
Biology |
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Sarah Flores |
UIW |
Forward |
Sr. |
3.18 |
Rehabilitative Science |
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Natalie Hagar |
Houston Baptist |
Forward |
Jr. |
3.52 |
Kinesiology |
|
Ashley Martin |
Oral Roberts |
Midfielder |
So. |
4.00 |
Nursing |
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Brenda Salazar |
Stephen F. Austin |
Midfielder |
Sr. |
3.60 |
Nursing |
|
Mariah Titus |
Sam Houston State |
Midfielder |
So. |
3.52 |
Psychology |
|
Ashley Fluty |
Sam Houston State |
Defender |
Jr. |
3.88 |
Health |
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Rachel Owens |
Stephen F. Austin |
Defender |
So. |
3.29 |
Communication |
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Kylie Hambleton |
Sam Houston State |
Goalkeeper |
So. |
3.86 |
Management Information Systems |
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Blake Martin^ |
Houston Baptist |
Defender |
So. |
4.00 |
Nursing |
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* Automatic Selection
#CoSIDA Academic All-America
%CoSIDA Academic All-District
^At-large Selection
1Student-Athlete of the Year
2Two-time all-academic selection