UWA's Gears nominated NCAA Woman of the Year
Courtesy of UWA Athletics
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INDIANAPOLIS – University of West Alabama women's soccer forward,
Nicki Gears was named a 2015 Woman of the Year honoree by conferences and independent schools on Thursday. Gears, along with Valdosta State University's Courtney Albritton, were the only two selected from the Gulf South Conference to the list that included a record 147 NCAA female-student-athletes.
These honorees, selected from the record 480 school nominees, represent college athletes from 18 different sports spanning all three NCAA divisions. Of those recognized, 57 honorees competed in Division I, 39 competed in Division II and 51 competed in Division III.
Having competed in her final season at UWA in the fall of 2014, Gears' selection for the award comes as the latest achievement of an already storied career. The 2013 Gulf South Conference Women's Soccer Co-Player of the Year, was the first Tiger to earn All-GSC First Team honors in each of her four years as well as the first to be named to the NSCAA All-South Region team for three consecutive seasons.
A native of Ripon, England, Gears was the league's fifth leading scorer this past season with 10 goals and was second with eight assists.
Her season accomplishments added to her career resume as the program's leading scorer as well as the sixth active career leader in the nation with 47 goals. She is third on the NCAA's "30 Goals and 20 Assists" list, adding 27 assists to her goal total through 71 matches. She was second in the league with a season high of 96 shots last year, giving her an unprecedented 335 career shot total.
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 Oct. 18.
Now in its 25
th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.